rocafel1a

ahahaha...i feel you. i would get the ps2, but only if i had the benjamins

TemjinX2

yeah i'm looking to get some t1r's too. Seems like the favorite choice for a lot of the corvette guys. The general understanding is that almost as good as ps2's but cheaper.

rocafel1a

thanks temjinx2,

sorry for askin, but are there other leading brands, other than michelins and toyos? (just so i could have choices to choose from and compare prices)

RedG

Continental's New Extreme Contact DW (and DWS) are stellar offerings that are on par with and Michelin, Goodyear, or Toyo. It should also be noted that the Continental SportContact VMAX is the highest speed capable tire on the market period.

ROLLNNN

Ive heard really good things about the t1r's. i ordered a set today, so hopefully they are as good as everyone says..

Glyn M Ruck

Only problem with the Conti's are that they are noisy & get noisier with wear - Sounds like a wheel bearing failing. The W203 suspension is sensitive to this. Depends on how sensitive you are. Your car has the softer bushings which improve this a little but they are still going to make a noise.

Glyn M Ruck

Let us know

RedG

If you are worried about poor wear conditions leading to noise when driving than you should look to a tire with solid shoulders (like the T1R) that provides better wear resistance against just such problems. Though they won't perform as well as other competitive makes such as Continental or BFG.

ROLLNNN

will do, but i wont have them til next weekend..

when i had my brakes done today, there was a huge bubble in the front tire... i had falken 452's, the guy who was working on my car, said he sees that a lot with the falkens... wish i knew that before i purchased them, i still had about 70% tread left. anyways i took that one off and they gave me a used bf goodrich tire they had sitting around...

Glyn M Ruck

Michelin's Pilot Exalto PE2 is the perfect tyre for silence on the W203 (the new PS2 has stolen the same tread pattern minus a few sipes & is no longer directional) - Starts dead silent & stays that way. Radial tread bands with sipes & no blocks. One should not fit directional tyres on the W203 if noise worries you so you can change the direction of rotation every 10,000 Km's i.e. do a corner to corner rotate or across the same axle with staggered set up. The Yokohama AVS db2 is another proven quiet tyre with the 203 suspension.

Conti's make air pumping noise from new - they don't need wear to induce this.

rocafel1a

correct me if im wrong, from previous posts,

yokahamas are quiet
conti and bf goodrich are for street performance

is that correct?

RedG

All brands can (and do) produce tires that fit each category. What is your PRIMARY desire with your tire? What is your secondary desire with your tire? You have a choice of performance, ride, quietness. Remember in all reality you can only effectively get two of the three.

rocafel1a

im looking primarily for quietness and performance; pretty much looking for street performance tires for aggressive drivers and perform like my OE 17" michelins...but just bumpin up to 19"s

oh i do have a limited budget.

W203E35

My friend has Nittos on his CL600 with LM5s and same thing happened to him. There was even a huge square patch missing.

When I heard this it sounded very odd to me. A square patch of tire missing?

Glyn M Ruck

Roc - I suggest you phone the Tirerack & discuss your requirements & budget with them - they always give sound advice. I've just had an argument with RedG on the 204 forum and I'm not about to start another one.

I know the W203 suspension backwards & it is known to transmit tyre noise - at the facelift in 2004 they softened up the front & rear suspension bushings & mounts by between 12 & 22% to combat this but it was only semi effective. You can take a noisy wheelset off of a W203 & transfer it to other Merc models & they will seem quiet. It is just a characteristic of the suspension. If the front castor bushes soften or crack which they are prone to it causes cupping on the front tyres which exaccerbates this. The rear toe also causes feathering that leads to air pump noise. The Tirerack is well aware of all of this. Speak to Luke if he is still there.

Did your car come with PS1s or PS2s or heaven forbid Pilot Primacy's? If it came with PS2s with the Exalto PE2 tread pattern you are going to battle to match the performance & quietness at a reasonable price - You guys pay terrible prices for Michelin Tyres.

It sounds like the Toyos might be OK but they won't stick like PS2s

Phone the Tirerack.

rocafel1a

sorry to hear the argument you guys are having...over tires. it's all good though. no tough blood.

lol i think my stockies are pilot primacys...are they, bad?

goal is to just to have a set of tires i could rely on...i mean safety comes first, so when im driving aggressively, i do want to depend on tires that stick on the floor as much as possible...but as long as they aren't too expensive for just pure everyday freeway, street driving.

thans for the 2 cents glyn!

chutoyy

Riken Raptor ZR... The worst tire... They don't grip AT ALL, and they make your wheels look smaller. My 6mt C230 can chirp when shifting to 2nd gear... (Not possible w/ ContiSport 3)

They do have a nice tread pattern.

Glyn M Ruck

The Primacy was not Michelins best effort. I have never seen anyone on the forum disagree. They are a European touring tyre that some find noisy & others are not satisfied with grip. I don't like them. The PS2 & the Exalto PE2 are vastly better. The Primacy does give good life generally. The Primacy has just been redesigned so maybe the new ones are better.

TemjinX2

well i'm looking for mainly traction...i jsut dyno'ed my car today and hit around 326whp and 321wtq and i'm planning on getting the LET 185 crank to try to hit closer to 380whp in the future.

Just doing the research on other forums, it looks like the ps2's and t1r's are the preferred two tires for the corvette and porsche guys. On the drag and track.

Road noise isn't a primary concern for me.

I had some good things about Goodyear F1's though.

rocafel1a

yeah i know that the 330i's have contisport stockies...yeah their tread pattern looks goood...

rocafel1a

damn man your whip is fast as hell!

probably the tires you recommend are mainly for tracking and dragging

i'm lookin more for aggressive street drving tires

TemjinX2

thanks..i'm kinda dynoing kinda low for a modded c32...so a larger crank pulley is in the future.

If you mainly looking just for street tires, i dont think you really have to drop the cash of a ps2 or t1r's.

you will do fine with some bf goodrich kdw's or goodyear F1's.

ROLLNNN

Damn just got done washing my car and found another small bubble on the other front tire.. these Falken452's suck!!!

TemjinX2

did you run over a huge pot hole and relatively high speed? happened to me when me on my generals when i drove over this huge pot hole on brookhurst at 45mph because i was dumb and not paying attention.

Thats why i'm had half bf goodrich tires.

rocafel1a

thanks for the advice/recommendations...

ima also give tirerack a call too....

thanks bro!