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What Have You Done To Your Merc Today?

After all the hullabaloo regarding the threat of snow, we didn’t actually get much more than an inch here overnight, and much of that had gone by mid morning because it had rained.

It was enough to put me off heading to the Bicester Scramble. Although the roads looked easily passable based upon photos, walking around in snow and standing water wouldn’t be much fun!

We still went out for a late lunch in Birmingham - intended to be half way home from Bicester. Although the snow had all but gone I erred on the side of caution and took our winter car.

I’m really glad I did because on our way home the amount of water standing and flowing across even busy dual carriageways was amongst the worst I’ve ever seen, including tropical storms.

I love using this car for all sorts of stuff, but it really comes into it’s own when conditions are like this. She’s eighteen years old now, and really is a pleasure to drive. She even looks good IMHO.

1736107243201.jpeg
 
Thought it was time to return the SIL to Bude.

A lot of rain, fog and free standing water so a gentle drive there and back, 370 miles.
Took the opportunity to try the eco mode and four cylinder activation.
Quite impressed with the system, purrs along nicely at good speed with four cylinders, cuts in and out nicely and returned just over 25mpg.. probably saved £1.
 
TeddyRuxpin said:
Finally put the 17" winter wheels on, ready for the cold snap that's approaching/arrived.

Unfortunately I think I need new rear summer tyres for both W212s, as well as a pair of winter tyres (plenty of tread left but a pair of them are quite old now). A nice £1200 problem waiting for me in the spring!

Add a wheel refurb on top of that...
Click to expand...

These winter tyres saved my life (multiple times) on Saturday, while I was driving on the M4 and snow/sleet came down and everything turned into mush. It was one of the most dangerous trips I’ve done. Everybody down to 30-60mph tops. Everybody panics and seems to hog the middle lane/not go back into the leftmost lane doing 30mph (probably feels clearest, but the inside lane was fine) which encourages people to go into the rightmost lane to overtake, which is much more likely to have more snow/ice/water.

Anyway, I had a few sketchy moments including hitting an 'invisible' massive puddle of water, with snow on top that disguised it - it caused me to aquaplane and completely covered the windscreen with water - the car stayed true and straight, though I must admit I thought I was done for. I appreciated the car and the tyres so much at that point.

I thought to myself that there's absolutely *no way* people aren't going to crash when I have snow tyres and ~95% of others don't - then within 2-3 mins max after my 'incident' I saw a pink Fiat 500 on its roof, a young lady trapped inside, upside down on her head, with her neck sideways. Ambulances, police, fire brigade, the works. Hope she was OK. I think I saw movement and the emergency services didn't look frantic/rushed.

Anyway, I'll never not have winter tyres in the UK, especially as I currently live rurally - I probably wouldn’t have even made it up the drive/path to my house if i didn’t have the winter tyres. The car was incredible and even with a RWD car with a lot of torque, it was predictable and felt as safe as can be. Sometimes you don't appreciate what a high quality car/tyres do in day to day use, until you really need it and you see the other cars that are sliding all over the place, can't progress, etc. Really enjoying the softer ride on the 17” wheels too. My W212 is not the newest or the fanciest car in the world but it really made me appreciate being lucky enough to own and drive it!

IMG_0106.jpegIMG_0171.jpeg
 
Last edited:
TeddyRuxpin said:
These winter tyres saved my life (multiple times) on Saturday, while I was driving on the M4 and snow/sleet came down and everything turned into mush. It was one of the most dangerous trips I’ve done. Everybody down to 30-60mph tops. Everybody panics and seems to hog the middle lane/not go back into the leftmost lane doing 30mph (probably feels clearest, but the inside lane was fine) which encourages people to go into the rightmost lane to overtake, which is much more likely to have more snow/ice/water.

Anyway, I had a few sketchy moments including hitting an 'invisible' massive puddle of water, with snow on top that disguised it - it caused me to aquaplane and completely covered the windscreen with water - the car stayed true and straight, though I must admit I thought I was done for. I appreciated the car and the tyres so much at that point.

I thought to myself that there's absolutely *no way* people aren't going to crash when I have snow tyres and ~95% of others don't - then within 2-3 mins max after my 'incident' I saw a pink Fiat 500 on its roof, a young lady trapped inside, upside down on her head, with her neck sideways. Ambulances, police, fire brigade, the works. Hope she was OK. I think I saw movement and the emergency services didn't look frantic/rushed.

Anyway, I'll never not have winter tyres in the UK, especially as I currently live rurally - I probably wouldn’t have even made it up the drive/path to my house if i didn’t have the winter tyres. The car was incredible and even with a RWD car with a lot of torque, it was predictable and felt as safe as can be. Sometimes you don't appreciate what a high quality car/tyres do in day to day use, until you really need it and you see the other cars that are sliding all over the place, can't progress, etc. Really enjoying the softer ride on the 17” wheels too. My W212 is not the newest or the fanciest car in the world but it really made me appreciate being lucky enough to own and drive it!

View attachment 166092View attachment 166091
Click to expand...

Glad you got home safely!

About winter tyres, I could not agree more with you.
I got stuck trying to get onto or drive years ago, ie my second c class -got winter tyres and I'm not joking when I'm say the car drove better than my sons big 4x4 SUV. I have an SUV now a gle - when it snowed here in lond a couple of years ago - the car would not move in comfort mode had to change to 'slippery' mode - even then it did not make me feel as confident as it did with the winter tyres on my c class.

The tyres on the gle 4x4 are pretty good for colder weather in my view as they are Rainsport tyres and handle brill in the rain and I guess handle a
lot better on snow than most all-season tyres.
 
Bobby Dazzler said:
After all the hullabaloo regarding the threat of snow, we didn’t actually get much more than an inch here overnight, and much of that had gone by mid morning because it had rained.

It was enough to put me off heading to the Bicester Scramble. Although the roads looked easily passable based upon photos, walking around in snow and standing water wouldn’t be much fun!

We still went out for a late lunch in Birmingham - intended to be half way home from Bicester. Although the snow had all but gone I erred on the side of caution and took our winter car.

I’m really glad I did because on our way home the amount of water standing and flowing across even busy dual carriageways was amongst the worst I’ve ever seen, including tropical storms.

I love using this car for all sorts of stuff, but it really comes into it’s own when conditions are like this. She’s eighteen years old now, and really is a pleasure to drive. She even looks good IMHO.

View attachment 166088
Click to expand...
It seems all of that rain water flowed into our village and surrounding areas! We woke up to chaos. Flooding all around us and only one way out of the village - it’s not unusual, it’s the first time this Winter though, which is an improvement on the previous two winters we’ve lived here.

The buses couldn’t get through so it took me 1.5 hours to take Baby D to school, and it’s only 9 miles away. Those roads were relatively clear, so I think it was the result of so many road closures. Thankfully the floods in our village are receding for now, and forecast of snow/rain has pushed back.

Fingers crossed the that the drains and waterways can recover before any more heavy rain or snowfall.
 
TeddyRuxpin said:
These winter tyres saved my life (multiple times) on Saturday, while I was driving on the M4 and snow/sleet came down and everything turned into mush. It was one of the most dangerous trips I’ve done. Everybody down to 30-60mph tops. Everybody panics and seems to hog the middle lane/not go back into the leftmost lane doing 30mph (probably feels clearest, but the inside lane was fine) which encourages people to go into the rightmost lane to overtake, which is much more likely to have more snow/ice/water.

Anyway, I had a few sketchy moments including hitting an 'invisible' massive puddle of water, with snow on top that disguised it - it caused me to aquaplane and completely covered the windscreen with water - the car stayed true and straight, though I must admit I thought I was done for. I appreciated the car and the tyres so much at that point.

I thought to myself that there's absolutely *no way* people aren't going to crash when I have snow tyres and ~95% of others don't - then within 2-3 mins max after my 'incident' I saw a pink Fiat 500 on its roof, a young lady trapped inside, upside down on her head, with her neck sideways. Ambulances, police, fire brigade, the works. Hope she was OK. I think I saw movement and the emergency services didn't look frantic/rushed.

Anyway, I'll never not have winter tyres in the UK, especially as I currently live rurally - I probably wouldn’t have even made it up the drive/path to my house if i didn’t have the winter tyres. The car was incredible and even with a RWD car with a lot of torque, it was predictable and felt as safe as can be. Sometimes you don't appreciate what a high quality car/tyres do in day to day use, until you really need it and you see the other cars that are sliding all over the place, can't progress, etc. Really enjoying the softer ride on the 17” wheels too. My W212 is not the newest or the fanciest car in the world but it really made me appreciate being lucky enough to own and drive it!

View attachment 166092View attachment 166091
Click to expand...
What a trip!? Relieved to hear you were unscathed from the incident and the journey.

Perhaps unnecessary on the coast or London, but the further North and inland you go then the more necessary winter tyres become. The benefit is most noticeable in snow as they make the difference between starting, steering and stopping …or not. However the benefit is there every day that it’s cold, wet, or icy.l, it’s just less noticeable.

I’ve never known anyone drive on premium winter tyres - or be a passenger in a car with them in wintery conditions - and not be blown away by the difference in composure and ability. The difference can’t be explained by science, it’s witchcraft or at the very least alien technology.
 
Bobby Dazzler said:
What a trip!? Relieved to hear you were unscathed from the incident and the journey.

Perhaps unnecessary on the coast or London, but the further North and inland you go then the more necessary winter tyres become. The benefit is most noticeable in snow as they make the difference between starting, steering and stopping …or not. However the benefit is there every day that it’s cold, wet, or icy.l, it’s just less noticeable.

I’ve never known anyone drive on premium winter tyres - or be a passenger in a car with them in wintery conditions - and not be blown away by the difference in composure and ability. The difference can’t be explained by science, it’s witchcraft or at the very least alien technology.
Click to expand...

It's like walking in snow with woolen socks on or bare skin feet. The difference is night and day . Snow actually sticks to snow captured within the tread pattern.

Hiking boots or boxing boots is another example , when I owned an e350 coupe I couldn't get out of my street on summers , I swapped to cross climates and it was like driving in the dry . I'm now on Goodyear vector 4's which are better than cross climates in snow and ice , and are up there with summers for most tasks on tests . I swear by them and hooked for life .
 
ToeKnee said:
The "gentle brook" at end of our drive, 8 foot higher than normal.....

View attachment 166121
Click to expand...
Crikey, that must be a worry. Is it a regular occurrence for you?

We have a similar brook which runs to the side and behind us, but thankfully at its peak today it was still around 5 metres from our boundary.
 
Bobby Dazzler said:
Crikey, that must be a worry. Is it a regular occurrence for you?

We have a similar brook which runs to the side and behind us, but thankfully at its peak today it was still around 5 metres from our boundary.
Click to expand...
Flooded approx this time last year but nowhere near as high and that time was first time ever! Becoming a worry now though!
 
ToeKnee said:
Got to 20mm below door gap before spilling over the main road and into the drains. Garage flooded though 😥
Click to expand...
Oh blimey Toe. I hope there’s not too much damage caused, and the brook returns to normal very soon. Did it stay below the level of the air bricks?

It’s heartbreaking to see residents in the street asking or pleading with drivers not to drive through floods in front of their homes, and those drivers carry on - or worse still drive unnecessarily fast - through the standing water, and those residents watching as the bow waves crash into the front of their homes.
 
ToeKnee said:
Flooded approx this time last year but nowhere near as high and that time was first time ever! Becoming a worry now though!
Click to expand...
Lots of areas seem to be flooding for the first time with each year that passes, it’s no longer just the known flood risk areas that are affected.
 
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