mmccaskill

Just took my lease last Thursday. Love the car but knowing that the run flats will probably wear out before the 36k miles (I've heard anywhere from 10k - 25k) I figure I'll get non-run flats and store the OEMs. I'm considering the BFGoodrich G-Force Comp-2 A/S. Tirerack has them for $633 (but $583 with a mail-in rebate). Anyway are these a bad choice?

Mike5215

I have a set of staggered 18's for sale with less than 400 miles on them, purchased and mounted 4/15/16. Replaced last Saturday. Great riding tire but a little chunky looking for my taste. I replaced them with Michelin Pilot SuperSports which look better but cost more and don't ride quite as nice

$500 shipped for the set. PM me if interested.

mmccaskill

So I've just been informed that since the tires are staggered they can't be rotated. Not sure why I'm just now seeing that. So this leads me to ask: is it possible to switch to a non-staggered setup? Are there any possibilities of damaging the car?

Edit: I'm reading in a few places that it's ok to use the 225/45ZR18 (front) tires in the rear as well, even though the rear is slightly wider because this is done for winter tires. So the assumption is if winter tires are non-staggered then all season tires could be non-staggered as well. Then I could rotate and get 40k+ miles out of the tires.

Mike5215

Yeah you could go square. No harm to the car either way. You'd want to replace the rear rims to match the width of the fronts though. Maybe EBay if you didn't want a whole new set of wheels. Staggered halves the tread life of any tire.

mmccaskill

See I would assume I wouldn't as the snow tires are all the same size. I guess I'll call the dealer and ask.

Mike5215

The rear rims are a half inch wider. If you're doing normal rotations (swapping axles and left for right) you'd end up at some point with axles that have two different width wheels. Not good.

mmccaskill

So does that mean if I wanted to put winter tires on then I'd have to get new rear rims?

Mike5215

Or don't rotate the snows. I'm kind of immune to tire sticker shock. My 221 went through $700 a set rears every 9k miles. But I'd just run staggered and live with the reduced tread life. You'll end up buying a set of tires before lease turn in regardless.

A tire manufacturer's tread life warranty lasts right down to the wear bars, but your lease close out requirements likely stipulate 4 good tires with some life left on them.

StanNH

Your OEM rear wheels will accommodate the narrower size, so you can run the same size tires on the wheels that the car comes with. I run the same size snow tires on both axles, which is what the factory recommends, with no adverse effects. Because of the staggered wheel sizes, I obviously can not do a tire rotation with either the snows or regular tires.

mmccaskill

Ok basically it seems that with the 18" AMG wheels it is not possible to have non-staggered tires then, right? If so then it really doesn't make sense to buy new tires right now since staggered can't be rotated it'd be a wasted of money.

Mike5215

Right. The only rationale for replacing the run flats now and storing them for lease turn in later would be to get the improved ride and lower noise from non run flats, since you're going to be buying a set of tires at some point during the lease. If you like the RFs just run them down to the wear bars and then replace them when the time comes.

mmccaskill

Ok well thanks Mike. I might hit you up for the tires. Might be end of this month but if you find a buyer before then I understand.

WhoIsThat

Are there reasons not to like the OEM run-flat tires? For example, are there replacement tires for the C300 that are quieter, brake better, and handle better (all 3)? I always wonder about that because I generally assume that that the manufacturer knows how to strike a good balance on everything as they designed the car at the first place.

Mike5215

Start with the premise that the manufacturer decides they can save $100 per car by getting rid of the spare tire, the jack and the roadside kit if they use run flats. They can also avoid a huge percentage of roadside assistance calls if owners can drive with a damaged tire to a service center rather than having to change a tire in the middle of nowhere. (Which they won't do...they'll call for a truck if it's free.)

So it becomes a question of which run flat sucks the least in terms of ride, noise and wear and which tire manufacturers can come in with the best price on 100,000 of them.

Objectively, the minute I drove the C Class I knew the tires sucked. Too stiff and too noisy. Obviously if a tire is stiff enough to hold up a two ton car whether it has air in it or not...

But run-flats or not they had to go. I absolutely love the car on 18" Michelin Pilot Super Sports and AirMatic. Handles great, very smooth and quiet. Totally different car.

Second choice would be the BFGs, only because they're a little funky looking, but they're every bit as good as the Michelins on the road.

mmccaskill

Well I originally wanted them off because I know they wear out quickly and non-run flats don't. But now I know I have staggered wheels so either way I won't get but about 20-25k miles from the tires regardless of RF or not. So given that I don't personally have a problem with the RFs that are on the car. But going off of tirerack prices my OEM Pirelli Cinturato tires are ~$1k where as BFGs are $600. So it still might be worth me getting them and storing the OEMs.

mmccaskill

Well I did find these. 65k so half since staggered is 32.5k tread life. Not bad.

jester435

I went with Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06 because I live in Utah up on the east bench of the rocky mtns.

the OEM Pirelli lasted 11k miles and never were very pleasing.

new tires are a remarkable improvement.

IMO Pilot Super Sport are a bit overkill unless you have winter wheels and tires. Then they are a great option

mmccaskill

Unfortunately according to tirerack (which I assume is correct here) those Continentals aren't available in my 18" size but only the 19".

jester435

P ZERO ALL SEASON PLUS

great tire that i had on my lexus IS300 a few cars ago.

are you looking for summer or all season?

mmccaskill

All season makes more sense for me. Yeah I've heard good things about the P Zeros, too. Just trying to not have to spend $1k every 10k miles on tires lol.

Mike5215

Yeah the MPSS are discontinued in the 18" size for our staggered fronts. TireRack still has some and then they're gone for good. I've run SS on everything I've owned since '07 (mostly S Class)
and aside from the rather brief lifespan on the rears and the price I've always been happy with them. They probably are overkill on a C but they're my kind of overkill

topsider

I just put the PZERO All season Plus on a couple weeks ago, it rides like a different car.

mmccaskill

Hmmm that's interesting. My OEMs are the P7s and the tread looks almost like the PZero. Did you also have the P7s originally? Also did you have your MB dealer put them on or an independent shop? I've read some independent shops refuse to put non-run flats on cars that have OEM run flats.

topsider

I had the conti runflats at first. they sucked. The P7's are also grand touring tires where as the Pzero's are "ultra-high performance" all seasons, so there will definitely be a difference. I had them installed at my dealer only because I was having 3 bent rims fixed (caused by the stupid runflats) at the same time.

mmccaskill

Ahhh ok yeah you're right. I didn't realize the P7s are grand touring. So basically either way the P7s or the Pzeros will give me about 25k miles since I can't rotate. Seems like the Pzeros are a better deal as they're not run flat and are ultra high performance. Never had ultra high performance so should be interesting.