Mercedes C220D

In reply to your post . my car is a B class sport, so this may not be relevant. I bought the car not realising at fhe time I would be towing a caravan. Although the car tows fine ,had I known I would not have bought the sport model. 9a0it does sit quite
low but not excessively so and (b) the low profile tyres give out a little more road noise than I would have liked particularly on less than smooth surfaces . Again this my be irrelevant for the C class but may help in your decision. Alan

thanks for feedback Engineman1947........ the tyres on the C Class have 50mm walls.... I am thinking this is not too low profile...  how does this compare ?

50mm or 50% 

The tyre size is 225/50 which I understood to mean a 50mm tye wall.

225 is the width of the tyre in mm

50 is 50% of the tyre width 

The tyre aspect ratio (the 50%) doesn't allow you to draw any conclusions abot the ride height.  ...

Nobody said it did  Enginman mention aspect ratio in relation to road noise & ride

I tow with a C220 CDi AMG Sport Estate.

The Sport does sit lower on it's suspension but the correct tow bar should sit the ball at the appropriate height. Semi-laden mine sits at 420mm to centre, which is in the band.

It tows a relatively light Avante 475 like it's not there, and never had a single nervous moment. But from March will tow a new 7m long Xplore at 1350kg (an 81% match).
It won't have an issue power wise, but hoping it remains as stable at the limit.

There are reviews that say it isn't the most stable of platforms in its class, but that the stiffer suspension on the Sport gives better stability than the more compliant SE suspension. Like I said, I have never had a single nervous moment. We will see.

Fully laden the rear suspension does compress somewhat, giving the caravan a pronounced nose down stance, and renders the already jiggly ride a little hard, but not uncomfortabley so.

Only car I have ever replaced with another, like for like, and providing it tows the bigger van okay, wouldn't hesitate to have another. Not had a single issue on either, in eight years and over 150k miles.
Just make sure you put winter tyres on if you want to go anywhere on snow.

Can't speak for C class but I had two E class cars and towbar grounding was a problem with both. Swapped for a 4x4 partly because of this (but have not grown a beard yet)

I have a C220 Sport Estate matched to a Sterling Elite Diamond (1460 kg).   We use it mainly for towing including long extended holidays on the Continent.    Absolutely no problems at all.     The suspension is firm but self-levelling and the van rides dead
level at all loadings.   One tip, inflate the car tyres to full load for best stability.  Sport mode is not necessary when towing and we find the ride is better in standard trim.   It usually does about 27 to 28 mpg and we are entirely happy with it..    My
son has a Volvo XC90 and a Porsche Targa and he reckons our Merc suspension is far superior to  to either.   The Volvo is wallowy and the Porsche is like riding on cobbles.   Give me the Merc any day.

If you can get air suspension I would strongly advise to go for it, otherwise go for the sport if the spec and kit meets your needs. Other must have options on a Merc (to help when it comes to trade-in time) are heated leather (avoid the standard cloth)
, a good metallic colour and autobox. Sat nav always helps as does a decent sound system upgrade, HID headlights and factory tow bar kit. Enjoy!

 .... Considering a new one just for the airmatic.

It's great when the caravan is on the back of my car ...... always level. Not struck on the 'sport' setting though as you can feel every crisp packet on the road and makes the ride a bit jittery.

 .... The air suspension on my Audi does not so much firm up the ride as lower the ride height when in sport mode. It has the advantage of being able to adjust the ride height within a range of 35mm which can be handy when traversing or hooking upto the
van on undulating ground.

My Airmatic has the option of lifting the car about 4" for added ground clearance at speeds up to 20mph .... in theory for off roading  ...
but adding the caravan disables it. In normal use Airmatic has soft/medium/sport settings and apparently it lowers at motorways speeds though I've never noticed that. 

Chris, you might want to check your handbook, and more importantly your Mercedes certificate of conformity. I think you will find the technical perrmisable load on the coupling point applies to the vehicle, and is catagorically 75kg for my 2012 C220 Estate.

This is irrespective of what coupling it has fitted.

I too have the Thule detachable coupling, but it's 100kg rating applies to that common coupling component which could be fitted to a whole host of vehicles. i.e good for 100kg if the vehicle is rated sufficiently.


Regrettably I think you will find our C220's are not.

75kg as a ratio of 1350 kg is 5.6%

 

  Cool

But you might want to read this document from the club. Particularly the first paragraph on the second page which hopefully better explains, where I clearly failed.

http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/media/6678669/noseweights-mo.pdf

Then see the table on page 12 confirming the max noseweight for our C Class is 75kg. This is the vehicle maximum, irrespective of what is bolted to it. And as the text confirms, you are limited by whichever figure is lowest, not pick the figure that suits us best.

I wish it wasn't so, I find it a struggle too.

Best of luck

 

This is one specific reason why i would never buy a C class, the nose weight limit is simply too low for many outfits. The lack of understanding of the implications of interpretation of nose weight limits set by car manufacturers is also worrying.......
However I do concur with the all weather or winter tyre set up albeit all 4 tyres should match and not just be fitted to the driven wheels (although i know of others who do that too).

With regard to fitting All Season tyres to the rear axle only. The regulations state that all tyres be of the same type. That is regarding construction, ie. radial or cross ply. There is no restriction on tread design either across the axle or between front
and rear axles.

All Season M&S tyres are designed to provide better grip on wet, muddy and moderately snow covered surfaces throughout the year and as such I think they are the ideal solution for rear wheel drive towcars with limited weight on the driven wheels. You will
find most articulated trucks run with specifically designed steer, drive and trailer tyres fitted to their respective axles. Cars can be treated in exactly the same manner. My outfit comprises Michelin Primacy HD (front), Pirelli 4 Season M&S (rear) & GT Radial
'trailer use only' tyres on the caravan. All perfectly legal. 

I have no doubt you are completely legal in the UK, and the differential between your good all round summer fronts and all-season rears is extremely unlikely to throw up anything untoward.

I run winter tyres on all our cars (except my track toy)
Here is what works for me.

On our front wheel drive cars I am happy just putting winters on the fronts. After all, the fronts are doing all the traction, all the steering, and almost all the braking.
( Don’t tell SWMBO, but on snow, her Focus encourages me to drive everywhere like Ari Vatenen )

However, on the Mercedes (or any RWD car) the thought of having winter tyres just on the rears for traction is completely anathema.
Imagine having the “traction” on an icy snowy road only to find you can’t steer and brake with equal confidence, when you need to.  No, not for me I am afraid.
Winter tyres all round, and on snow, the Merc is transformed from a complete basket case, to a confidently capable, go anywhere animal (until ground clearance becomes the limiting factor)

I have looked at the new crop of all-season options, but for the sake of a couple of hours hassle each November and March will stick to having the best of both worlds, on the Mercedes at least. 
I have a mate in the tyre business and he is trying the Michelin Cross Climate, so will await his verdict. They might be a reasonable all season compromise for the FWD cars.

Bring on some snow