No I wouldn't if it was tyres alone. And definitely would not since I'd have to buy the wheels as well
Please do share with me what MO winter tyres are available for the GLC43 AMG on 21" wheels as I would love to be proven wrong.
No I wouldn't if it was tyres alone. And definitely would not since I'd have to buy the wheels as well
Please do share with me what MO winter tyres are available for the GLC43 AMG on 21" wheels as I would love to be proven wrong.
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No I wouldn't if it was tyres alone. And definitely would not since I'd have to buy the wheels as well
Please do share with me what MO winter tyres are available for the GLC43 AMG on 21" wheels as I would love to be proven wrong.
Sorry, I have no idea, but if they're available I'm sure you'd know.
Indeed, and they are none existent to my knowledge in that size. Hence the cost that I stated to allow for next best alloy wheels from Mercedes-AMG.
So... Extended test drive in a C43 coupe today with my factory order due to be delivered early March. I had already expressed concern to dealer RE crabbing issue, got usual winter tyres line from a senior technician but dealer agreed to let me take the car out on my own to form my own opinion.
Car was a 66 plate, 1400 miles, 19" Dunlop summer tyres as standard fit at the factory. Dry roads with 2-4 degC showing on car thermometer.
1st thing I did was full lock slow speed turns in the dealership car park, crabbing issue was evident but seemed more like mild steady tyre slipping rather than the sudden knocking/jumping that has been demonstrated on the GLC videos on youTube. It did it mainly forwards but also slightly in reverse. 20 miles of mixed driving later tried again with the full lock turns on tarmac and block paving with no tyre slipping/crabbing/knocking at all. Car left for 30 mins and the issue returned but again was much more minor than on the GLC videos (air temp still 2-3 degrees) 15 miles of driving later back to the dealership and there was still a little bit of the crabbing but not constantly.
So my thoughts about the car and my order... I have experienced the issue first hand, whatever the underlying cause (tyres or drivetrain) the tyres do slip slightly on slow speed and full lock. It was only a slight comfort issue for me, I do not feel it would be a safety issue in terms of the car suddenly jumping sideways resulting in a crash with another vehicle/object whilst parking. If it does increase tyre wear then I can live with this as long as it doesn't eat through front tyres in 7000 miles. I only intend to keep the car for around 3 years so any drivetrain faults/failures would be under warranty during my ownership. The rest of the car was great, lovely interior, engine and gearbox; everything I remembered from my first drive and the sports exhaust sound still made me giggle on up and down shifts.
Is it a concern? Slightly, tyres will still wear, car will be covered by manufacturer warranty, if MB admit there is an issue and produce a fix then the car would be recalled for the fix. Residuals are an unknown so am looking at PCP again should I want to walk away after 3 years. There have been a couple of C43 owners who are aware of the issue only after collection and have expressed that they would still have bought the car if they were aware of the issue prior to collection.
Car is still on order and am still eagerly awaiting collection in March.
These are my opinions from my drive today, I wanted to share them with everyone else to try and help others in a similar position make an informed decision but the best advice is still to take another test drive and experience it for yourself, I could fully understand if others decided not to proceed with a purchase.
Car was a 66 plate, 1400 miles, 19" Dunlop summer tyres as standard fit at the factory. Dry roads with 2-4 degC showing on car thermometer.
1st thing I did was full lock slow speed turns in the dealership car park, crabbing issue was evident but seemed more like mild steady tyre slipping rather than the sudden knocking/jumping that has been demonstrated on the GLC videos on youTube. It did it mainly forwards but also slightly in reverse. 20 miles of mixed driving later tried again with the full lock turns on tarmac and block paving with no tyre slipping/crabbing/knocking at all. Car left for 30 mins and the issue returned but again was much more minor than on the GLC videos (air temp still 2-3 degrees) 15 miles of driving later back to the dealership and there was still a little bit of the crabbing but not constantly.
So my thoughts about the car and my order... I have experienced the issue first hand, whatever the underlying cause (tyres or drivetrain) the tyres do slip slightly on slow speed and full lock. It was only a slight comfort issue for me, I do not feel it would be a safety issue in terms of the car suddenly jumping sideways resulting in a crash with another vehicle/object whilst parking. If it does increase tyre wear then I can live with this as long as it doesn't eat through front tyres in 7000 miles. I only intend to keep the car for around 3 years so any drivetrain faults/failures would be under warranty during my ownership. The rest of the car was great, lovely interior, engine and gearbox; everything I remembered from my first drive and the sports exhaust sound still made me giggle on up and down shifts.
Is it a concern? Slightly, tyres will still wear, car will be covered by manufacturer warranty, if MB admit there is an issue and produce a fix then the car would be recalled for the fix. Residuals are an unknown so am looking at PCP again should I want to walk away after 3 years. There have been a couple of C43 owners who are aware of the issue only after collection and have expressed that they would still have bought the car if they were aware of the issue prior to collection.
Car is still on order and am still eagerly awaiting collection in March.
These are my opinions from my drive today, I wanted to share them with everyone else to try and help others in a similar position make an informed decision but the best advice is still to take another test drive and experience it for yourself, I could fully understand if others decided not to proceed with a purchase.
Very much my thinking too, Danny, after another test drive on Thurs. I'm going to ask the dealer supplying mine to test it at full lock first thing one morning to see if it is present. I could live with what you experienced and what I found on thurs. I could not live with what JP and Tony Mac have in their GLC's
DuncS3
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Left the pub this evening - my friend was driving his Audi sq5, outside its very cold, out of car park on almost full lock, one of the other passengers said "what's that noise" - I said "don't worry it's only crabbing as the tyres are cold"...so it does happen...
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No I wouldn't if it was tyres alone. And definitely would not since I'd have to buy the wheels as well
Please do share with me what MO winter tyres are available for the GLC43 AMG on 21" wheels as I would love to be proven wrong.
Do you know the width of your front and rear tyres? Nokian make a 285/40 21 which I believe is the same size as your rear tyres. They may fit on your front wheels too depending upon width.
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PS Although there are MO summer tyres, I've never seen an MO winter tyre in 21-inch diameter. N0 or N1 (Porsche) is the most common car manufacturer specific tyre I've seen in 21-inch tyres, and even they aren't available in winter tyres.
PPS Mercedes have supplied two of our MLs on N0 21-inch Pirelli summer tyres?
PPS Mercedes have supplied two of our MLs on N0 21-inch Pirelli summer tyres?
JBD
MB Enthusiast
It's not intermittent, they all do it. It's a characteristic of that four wheel drive system. If you're not able to cope with a car that died it, cancel your order. I'm sure someone else would be very happy to have it.
IMO, it's not an issue that's going to be resolved.
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The one I drove last Thursday only showed a tiny hint of crabbing - no different from our Audi's. I could live with that for sure. I couldn't live with what JP and Tony Mac have in their GLCs.
It doesn't seem to affect all cars in the same way. Totally accept that it is a characteristic of the AWD system but can't understand why it is so bad in some but much less so in others!
If my one is like the one intest drove or Danny's experience above then I'll be happy with it
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maxypriest
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There is no way I would spend my money, and a large amount it is too on a car that does that. There must be some considerable 'wind up' in the transmission, it sounds like the diffs lockers are active at parking speeds?
HumberMart
Active Member
Put up and shut up?
'That' four wheel drive system is one designed for RHD vehicles only, and is one that causes much embarrassment to the owner/driver when they maneuver near to passers-by, and have to constantly explain to passengers, why the loud banging.
It's also one that is being more and more discussed in the motoring press, and acknowledged to be far worse than the 'norm'.
It's most likely due to the clutch/setting differences on RHD vehicles, and (IMO) is putting additional stress on tyres and drive train components.
Mercedes UK official response is to fit winter tyres.
Yet Mercedes dealers don't do this, don't deliver new cars in winter with them on either.
Even if you wanted to fit winter tyres, you would likely have to void your insurance by doing so, since approved tyres of the correct size are not available.
JBD seems to be advising all to 'put up or shut up'.
Is that towing the party line, or illustrating his own frustration?
'That' four wheel drive system is one designed for RHD vehicles only, and is one that causes much embarrassment to the owner/driver when they maneuver near to passers-by, and have to constantly explain to passengers, why the loud banging.
It's also one that is being more and more discussed in the motoring press, and acknowledged to be far worse than the 'norm'.
It's most likely due to the clutch/setting differences on RHD vehicles, and (IMO) is putting additional stress on tyres and drive train components.
Mercedes UK official response is to fit winter tyres.
Yet Mercedes dealers don't do this, don't deliver new cars in winter with them on either.
Even if you wanted to fit winter tyres, you would likely have to void your insurance by doing so, since approved tyres of the correct size are not available.
JBD seems to be advising all to 'put up or shut up'.
Is that towing the party line, or illustrating his own frustration?
JBD
MB Enthusiast
Considering it's something that even happens on my RWD C Cab, I wouldn't say it's strictly down to the 4WD system. Clearly it's worse than in other makes of car, but I'm not convinced it's anywhere near as bad as people are making out. The worst car I have driven for it is a GLC43 with 21 inch wheels and it's avoidable 90% of the time. I completely appreciate it's not ideal, but I haven't personally had a customer attempt to reject a car because of it. We've had one person complain. I do hope they can do something to improve it though
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HumberMart
Active Member
Maybe then, the 'characteristic' isn't quite as consistent (across all GLC/43's) as many may suggest, despite allowing for tyre sizes etc.
Some of the posts elude to this, due to diverse experiences of the phenomena.
No one can argue with the unacceptable level of the 'crabbing' on some vehicles, as demonstrated on Youtube. My own experience in a C43 was that it was 'borderline' between being livable with long-term, and putting me completely off the car. But that C43 was on 18s, and the weather was mild, so it may have become worse in colder weather.
Even so, I considered it to be 'a problem', and not what one should expect from any current car manufacturer, be it Dacia or Mercedes.
So if this phenomena results from the transfer clutch not slipping when it should, then maybe (if it is a wet clutch) the type of oil could be the culprit, and a batch of oil from a different supplier may have an effect.
Maybe its manufacturing/set-up tolerances that are so fine, and the RHD version simply never had its 'ELK Test' prior to launch, so that the bandwidth of tolerance crosses that point at which the 'crabbing' becomes more evident.
Those that defend the 'characteristic' by relating back to some agricultural 4WD system are not helping IMO. It should never happen to this extent on C43's and the like.
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Normally I would agree, and happily put none MO tyres on my vehicle. However considering the issues with the crabbing I don't want to give Mercedes any inch to wriggle out of this and stick 100% to the recommendations.
The vehicle (off factory) runs on a staggered setup, as I understand it is best for winter tyres to run the same size and match the fronts all round. They are 255/40R21. Only tyre I can find is the Pirelli Scorpion but doesn't have MO marking.
Seriously you are not convinced it is anywhere near as bad as people are making out? Seriously JBD? I'm lost of words...
So you think this is normal and acceptable, and not so bad?
https://youtu.be/rO5rqpYPNjo
Or how about this?
https://youtu.be/VTT0U8fciR0
Or what about this one?
https://youtu.be/E9vpoYz0Msw
So we are just making this out to be bad like a bunch of internet trolls with nothing better to do? Damn fool, you are so typical of the reactions us owners have been getting from Mercedes.
And what about this, my tyres at 2,700 miles.
451 - Driver side
453 - Passenger side
And yesterday, now done 4,008 miles
525 - Passenger side
Driver side is normal - this car is literally ripping the tyre away.
But yes sure, typical Mercedes Benz response it is normal, it is not as bad as people make it out to be. Yeah right, sorry pal but serious :fail in respect there.
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JBD
MB Enthusiast
Well I clearly hit a nerve there. I'm only talking from my perspective and my personal experience of it. I'm not saying you should put up and shut up.
The problem is that it's not a normal fault that a dealership can fix, it's a characteristic of the way your car has been set up (correctly or not) so there's absolutely nothing they can do currently. There's no fix on the horizon and there's been no significant communication from MB to us. There's nothing your dealership or any other can currently do to rectify the issue. The only thing you can do is communicate with MBUK and either try to reject the car, or get some sort of compensation.
I'm not trying to say that it's a nice thing to experience, or something that you should be happy with. From my perspective, having sold around 40 GLC's myself, including to my mother, I'm yet to have a single direct complaint about this issue on a GLC. I've heard of two complaints from people driving the C43, which are my colleagues customers and that's it. Personally it looks like the issue is heightened by the way you have to approach your driveway, which highlights the issue and makes it a problem on a daily basis. In your case, it's clearly having a negative impact daily.
Evidently the more people that shout about it to MBUK, the more pressured they'll be to develop a fix, which I hope they can do.
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The problem is that it's not a normal fault that a dealership can fix, it's a characteristic of the way your car has been set up (correctly or not) so there's absolutely nothing they can do currently. There's no fix on the horizon and there's been no significant communication from MB to us. There's nothing your dealership or any other can currently do to rectify the issue. The only thing you can do is communicate with MBUK and either try to reject the car, or get some sort of compensation.
I'm not trying to say that it's a nice thing to experience, or something that you should be happy with. From my perspective, having sold around 40 GLC's myself, including to my mother, I'm yet to have a single direct complaint about this issue on a GLC. I've heard of two complaints from people driving the C43, which are my colleagues customers and that's it. Personally it looks like the issue is heightened by the way you have to approach your driveway, which highlights the issue and makes it a problem on a daily basis. In your case, it's clearly having a negative impact daily.
Evidently the more people that shout about it to MBUK, the more pressured they'll be to develop a fix, which I hope they can do.
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I think a lot of people don't complain because 'you' keep on saying it is normal. The arrogance is just unbelievable, as now the issue is increased by my driveway and the approach I need to take. So please do tell me, how come in the past 20 years no other car including our Mercedes GL (and all the loan cars from Mercedes) do that?
Jeez
I think a lot of people don't complain because 'you' keep on saying it is normal. The arrogance is just unbelievable, as now the issue is increased by my driveway and the approach I need to take. So please do tell me, how come in the past 20 years no other car including our Mercedes GL (and all the loan cars from Mercedes) do that?
Jeez
Oh and whilst you explain why no other car has an issue with our driveway but it is normal that the Mercedes GLC has, can you please also explain why the tyre wear on just the passenger side where it is literally shredding away is normal as well?
Ta
JBD
MB Enthusiast
As I said earlier on, my C Cab, which is RWD does it on full lock, as it's on the 19 inch multi spokes. Clearly that shows that it's not all down to the 4 wheel drive system and says that it's never going to be rectified while you have those alloys on your car
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