4-Matic

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milleplod

Active Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2014
Messages
454
Location
Bolsover,no longer home of The Beast!
Car
S212 E350CDi
What's a 4-Matic like in snow - not 6' drifts (I'd not be going out if it was that bad!), but the odd few inches we tend to get once in a while? My R500 has Conti CrossContacts all round, which are a summer tyre. For every car I've had over the last 10 or so years, I've had a spare set of winter tyres that've been fitted in October and removed in March. Will I need to buy winters for the R, or will 4-Matic do the job with summers on? :dk:

I should add that we live on a hill, and the general area is hilly. With winters fitted, my Lexus IS easily coped with up to 4-5" of fresh snow.

Pete
 
4 times nothing is the same as 2 times nothing.
 
If you have no grip, you have no traction. Therefore 4 wheels spin instead of 2.

Its the tyres that give you the grip.

4 wheel drive with the right tyres on will get further in those conditions than 2 wheel drive with the right tyres on.

That said, it is likely, driven gently, to get a bit further with summer tyres than a two wheel drive car with summer tyres...
 
Our W164 ML is the same platform as your R, and shares the same 4WD system, albeit the front/rear bias may be slightly different. It was awful in the snow with summer tyres, really, really awful, so much so that my wife refused to drive it.

We bought a second set of wheels with winter tyres and it was transformed, not as good as our W163 ML with winter tyres which feels unstoppable, but a world away from how it performed on summer tyres.
 
A few years ago when we had a lot of snow in Kent, my c class 2007 plate could not even manage a couple of inches of snow once it stopped on a gradient of more than 5'.

We also have a jeep Grand chrkee - drove easily on summer tyres.

My son looked up tyre ratings and in the middle of a snow winter, change to conti winter contact - the c class drove through snow like a 4x4. Then i took them off for the summer and needed them again and kept on all year but I did advise the insurance co who said it was ok - but check/report winter tyres to your insurance, mine did not charge any extra - speed limit was 'H' as opposed to the normal tyres of 'V' rating. You can now get 'V' speed rated in conti winter contact
 
Not just tyres, you could have the best tyres in the world but if you don't know how to use them it's a bit of a waste.

I found my GLC no drama to drive in the snow back in January, fitted with standard summer tyres.

Don't get me wrong I would not have attempted to drive up or down a steep hill, but driven gentle the 4 matic system did it's job.
 
Pictures of mine playing in the snow :)
 

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Loving the 2nd pic of your extensive grounds Jay. ;)

Haha I wish!! I took it for a spin over by Lake Vyrnwy when the snow came in early Jan
 

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