jerseyal

Whats it like? Did you buy snow tires, or will the standard tires do?
Thx in advance.

big SLK

i havent driven in snow, but i did drive in ice.
This was in austria in the alps where the roads are on a cliff.
Very Dangerous.
The car slid a few times, but the antilock brakes kicked in
and helped a lot. Good car but inapprop stock tires for ice.

-1-

SNOW? With other vehicles to drive in bad weather, our SLK doesn't even see rain. All weather car, fair weather SLK driver. Seriously, I try to keep the SLK clean, the less bad weather, the cleaner it stays.

Duo-Art

Do NOT drive on snow with the stock tires. They become rock hard at cold temperatures and are only marginally safe on dry pavement. The owners manual talks about this. I'm with -1-, I don't drive my SLK in winter and I rarely if ever drive it when it's raining.

Ynot

Same with everyone else here, I garaged my SLK for the winter, it haven't seen sunshine for close to two months now. Several members say they do get around just fine with snow tires. The OEM tires are dangerous in freezing temp. MB test the SLK in the snow so it's drivable. Here's a few pics of a guy in Germany driving in the snow with some tire socks.

-1-

Oh WOW, a Yellow Cab SLK. Hey, I like the look of that yellow or mustard colored SLK. Color probably would look better on a non snowy, bright day. Great pics YNOT.

RoadkingHI

Snow?????
Ice????
Sorry, couldn't resist....

bejak

Driving in snow? Of course, why not? The SLK is perfect on winter roads. With ABS, ASR, ESP and all the other gizmos, what could happen? Yesterday I did 110km/h on icy roads. It was great fun.

Duo-Art

bejak, but you don't have to share the roads with crazy American drivers. I believe it takes at least 90 days of winter to retrain the fools in my city on how to drive on snow covered roads. They seem to forget that the stuff is slippery.

SLK_girl

My SLK is my everyday car. I drive it rain, ice, sleet, or shine. I do not change to winter tires, just use stock. So far, haven't missed a day! If it is too bad to drive, everything around here is closed. Just put it in "W" or "C" mode, depending on if you have the R170 or R171. They are the same. Disengage the anti slip and go, Go, GO!!!! Just take it easy and you can get anywhere.

FlavioB

I just did a 2 day MB Alpine Driving Course in Les Diablerets, Switzerland. MB has been doing this on a closed mountain road for 20 years.
Tried all kinds of new Mercedes, from B to S, 4matic and not. Even drove the SLK and SL with the top open.
Now, ESP and ABS work very well as long as there's even a little traction, but we tried stopping on a very steep slope and there was no way to get going again.
4matic didn't even light up the warning triangle !
SLK is fine on snow as long as the road is reasonably flat.
Just my 2 cts.

bejak

Hi Duo-Art. Yes we do have one or two of those drivers here in Sweden as well. It seems that the younger drivers can manage winter driving better then the elder because they often play with their cars when the first snow comes on the roads. Spinning, drifting or what they call it. The result is that they learn a lot about driving during winter season.

Duo-Art

We have a lot of people that own SUV's and they don't realize that even though they can get moving in snow, it still takes care to stop on slick roads.

Maverick

I think it really depends on the tires you have. I have the Run Flats that come with the Run Flat/ Flat Sensor option, and I have to say they are indeed terrible on snow and ice. OK on wet as long as it is warm, but still not very good.

I contacted the dealership and an SLK specialist at MB itself about putting chains on when I wanted to go over the mountain passes once. They simply said "Don't do it!". It apparently really messes with the ESP. Their suggestion was to get a good set of snow tires if I wanted to keep them on through the winter. I opted to take my wife's car and leave the MB in the garage.

slktyperice

I took the SLK up for a snowboarding trip through a blizzard, and with ESP off, it was definitely a fun drive. Of course you have to take care to slow down early, but with my stock non-AMG (Michelin Primacy) 17" tires, it was manageable. As long as you can control a slight drift through corners and turn in early, you can give yourself enough of a margin of error to avoid trouble.

Maverick

Ynot: By the way, what are "tire socks"? I have never heard that term and did not turn up anything useful on Google when I searched for it.

omagagi

As I said in an earlier post, I have been able to get around on the Blizzak Revos. Some minor fishtailing at the start or around turns. I have had my car since December 2004 so the "babying" period is over. I drive it all year round. Can't take it to the grave with you. Anyway, I plan on trading up to an SLK55 once the lease is over.

slktyperice

I think tire socks are sort of like chains, but less of a hassle to put on?

Maverick

I just found this product, and it is actually called "AutoSock" http://www.autosock.us/.

It looks pretty cool, and they say it does not affect ESP. I would appreciate knowing if anyone has used it, especially on an SLK.

hekeke

drive on snow with no problerm... but not with stock tires....I use x-ice..lol
goood~~~if u want more control...put a sack of sand into your slk's trunk.

Ynot

yeah, it's a new german invention, it's called autosocks as mentioned above. TUV (German DOT) approved so you know it works. Many compliments, slips on easily, drives up to 30mph, great on ice. More info can be found on their website. I had a co-worker that talks about getting them but don't know if he got it yet.

MBs Only Now

As a general rule you NEVER run regular tires in the snow on any car. If you really want to drive with the same tires all year where you have a real winter, opt for four season tires (not "all season", but specifically "four season" tires).

Gylles Smyth

Just as a different point of view, I've never run anything besides summer performance tires (Bridgestone Potenzas on the CLK55, Michelin Pilot Super Sports on the SLK55, and previously Potenzas on an RX8 and Pirelli P7s on a 300ZX) in occasional snow and very frequent rain and have never encountered any problems (or even had the stability control kick in) as long as there was decent tread left on the tire.

Just one user's experience; yours may vary.

Johnsct

Man I would love to see that. Summer performance tires on snow. Summer tires become bricks in low temps and their thread is not made for snow traction. I believe you, but would love to see it. I've been stuck a few times on Summer tires in a snow storm and getting up any hill was impossible.