The leaves are changing, there’s a nip in the air, and the PSL/brown scarf/ugg boots combo is cropping up everywhere. It’s autumn. And while you’re shopping for pumpkins, you might be distracted by one thought: I need winter tires for my Mercedes. Sip your hot cider and relax. We’re here to help.
Since “Mercedes winter tires” is a pretty broad topic, we’ll narrow it down to one of the most popular Mercedes Benzes on the road: The C300. The C-Class has been the gold standard compact executive car for more than 25 years. With simple, reliable power under the hood, drive to the rear wheels, and all the luxury you could want in between, it’s a car the rest of the industry strives to emulate.
Whether you have a basic rear-wheel-drive model or an all-wheel-drive 4Matic car, you’ll want all the traction you can get this winter. Mercedes makes some of the most sophisticated driver assistance and traction control systems on the planet, but they won’t help you much if you can’t get a grip on the pavement. That all comes down to the four hand-sized contact patches between the road and your Mercedes’ tires.
We’ve talked at length about why different tires have different seasons, but it boils down to one basic principle: Rubber hardens when it gets cold. As it hardens, it loses grip. Tire manufacturers, however, can change the rubber formula to stay grippy during the winter. And while this works, it also makes the tires too soft during the summer, when they’ll begin to rub away like a pencil eraser.
So getting a set of new tires for the winter helps improve performance and safety. Yes, the C300 might boast an impressive nine airbags, but the most important safety features, other than the driver, are the tires.
By far, the most popular winter tires for this car are the Cooper Evolution Winter, the Michelin X-Ice Xi3, and the Bridgestone Blizzak WS80. Here’s a quick comparison between these three excellent choices.
Note: Mercedes offers the C300 in several trim levels, and some include different tire sizes. For our purposes, we’ll look at the base level, rear-wheel-drive model, with 225/50 R17 tires all around.
Cooper Evolution Winter
Price: $123 per tire
Cooper’s Evolution Winter series has earned the industry’s coveted 3-Peak Mountain Snowflake rating, signifying exceptional performance for severe snow service. Though sold without studs, the Evolution Winter does accept #11 studs. This is only important if you plan to spend most of your driving time in deep, off-road snow, which probably isn’t the case if you’re driving a C300. However, this tire has more to offer.
Unlike many snow tires, it boasts a quiet, comfortable ride. Many snow tires have large, chunky tread blocks that provide excellent grip in the snow, but sound a racket on bare pavement. The Evolution uses a smoother tread block pattern, relying on multi-angled siping to grip the road with every part of the contact patch. Siping might be an important term to know when you’re shopping for winter tires. Sipes are, in the simplest terms, tiny slashes in the tread blocks designed to provide every square centimeter with an extra edge in the snow.
The Evolution also features outboard shoulder tread blocks for strong lateral grip. This improves turning grip, helping to prevent unwanted slides. As a bonus, the quiet tread pattern is designed to evacuate water and slush, moving it away from the contact patch.
Michelin X-Ice Xi3
Price: $190 per tire
Michelin claims their X-Ice Xi3 studless snow tire has a 10% shorter stopping distance than their competitors. And while we can’t verify that, we wouldn’t be surprised. The Xi3 has a special tread pattern that creates a uniquely-shaped contact patch. It is designed to improve grip in all types of tire movement: acceleration, cornering, and braking.
The Xi3 also provides less rolling resistance than many snow tires— not an easy feat with big tread blocks. But Michelin wanted to stress environmental friendliness with this design, and less rolling resistance means that your Mercedes needs to generate less energy to get itself moving. That’s a roundabout way to say that you’ll get better gas mileage than with many snow tires.
Serrated leading and lateral edges of each tread block help to improve grip and reduce sliding, and cross Z siping makes the most of the entire contact patch.
Yet none of these features is the Xi3’s party piece— because it has micro-pumps. This advanced technology gives each tread block a series of tiny holes that “vacuum” water from the road surface just as the contact patch arrives to grip it. So they’re not just great in deeper snow, they also handle wet roads with ease.
Bridgestone Blizzak WS80
Price: $196 per tire
Bridgestone’s Blizzak is one of the most popular and well-known studless snow tires on the market. It’s a tried and true brand, trusted by many winter after winter. But that doesn’t mean Bridgestone has sat back on their laurels. They’ve kept the Blizzak up to date, continuing development with each new version.
Their NanoPro-Tech Multicell compound provides a hydrophilic coating to tread blocks. The compound performs similarly to the Xi3’s micro-pumps, siphoning water off the road surface. This system works in tandem with the tire’s microscopic bite particles to provide superior grip on a tiny scale.
For the larger scale operations, like tearing through deeper snow and persistent ice, the WS80 adds 20% more tread block edges than the WS70.
Based on overwhelmingly positive customer reviews, you can’t go wrong with the Blizzak.
Whatever snow tire you choose for your Mercedes, count on Zohr for an easy shopping experience, a great price, and the most efficient and convenient installation process on the market. That’s because Zohr offers mobile tire installation. Here’s how that works.
First, you order your new tires on Zohr.com for a competitive price. As you check out, we’ll ask you for a time and place you’d like us to come perform your Mercedes Benz tire replacement. Why do you get to specify? Because our tire service vehicles are equipped with everything we need to remove your old tires and replace them with new ones on the spot.
That means you don’t have to sit for hours in a smelly shop waiting room with bad wifi and daytime television while someone performs your tire replacement. We’ll come straight to your home or office to get the job done, and you can keep on living your life.
We can fulfill most orders the same day or the next day after you place them. Our coverage area includes service to all of the Kansas City and Dallas metros.
And don’t worry about clear coat scratches or incorrect jacking. Your Mercedes is in good hands. Our highly trained mobile tire techs handle high-value cars regularly and know how to treat them with care, from the moment we arrive until we torque your lug nuts down (to factory spec, of course).
If you’re ready to add a set of grippy, snow-slaying winter tires to your seasonal driving strategy, start shopping today at Zohr!
November 2019 | Cars & Cantina Dallas | Zohr
