[coylady]

I read the forums about how good snow tires improve ML 320 performance, but I wonder if the poor performance is more than just snow tires for our vehicle? Drove back from Traverse City in a caravan of two vehicles, 2001 E320 and 1998 ML320. After my son spun out in his ML320 and landed in the ditch (needed tow truck) following me in my E-class, we switched vehicles and I drove the ML320 the rest of the way home.

The truck seemed so sensitive to snow, sliding and drifting, off balance, even at very slow speeds such as 25-30 mph. The poor performance seemed worse when the road banked slightly on the right side. Other vehicles - midsize & compact segment Fords, Chevrolets - were able to easily pass me by at higher speeds - 40 - 50 mph. My E-class doesn't have snow tires and performed very well. No comparison to the ML320 which spun out the second time and landed in the ditch. Luckily, I was able to back out of the ditch without a tow (Thank you ML).

I replaced rear tires last year as the front tires seemed to be good condition. The vehicle has 153K miles on it and drives great in dry conditions. The poor performance reminded me of an earlier experience with a VW Passat when I hand forgotten to release the hand brake and the vehicle fish-tailed all the way home.

Mechanical - no diagnostic lights are on. Vehicle has regular maintenance.

Could this really be only snow tires? Thank you in advance.

 

[Michael Pillay]

That's surprising. I was out driving yesterday and thought to myself how great the w163 is in the snow. It is going to slide etc but that is just physics. Once you get used to the vehicle and know how it is going to react, driving in the snow becomes more predicable.
I am not sure why your ML320 had a difficult time. Are you saying you do have snow tires on right now? Mine has all seasons and they are fine. Maybe your front tires are in need of changing. Are the front and rears matched? Whatever the case maybe, I hope you get it sorted sooner than later. It looks like this winter is going to be a tough one in MI.

 

[coylady]

Thanks for your input. No snow tires - all season; front and rear are not matched. Again, great performance on dry pavement; horrible yesterday in the snow.

 

[4wd430]

Thanks for your input. No snow tires - all season; front and rear are not matched. Again, great performance on dry pavement; horrible yesterday in the snow.

Thread that doesn't match can pose a problem. Snow tires are known to greatly improve snow performance. However, driving around in all seasons should not be terrible. I want to attribute your uneasiness to unmatched thread and grip levels. Also there might possibly be worn suspension parts that can be contributing factors.

 

[art_arev]

Maybe its the not used to the ESP during snow issue.

 

[4wd430]

Maybe its the not used to the ESP during snow issue.

I don't believe 98' ML's had ESP...but I may be mistaken

 

[Mike's ML]

Maybe its the not used to the ESP during snow issue.

I don't believe 98' ML's had ESP...but I may be mistaken

4wd430 you are correct, the 98ML's do not have ESP.

Tires are the most significant factor in snow driving performance.

My 98ML is great in the snow. My 05 ML500 sucks. Tires are too wide and too much power. Tires are the biggest factor between the two vehicles.

Mike

 

[mlfun]

"I replaced rear tires last year as the front tires seemed to be good condition"

What's the tread wear on the tires now ?

 

[Noodles]

In order to avoid a costly investment of wheels and dedicated snow tires or the hassle mounting/unmounting tires every season I us the Nokian WR SUV tire. It is an all season tire with a full snow rating. I get 50k in wear and they have failed to leave the ML stuck in snow or feeling at all slippery when driving sanely in the snow.

 

[4wd430]

The tires may individually be good but I think the varying thread pattern may be the issue in the snow. Therefore it might be better to get a uniform set of tires for all four wheels such as the Nokian WR SUV as Noodles suggested

 

[Noodles]

I just checked and they stopped making the 17" 275/55/17 size.

I am not sure about the new WR SUV G2 and G3 16" sizes. I am waiting to hear from the local Nokian distributor. I had found a set of the original WR SUV 275/55/17 on eBay last fall and finally mounted them about a month ago.

They do make the WR SUV G2 in the 255/65/16. The G3 is about to be released.

 

[mmiller619]

It is becoming increasingly difficult to find a good SUV tire is 17" diameter. I settled for some AT 275/55/17's by General tires. So far they have been good, haven't had the opportunity to test them in snow yet. Last season my Michelins that came with the truck had about 90,000 miles on them and performed amazing in the snow (I'm talking from ice to about 2 feet of powder). I couldn't believe it considering the mileage they had on them. Throw her into Low Range and driving in the snow is a piece of cake. I will report back on how my current tires handle the snow, have to wait for a ski trip since right now it's 82 degress in SoCal :thumbsup:

 

[m1943]

Since I'm in Moscow, I do get to drive in the snow now and again. ML is pretty good in the snow, handles well, very predictible. Perhaps your tires are summer tires, which have a tendency to become very hard in bellow freezing temps, and so they loose grip. All-season tires may perform OK for mild snow driving, other wise I would really recommend dedicated snow tires, probably on their own "winter" rims. Dunlop Grandtreck SJ series have been great the first season around. I made a mistake of driving on them 'till July (kept telling myself I was goint to get summer tires next week), so come next winter they performed like regular all season tires. So if you get similar tires, Nokian and others make them, be sure to take them off when temps go above 40 degrees. My buddy used Grandtreck SJs in a winter Trophy race, they are pretty good.
P.S.
I use stock 17s for winter and 20s for summer.

 

[dgcamero]

I read the forums about how good snow tires improve ML 320 performance, but I wonder if the poor performance is more than just snow tires for our vehicle? Drove back from Traverse City in a caravan of two vehicles, 2001 E320 and 1998 ML320. After my son spun out in his ML320 and landed in the ditch (needed tow truck) following me in my E-class, we switched vehicles and I drove the ML320 the rest of the way home.

The truck seemed so sensitive to snow, sliding and drifting, off balance, even at very slow speeds such as 25-30 mph. The poor performance seemed worse when the road banked slightly on the right side. Other vehicles - midsize & compact segment Fords, Chevrolets - were able to easily pass me by at higher speeds - 40 - 50 mph. My E-class doesn't have snow tires and performed very well. No comparison to the ML320 which spun out the second time and landed in the ditch. Luckily, I was able to back out of the ditch without a tow (Thank you ML).

I replaced rear tires last year as the front tires seemed to be good condition. The vehicle has 153K miles on it and drives great in dry conditions. The poor performance reminded me of an earlier experience with a VW Passat when I hand forgotten to release the hand brake and the vehicle fish-tailed all the way home.

Mechanical - no diagnostic lights are on. Vehicle has regular maintenance.

Could this really be only snow tires? Thank you in advance.

I'd consider replacing the tires with a matching set, probably snow tires being that you're way up in the rust belt, or at least all season tires with highly consumer rated snow reviews. Mine is excellent with Michelin LTX M/S² tires. Was slippery in the back (but easy to control) with the prior Goodyear Silent Armor tires at least when they were old and nearly worn out.

Secondly, (maybe firstly) check all of your control arms and ball joints to make sure they're holding nicely. After the suspension is cleared as a culprit, check the alignment to make sure it's setup logically. Within spec does not automatically mean that it's setup logically. Sometimes the guy on the alignment rack doesn't understand the concept of proper wheel alignment, or he could just be lazy or having a bad day. You want to have roughly minimal allowed toe-in for the front and rear (in this case, toe-in should ideally be 0.10° all the way around). That is purposefully not in the middle of the allowed range...it will reduce tire wear while allowing for straight line stability, especially in slicker conditions, however. Camber is not as critical as toe from a stability standpoint. It should be in the middle of the specified range all the way around (about -½° all the way around, but definitely not more negative camber on the driver side, because of road crown). It's kinda a pain to adjust the camber on the car, and if they don't really tighten the front upper control arms...then it'll not hold. It's best to bring it in with an empty tank and empty of stuff, because any extra weight will naturally add a touch of negative camber and toe-in...

Let us know what you find out!

 

[Mars478]

My 99 with all seasons (and ESP, although I turn it off sometimes) handles super well. I think you need to get a set of skinnier winter tires/matched tires. Sometimes it is just driver error.

 

[Wragie]

Last winter had geolanders on the front and some contis on the back on my 98 320. The contis would grip at very low speeds but loose grip even under gentle acceleration and especially cornering in the snow with underlying ice. You could always feel the back end loose grip and feel the front pull. Very much like a fwd. About 2 weeks back I finally got some suspension work finished and went to replace the contis with geolanders so i would have same thread and diameter. Turned out my alignment was off on the front and had to replace my geolanders as well. So now i have a new set of rubber all around and an alignment. About two days later it snowed about 6 inches on top of the ice so conditions approximately matched last season. Now i have zero spin and it feels like i am on dry pavement. Before my Ml i had a Bronco ii and with similar tires was no comparison to how good the 320 is in the snow etc. The 320 is miles ahead. And as a bonus the geolander does have a fairly agressive block tread which you would assume would howl going down the road. Not the case at highway speeds they are almost silent. As previously suggested tires- tread-alignment-air pressure. And get matching treads or keep towtruck on speed dial never good idea on anything in winter