Oh crap, I've broken it!!!!!

[kentc5]

ESP and Traction Control on the Mercedes CL500 (00) model, well I think that is the best rear wheel drive I owned in snow ...
it does drive and never got stack with it. I assume being a big heavy lump... has something to do with it lol and that is has a 100lt petrol tank just above the rear axle and behind the rear seats.

The most useless car in the snow is my Lexus IS300 sportcross, got stuck 3 times around the block!! makes no difference if the ESP (VSC) or TRC is on or off!! ESP cannot be turned off anyway. And having LSD ... makes both rear tyres bold by trying to get unstuck! hahaha.

Although garages here in UK do not do it which I think it is silly, (everyone have their own theory of being wrong or right) when I usually buy a car I will put all 4 new tyres instead of just changing 1 or 2 needed. I like to have the same characteristics all around rather than a guesswork of which tyre will handle the best and which corner will loose first lol.

By coming from the Greek roads that are eehhmm death traps to say the least, there you cannot risk to have tyres more than 4yo on the car regardless the tread as they get hard from the extreme temperatures really cold over winter and really hot over the summer, and then you have the glass like tarmac that offers no friction at all!!

I noticed the UK roads although they do not like freezing temps (always have new pot holes appear with ice temps) but they have nice grain... cannot even do proper spin without burning the clutch lol.

I always depending on miles and as long as the tyres are the same size all around swap back to front every 3 months or so. Then I get nice even wear on all 4 tyres. And it does not give the chance to the rear to get stone hard rubber and become useless.

I cannot do that to my Lexus as the tyres are staggered, but the CL500 which has the basic tyre setup been doing it since I had it.

I had a "nice" spin off with my '95 MR2 ...I know they do not like round abouts .... but I was not expecting to loose my tail on a wet run about going with almost idling 3rd gear and 30-40MPH!!! I then found out my geometry was way out for the rear... so not always the tyres to blame.

[Northern_Mike]

By coming from the Greek roads that are eehhmm death traps to say the least,

I lived in Athens (Well, Kifissia) for 4 years. My dad still lives there and has a house in Sounion . You're not wrong about the roads! The mixture of marble in the asphalt makes the roads like ice in summer, winter, erm spring and autumn. When it rains, it's just hilarious. I hit the ground a few times on the Honda 90 I had over there.

[zipdip]

Not been on the site for a time,this topic has got a few people going,I have a 2009 C5 1.8 VTR+ and I always put the best tyres on the front,I know I have seen the notice in the tyre fitters but it has been pointed out if you are going that fast around a corner to get the back end to step out,then I want the best tyres on the front to get everything back in order,another posting went on to extol the virtues of Michelin Primacy tyres,well I think every body who owns Citroen cars knows they wear the fronts out quickly,the general thought is put on a £175 tyre like primacy and you get more miles out of them well I have a brand new one on the spare which is not even in the car and never will be used ,but that is another posting,I have to tell all the premium brand tyre people that I have found a tyre which beats all of them ,I should charge for this,as at the moment the tyres are around £100,they are a Canadian tyre called Marshall,Matrix,the fronts have been on for 15,000 miles and there is still about 3,000 left before they are put on the back,I think these tyres will be good for over 30,000 miles,maybe 40,000 my car uses 225/55/17/w which is common to alot of citroens,I started out reading this posting as I always like to hear about the trials of owning a pump up citroen,and got hooked.