I am sick and tired of getting stuck in the snow (level ground) with the Dunlop SP winter sports I have on the '94 wagon. These tires are 'recommended' by MB and others (?). They are good in the rain and at speed and noise is good but they are no good at climbing hills (my driveway) and snowy roads. Couple that with the lousy traction control MB put in the '94 and '95 and I am having a hard time getting around the last couple of days. It's embarrasing. Quatrro drivers are laughing. What do you use on your wagons for snow tires?

On my previous 1994 E320 wagon I ran Blizzacks on all 4 corners. Can't say I live in a hilly area, but did travel between Kansas and Iowa in the winter with total confidence. Now have 1998 wagon with 4-matic and it won't snow!!

We used to sell a lot of Blizzak's, but I forget who made them. I think maybe Continental??? Anybody??? Everybody I know who used them swore by them.

I've got 4 Michelin Artic Alpins on my 95 E320TE, and this thing is like a tank in the snow. With the winter we've had and the location we live in, you would be a believer,,, I'll guarantee it. Pete Check my post in performance paddock on "TE winter beater".

__________________
95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

I put a set of dedicated snow tires on my 300e sedan and it makes a world of difference on snow and ice. I bought Dunlop Graspic 185-65-15 and put them on 6" wide MBZ rims that I bought on Ebay. In snow, it's best to go one size narrower.

As far as snow tire brands, Bridgestone Blizzak and Dunlop Graspics are both great. Be aware that even snow tires are useless if the tread is less than 6/32". The two named tires have a special compound tread cap that is fantastic on ice but once it wears off it's not a snow tire anymore.

I honestly believe that snow tires are the solution to your problem.

If you do a search on this subject, in either this subject forum (tech help) or in the wheels & tires subject forum you will find an enormous amount of suggestions. Personally, I use Nokian NRW snow tires on my '92 300TE 4Matic Wagon. They are terrific. The car goes through anything, and the 4Matic rarely even engages. My NRW's are now three years old and since I bought mine, Nokian has 'improved' them, so they are now a different tread design and are called the WR. Technically, the WR is an "all season" tire, but the Fin's use a winter tire as the basis for their all season whereas the USA manufacturers use a summer tire as the basis for their all seasons, so it is a squarer shouldered tire. Also, though the Nokian WR is an all season, it has the snowflke designation which is the international standard for a snow tire. And if you want a serious, dedicated snow tire that will get you through anything, especially deep snow, get yourself four Nokian Hakkepelita Q's. The Q is not a studded tire though it is available that way. My wife uses them, unstudded, on her Subaru Legacy and says that in the snow and slush the traction is unbelievable and they are pretty quiet on dry pavement, all things considered. The only drawback is the expense, about $100 per tire mounted and balanced. Their website is www.nokiantyre.com.

the first-generation Blizzaks (and the current WS-15) had their special micropore tire compound for the first 55% of the tread compound, and the rest being all-season compound.

the newer models however (the WS-50, MZ-01 and MZ-02), have the special (tube multicell) compound for the first 55% of the tread, and a standard winter compound for the rest.

i plan to get the WS-50 when my Pirelli Winter Ice tires wear down past the point of usefulness (probably 2 more seasons).

these tires should be considered as an investment. The first time you are able to avoid an accident (by virtue of better braking and/or steering), they will have paid for themselves.

Are you having trouble on ice? If you're having such trouble pulling away on level ground, it sounds like snow covered ice. Go for something like the Blizzak, Nokian Hakka Q, or Hakka 1-studded.

I've got Pilot Alpin's on the C230, and they're great on dry pavement, pretty decent in the snow, but lousy on ice.

__________________
John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

You're wasting money if you don't get the Nokian WR's.

My $0.02.

Brian

We put four of the new Nokian WR tires on our 1995 E420 this fall. The prior two winters we used the Michelin Artic Alpins. These Nokians are far superior to the Michelins in snow and I think they handle almost as well on dry roads. This past weekend we had over 8" of snow and I was able to get around very well with the Nokian WR tires. They also are supposed to last 50,000 miles and can be driven year round if desired.

I know on my 1992 400E the ASR system is just useless for enhancing takeoff traction in the snow, its actually an hindrance. I have the Dunlop Winter Sport H rated and their a very good snow tire, a good ice tire and I’ve used/have these snow tires, and in comparison to the Dunlop: the Blizz WS 50 or 15 which is somewhat better in the snow, and is much better on ice. I also have the Blizz LM 22, which is good in the snow and better on the ice than the Dunlop. When concerning dry traction I would say the LM-22 and Dunlop about equal maybe the edge to the LM-22, the Blizz WS 15 on the dry at the best is just okay. As most people I just don't drive that hard with snow tires on, but where I live the H rated snow tire is the best choice for my cars.
Back to the ASR system on early MB cars, it needs an on/off switch; many drivers in the WV-PA area did a lot of complaining about the no go ASR system in the snow. Again, I agree with you that our ASR system is a no go in snow, the early systems had a lot of negative car reviews write-ups.
In my opinion if you want the best snow/ice tire it's the Blizz WS-15, but you will definetly give up dry handling. Also go to the German Car Club and review their winter tire test, the Dunlop is usually rated in the top three.
The good German Club site; www.adac.de once in the site, select 1. Test 2. Reifentests 3. Winterreifen 4. Then the tire size you want to review, when in that category if you select; i Alle Testergebnisse, that is the overall tire comparison chart.
Another recent German Magazine Winter tire test; www.auto.t-online.de when in the site select Test & Technik then Weitere tests and in that category your find several different tire test in different sizes

In these test the tire size performance is also interesting when comparing the different brands, on different cars.

Enjoy your drive, timreid

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timreid
1992 400E
euro lights
500E sway bars
210 16in wheels

I have Michelin Arctic Alpines, they suck in fresh deep snow, they don't have aggressive treads as Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50's, they have thousands of tiny but deep grooves instead, they do relative well on packed snow and ice because these numerous tiny grooves can bite into hard surface, but they are useless in deep snow, they do good on highway also. Take a look at the tread pattern of these two tires, you can see the huge difference.

Blizzaks are very soft and noisy, they are more like dedicated snow tires. As I am in Canada, next time I will go with Blizzaks.

__________________
99 BMW 540i 6-speed 110K Km
03 SAAB 9-5 wagon 80K Km
92 400E (Sold) 245K km
Still missing the days with the Benz, it kept me busy.

carman850, The German auto t online agrees with you about Mich Alpine in their test, it finished last, not at all a good deep snow tire. And if the snowy winters are returing to WV as we have had this year, I'm going back to the Blizzak tires.
Does your car have ASR? if so do you not have a problem with take-off traction, mine just fights my efforts to move, from the system automatically applying the brakes.

enjoy your drive, timreid

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timreid
1992 400E
euro lights
500E sway bars
210 16in wheels

Our 1995 C36 had ASR, and I found it pretty much useless. It "nannified" the car during performance driving and didn't help very much in low traction conditions, either. The ASR just plain hobbled the car in all conditions. I would have preferrerd the car had no traction control at all.

The ESP system on the E300 was better, and seemed "smarter." Not sure if different software was used for the straight-line traction portion, or if the traction control worked better due to car configuration, but the later ESP/ASR system seemed to have more leeway.

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

My car doesn't have ASR, so it can dance and throw 5 lbs of snow onto the windshield of car behind, if it is too close , most of the times, it's fun to be able to do controllable slide and spin.

I didn't know ASR was that useless, when I first got my 400E 2 years ago, I overcooked it in the rain, the car spun in a turn, I nearly lost it, I learned to respect it since them. I had been thinking ASR would have saved in that scenario

__________________
99 BMW 540i 6-speed 110K Km
03 SAAB 9-5 wagon 80K Km
92 400E (Sold) 245K km
Still missing the days with the Benz, it kept me busy.