snow tire size

With the 4matic I wouldn't worry so much about snow tires. At a minimum I would wait til the first snow/ice and see what you think.

Stock tire size is 215/55/16.

alexnatt said:

And i disagree with the previous poster. Winter tires have softer compounds that increase traction in winter. Sure 4matic with all seasons would beat RWD with all seasons but buying snows will make your drive safer and extend the life of your summer tires to boot.

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Disagree with what? I never said snow tires don't increase traction. I just suggested the OP wait and see what he thinks of the 4matic and regular tires before spending all the extra money on mounting snows or buying a new set of rims for the snows. If you want snow tires, go ahead and use them but I've been through many MN winters with only All-Season Michelins on my 84 300SD RWD and did just fine. In fact I've never had snows on my cars ever in all my winters except last year. I only had snows on my wagon last winter because it came with them. I didn't think they were anything special.

Saying snow tires will extend the life of your summer tires is like saying I'm going to buy a new car and drive it to park my old car and make my old car last longer. Of course it will since your only using the summer tires part time, but it costs alot more and only you can determine if it is worth it for yourself. In my opinion on an AWD it is not necessary.

Musikmann said:

I think it was TireRack that had a couple of videos of snow vs. all seasons and IIRC cornering was significantly better too. If it's not up now, wait a couple of months until they are pushing their winter wheel/tire packages.

BTW I don't have a dog in this fight since my MB never experiences winter conditions. The 2 FWD daily beaters w/all seasons see all of that action.

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I agree that snow tires will outperform all seasons in winter conditions. I'm planning on putting them on my E430 since it is RWD but not planning on doing anything with my 4matic wagon.