Mercedes-Benz Forum banner

Snow and General Tires

1K views 10 replies 0 participants last post by  Drew 
G
#1 ·
Well we finally got some snow in the NE today, the wet and slushy type. My 2000 ML320 with 13K miles and General tires braved the roads to take my sister in law to the airport. While the ML performed great, the tires left much to be desired. <br>
<br>
Has anyone added snows to their ML and how did it improve the handling on snow over the Generals. Anyone have a set of 16' wheels they want to sell?
 
G
#2 ·
Bob...

It would probably be cheaper for you to get the replica 16' wheels from Tirerack, mounted and balanced with the winter tires already. Winter tires should help in every way, stability, lateral grip, much shorter braking distances, quicker acceleration due to more grip, and better emergency handling performance. The 4ETS and ESP will intervene later too, since the winter tires have a lot more grip in the snow/ice.
 
G
#3 ·
We had the same storm with about 4 inches accumulation over ice from the early rain. My ML500 did great as did the Continental tires. This was my first Continental experience in snow. Compared to the 98 ML320 I had the ML500 with ESP was fantantic. At a stop sign I put the foot to the floor and the ML went straight ahead with only a few flashes of the triangle showing minimal wheel slippage.
 
G
#5 ·
Just put a set of michelin 4x4 alpins at the beginning of this winter. They work great. I got a set of wheels through the dealer. They were take offs and I got them really really cheap and they also came with the all season generals that were originally mounted on them.
 
G
#9 ·
Re: Bob...

Drew, I found a set of 4 wheels (takeoff's) for $75 dollars (US) (better then the Tirerack's $99 ea.) and I'm thinking about getting them and a set on Alpin's or Bridgestone's to mount on them. The problem is I hate to spend that on tires and wheels for such a short time period. In addition, when I upgrade it appears the new wheels wil be 17' vs the 16' currently on the ML320. <br> <br> I'll have to keep an eye on the long term forcast and see if I need to spend the $$$ now vs later ;-)
 
G
#10 ·
Pirelli Snows

We installed Pirelli Scorpion Snow & Ice on our ML430 last weekend.<br> We've only had a little snow/ice since. However, the ice was a good test. The tires work very well. One intersection another 4x4 locked the fronts and slid right through. No sweat with the ML & Pirellis.<br> In the dry they handle well and are quiet too.<br> Snow tires are cheaper than fenders. And the peace of mind lasts all winter long.<br> <br> Dave<br> <br> ps 275/55-17's on factory mags. We'll look for some AMG's between now and spring.
 
G
#11 ·
Thanks for the update, Dave...

Be careful when choosing tires for the AMG 18' wheels (that is, if you're going with the 18' ones). The current tire choices out there are unfortunately only so-so. <br> <br> The Dunlop SP9000s that the ML55s come with are great, but they need warmup time just like slicks. For the first 5-10 mins of your drive, depending on the ambient temp., you may feel annoying vibrations caused by the internal belts warming up. The Yokohama AVS/ST as well as the Pirelli Scorpion Zeros are good when need, but apparently progressively noisy as heck as the wear down. The Michelin Diamaris aren't available in the correct size for our continent as of yet (but they are in Europe). The Bridgestone Duelers are the last option, but I personally am not crazy over the Dueler line-up.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top