Observe
thelegal requirements ineach coun-
try.
X Do not use hotwater anddonot wash the
vehicle indirect sunlight.
X Use asoft sponge toclean.
X Use amild cleaning agent,suchasacar
shampoo approved byMercedes-Benz .
X Thoroughly hosedown thevehicle witha
gentle jetofwater.
X Do not point thewater jetdirectly towards
the airinlet orthe edges ofdecorative foils.
X Use plenty ofwater andrinse outthe
sponge frequently.
X Rinse thevehicle withclean water anddry
thoroughly withachamois.
X Do not letthe cleaning agentdryonthe
paintwork orthe decorative foils.
Careful lyremove alldeposits ofroad saltas
soon aspossible whendriving inwinter.
Powe rwashers G
WARNING
The water jetfrom acircular jetnozz le(dirt
blasters) cancause invisible exteriordam-
age tothe tires orchassis component s.
Components damagedinthis way may fail
unexpectedly. Thereisarisk ofan accident.
Do not use power washers withcircular jet
nozz lestoclean thevehicle. Havedamaged
tires orchassis component sreplaced imme-
diately .
! Vehicles
withdecorative film:parts ofyour
vehicle arecovered withdecorative film.
Maintain adistance ofat least 27.5in
(70 cm) between thefilm-covered partsof
the vehicle andthenozz leof the power
washer.
Information aboutthe correct distance is
avail able from theequip ment manufacturer.
Move thepower washer nozzlearound when
cleaning yourvehicle.
The water temperature ofthe power washer
must notexceed 140‡(60 †).
! Alway
smaintain adistance ofat least
12 in(30 cm) between thevehicle andthe
power washer nozzle.Information aboutthe
correct distance isavail able from theequip -
ment manufacturer. Move
thepower washer nozzlearound when
cleaning yourvehicle.
Do not aim directly atany ofthe followi ng:
R Tires
R Door gaps, roofgaps, joints, etc.
R Electrical component s
R Battery
R Plug-type couplings
R Light bulbs
R Seals
R Trim elements
R Ventilation slots
Damaged sealsorelectrical component s
can lead toleaks orfailu res.
! Vehicles
withHAND S-FREE ACCESS: ifa
key with KEYLES S-GOiswithin thedetec-
tion range ofthe KEYLES S-GOantenn as,the
trunk lidcould openunintent ionallyinthe
followi ngsituations, forexample:
R when usinganautomatic carwash
R when usingapower washer
Make surethatthekey isat least 6.5ft
(2 m) awa yfrom thevehicle.
Cleani ngthe paintwork !
Do
not affix:
R stickers
R films
R magnetic platesorsimila ritems
to painted surfaces. Youcould otherwise
damage thepaintwork.
Scratc hes,corrosive deposits,areasaffected
by corrosion anddamage causedbyinade-
quate carecannot alwaysbe completely
repaired. Insuch cases, visitaqual ified spe-
cialist workshop.
X Remove dirtimmediately ,where possible ,
while avoidi ngrubbing toohard.
X Soak insect remains withinsect remover
and rinse offthe treated areasafterwards.
X Soak birddroppings withwater andrinse off
the treated areasafterwards.
X Remove treeresin, oils,fuels andgreases by
rubbing gentlywithacloth soaked inpetro-
leum ether orlighter fluid
X Remove coolantandbrake fluidwithamoist
cloth andclear water. Care
275Maintenance andcare Z
R
Do not drive with tire swh ich have too little
trea dde pth .Thi ssigni ficantl yred uce sthe
tra ctio non wetroa ds(hyd rop laning ).
R Re place thetiresaf ter six ye arsat the lat-
est, regardless ofwe ar. MOE
xtende dtire s(ti res with run-f lat
prope rties)
Wi th MOExte ndedtire s(ti res with runfla t
cha racteri stics) ,yo ucan conti nuetodrive your
veh icleeve nif the reisatota llo ss ofpre ssu re
in one ormor etire s.
MOExte ndedtire sma yonl ybe used incon-
juncti onwith an acti vetire pressu remoni tor
and onlyon wheelssp eci fically teste dby
Me rced es-Benz.
Note son drivin gwi th MOExte ndedtire swi th a
fla ttire (Ypage 281 ).
Veh icles equipp ed with MOExte ndedtire sar e
not equipp ed with aTIR EFIT kitatthe factory .
It is the refore reco mme ndedtha tyo uad ditio n-
al ly eq uip yo ur veh iclewi th aTIR EFIT kitifyo u
mou nttire stha tdo not featureru n-fl atcha rac-
teri stics, e.g.wi nter tires.ATIR EFIT kitcan be
ob tained fromaqu alifi ed speci alistwo rksh op. Win
terope ratio n Ge
neral notes
Hav eyo ur veh iclewi nter-p roofed ataqu alifi ed
sp eci alistwo rksh opatthe onse tof winter.
Ob ser vethe note sin the "Cha ngi ng awh eel"
sec tion(Y page 316 ). Dri
ving with summe rtire s
At temp eratures below 45 ‡(+7 †),su mme r
tire slo se elas tici tyand therefore tractio nand
bra king powe r.Ch ang ethe tireson your veh i-
cle toM+S tires.Us ing su mmer tiresatvery
cold tempera turescould cause cracks toform,
thereby damagingthetires perma nently.
Mercede s-Benzcannot acceptresponsi bility
for this type ofdama ge. G
WARNING
Damage dtires cancause tireinflati onpres-
sure loss. Asaresul t,you could losecontrol
of you rvehicl e.There isarisk ofaccide nt. Check
thetires regularlyforsigns ofdam-
age and repla ceany dama gedtires immedi -
ately . M+S
tires G
WARNING
M+S tireswithatire tread depth ofless than
00CF in(4 mm) arenot suitable foruse inwin-
ter and donot provid esuffici enttraction.
There isarisk ofan accide nt.
M+S tireswithatread depth ofless than 00CF
in (4 mm) must berepla cedimmedi ately.
At temperatu resbelo w45 ‡(+7 †), use win-
ter tires orall-season tires.Bothtypes oftire
are identifi edbythe M+S marking.
Only winter tiresbearing the004D snowfla ke
symbo lin add ition tothe M+S marking provide
the best possi blegrip inwintry roadcondi-
tions.
Only these tireswillall ow drivi ngsafety sys-
tems suchasABS andESP®
to function opti-
mall yin winter. Thesetireshave been devel-
oped specifi callyfor drivi nginsnow.
Use M+S tiresofthe same make andtread on
all whee lsto maintai nsafe handl ingcharacter-
istics.
Alwa ysobserve themaximu mpermis sible
speed specifiedfor the M+S tiresyouhave
mounted.
When youhave mounted theM+S tires:
X Check thetire pressu res(Ypage 302).
X Resta rtthe tire pressu remonitor
(Y page 304). Snow
chains G
WARNING
If snow chains areinstall edtothe front
whee ls,they maydrag against thevehicl e
body orchassi scomponents. Thiscould
cause damagetothe vehicl eor the tires.
There isarisk ofan accide nt. 298
Winter
operationWheelsand tires
Gross
AxleWeig htRating (GAWR) :the maxi-
mum permiss iblewei ght that canbecarried by
one axle (front orrear axle) .
To ensure thatyourvehicle doesnotexceed
the maximu mpermiss iblevalu es(gross vehi-
cle weight and maximu mgross axleweight rat-
ing), have yourloa ded vehicle (includingdriver,
occupa ntsand theload)wei ghed onasuita ble
vehicle weighbrid ge. All
about wheelsand tires Unifo
rmTire Quality Grading Stand-
ards
Overvie wof Tire Quality Grading
Standards Uniform
TireQual ityGrad ingStandards are
U.S. government specifications. Theirpurpose
is to provid edrivers withuniform reliableinfor-
mation ontire performa ncedata. Tiremanu-
facturers havetograde tiresusing threeper-
formance factors:0043tread weargrade ,0044
traction gradeand0087temperatu regrade .
These regulations donot applyto Cana da.
Neverthele ss,alltires soldinNorth America
are provid edwith thecorrespondi ngqua lity
gradi ngmarkings onthe sidew allofthe tire.
Qual itygrade scan befound, whereapplicable,
on the tire sidew allbetwee ntread shoulder
and maximu msection width.
Example:
R Treadwear grade:200
R Traction grade:AA
R Temperatur egrade: A
All passe ngercartires must conform tothe
statutory safetyrequirements inadd ition to
these grades. i
The
actual valuesfor tires arevehicle -spe-
cific andmay devia tefrom thevalu esinthe
ill ustration.
Treadwear The
treadw eargrade isacompara tiverating
base don the wea rrate ofthe tire when tested
under controlled conditions onaspecifi edU.S.
government course.Forexampl e,atire grade d
150 wouldwea rone andone-half timesaswel l
on the government testtrack asatire grade d
100.
The relative performa nceoftires depends
upon theactual conditions oftheir use,how-
ever, andmay depa rtsignifi cantly fromthe
norm duetovaria tions indriving habits,ser-
vice practices anddifferences inroad charac-
teristics andclimate.
Traction G
WARNING
The traction gradeassigned tothis tireis
base don straight-ahe adbraking traction
tests, anddoes notinclud eaccelera tion,
cornering, hydroplaning, orpeak traction
characteris tics.
! Avoid
wheelspin.This canleadto dama ge
to the drive train.
The traction grades– from highe stto lowe st–
are AA, A,Band C.Those gradesreprese ntthe
tire's ability tostop onwet paveme ntas meas-
ured under controlled conditions onspecifi ed
government testsurface sof aspha ltand con-
crete. Atire marked Cmay have poortraction
performa nce.
The safe speed onawet, snow covered oricy
road isalw ayslowe rthan ondry road surfa-
ces.
You shoul dpay specia lattention toroad con-
ditions whentemperatu resare arou ndfreezing
point.
Mercedes -Benzrecommends aminimum tread
depth of00CF in(4 mm) onallfour winter tires.
Observe thelega llyrequi redminimum tire
tread depth (Ypage 297). Winter tirescan
reduce thebraking distance onsnow-covered
surface sin compari sonwith summer tires.The
braking distance isstill much further thanon Al
labout wheelsand tires
309Wheelsand tires Z
Summ
er
tires Index Speed
rating ZR...(..
Y) over
186mph (300km/h) ZR over
149mph (240km/h) R
Optionally, tireswithamaximum speedof
over 149mph (240 km/h) mayhave "ZR"in
the size description, dependingonthe man-
ufacturer (e.g.245/ 40ZR18 ).
The service specification ismade upofload-
bearing index0083and speed rating0084.
R Ifthe size description ofyour tireincludes
"ZR" andthere arenoservice specifications,
ask thetire manufacturer inorder tofind
out themaximum speed.
If aservice specification isavaila ble,the
maximum speedislimited according tothe
speed ratinginthe service specification.
Example: 245/40ZR18 97Y.Inthis exam-
ple, "97Y"isthe service specifica tion.The
letter "Y"represents thespeed rating. The
maximum speedofthe tire islimi ted to
186 mph (300 km/h).
R The size descriptio nfor alltires withmaxi-
mum speed sof over 186mph (300 km/h)
must include "ZR",and theservice specifi-
cation mustbegiven inparentheses .Exam-
ple: 275/40 ZR18 (99 Y).Speed rating"(Y)"
indicates thatthemaximum speedofthe
tire isover 186mph (300 km/h). Askthe
tire manufacture rabou tthe maximum
speed . All
-
weather
tires
and win-
ter tires Index Speed
rating Q
M+S 1 up
to100 mph (160 km/h) T
M+S 1 up
to118 mph (190 km/h) H
M+S 1 up
to130 mph (210 km/h) V
M+S 1 up
to149 mph (240 km/h) i
Not
alltires withtheM+S marking provide
the driving characteristics ofwinter tires.In
addi tion tothe M+S marking, wintertires
also have the004D snowfla kesymbo lon the
tire wall.Tires withthismarking fulfillthe
requi rements ofthe Rub ber Manufa cturers
Association (RMA)andtheRub ber Associa-
tion ofCana da(RAC) regard ingthe tire trac-
tion onsnow. Theyhave been especia lly
devel oped fordriving onsnow.
An electronic speedlimiterprevents yourvehi-
cle from exceeding thefollow ingspeed s:
R 130 mph (210 km/h):
- All vehicle s(except Mercedes-AMG vehi-
cles)
R 155 mph (250 km/h ):
- Mercedes-AMG SL63
- Mercedes-AMG SL65
R 186 mph (300 km/h):
- Mercedes-AMG SL63 (Performa ncePack-
age)
- Mercedes-AMG SL65 increased maxi-
mum speed
The speed ratingoftires mounted atthe fac-
tory may behighe rthan themaximum speed
that theelectronic speedlimiterpermits.
Make surethatyourtires have therequi red
speed rating, e.g.when buying new tires. The
requi redspeed ratingforyou rvehicle canbe
found inthe "tires" section (Ypage 321).
Further information aboutreadi ngtire data
can beobtained fromanyqualifiedspecia list
workshop.
Load index In
addi tion tothe load -bearing index,load
index 0043may alsobeimprinted onthe side-
1 Or M+S 004D forwinter tires. 312
Al
labout wheelsand tiresWheel sand tires
tor
cann otfunctio nrel iabl y. Onl yres tartthe
tire pressu remoni torwhen the defecti ve
wh eelha sbe en rep laced with anew wheel.
All mou nted wheelsmu stbe equipp ed with
fu nctio ningsenso rsfor the tire pressu remoni -
tor. Whe
eland tirecombi nati ons
Yo ucan askfor inform ation reg arding permi t-
ted wheel/ti recomb inations atan author ized
Me rced es-Benz Center.
! For
safety reason s,Me rced es-Benz recom-
mend stha tyo uonl yus etire sand wheels
wh ich have been appro ved byMe rced es-
Benz speci fically for your veh icle.
The setire sha ve been speci ally ad ap ted for
us ewi th the contro lsy ste ms, such asABS
or ESP ®
,and arema rked asfollows :
R MO =Me rced es-Benz Original
R MOE =Me rced es-Benz Original Extend ed
(ti res featuring run-fl atcha racteri stics)
R MO1 =Me rced es-Benz Original (only cer-
tai nAMG tires)
Me rced es-Benz Original Extend edtire sma y
onl ybe used on wheelstha tha ve been spe-
cif ica lly ap pro ved byMe rced es-Benz.
Onl yus etire s,wh eelsor acc essor iestes ted
and appro ved byMe rced es-Benz. Certa in
cha racteri stics, e.g.ha ndl ing,veh iclenoi se
emi ssions orfuel cons umption, mayothe r-
wi se be adver selyaffecte d.Inadditio n,
wh en drivin gwi th aload ,tire dimens ion va r-
ia tio ns cou ldcau sethe tiresto come into
conta ctwith the bodywo rkand axlecomp o-
nents .Thi scou ldres ultin da ma getothe
tire sor the vehicle.
Me rced es-Benz accepts no liab ility for dam-
ag eres ulting fromthe useof tire s,wh eels
or acc essor iesothe rtha nthos etes ted and
ap pro ved .
Info rma tionon tire s,wh eelsand appro ved
comb inations can beobtained fromany
qu alifi ed speci alistwo rksh op.
! Re
trea dedtire sar enei the rtes ted nor rec-
omm endedbyMe rced es-Benz, since previ-
ou sda ma gecann otalwa ysbe detecte don
retr eade dtire s.As ares ult, Me rced es-Benz
cann otguarante eveh iclesa fety ifretr eade d
tire sar emou nted .Do not mou ntused tire s if
yo uha ve no inform ation abou tthe irpre vi-
ou sus ag e.
Th erec omm endedpre ssu res forvario us oper-
ati ng cond itions canbefou nd:
R on the Tire and Loading Info rma tionplaca rd
on the B-pi llar on the driver 'sside
R in the tire pressu retab leon the fuel filler
fla p
Ob serve the note son rec omm endedtire pres-
su res und ervario us opera ting cond itions
(Y page 299 ).
Ch eck tirepressu res regular ly,and onlywh en
the tiresar ecol d.Co mpl ywi th the mainte -
nanc erec omm endations ofthe tire manuf ac-
tur erinthe vehicledo cum entwallet.
Note son the vehicleeq uipme nt–alwa ys
eq uip the vehicle:
R with tire sof the same size on agiven axle
(l eft and right)
R with the same typeof tire sat agiven time
(s um mer tires,winter tires,MOExte nded
tire s)
Excep tion:itis pe rmi ssible to mou ntadi f-
fer ent typeor ma keinthe eventofafla t
tire .Ob serve the "MOExte ndedtire s(ti res
wi th run-fl atcha racter istics )"se ctio n
(Y page 281 ).
Veh icles equipp ed with MOExte ndedtire sar e
not equipp ed with aTIR EFIT kitatthe factory .
It is the refore recomm endedtha tyo uad ditio n-
al ly eq uip yo ur veh iclewi th aTIR EFIT kitifyo u
mou nttire stha tdo not featureru n-fl atcha rac-
teri stics, e.g.wi nter tires.ATIR EFIT kitmaybe
ob tained fromaqu alifi ed speci alistwo rksh op. Whe
eland tirecombi nati ons
321Whe elsand tires Z