Battery!

Michelin Pilot Primacy. I would think the 320 sport should have the same as well.

gaogi

Doh! I was too...this is why they shouldn't sell '05 cars in '04

gaiex

"ContiSportContact 2. I must say they are not great - slippery in the wet and generate a lot of rolling noise. Can't wait to change them to Michellins"

I think the same way, but I installed the bridgestone potenza RE050 now, the best tires I have to date, except the Bridgestone potenza S03, but they had a too hard thread.

No one used bridgestone here? (I tried almost all brands of tires and Bridgestone where the ones I liked more, continental dont have grip on wet...)

vdubpower

my next tires will be once i move to chicago, so ill have to find something all season i guess

Guest0001

my original non-sports were michelin energy 4 or something like that. Great ride but zero handling.

After that I got some Pilot sports- Exellent handling but rough ride over poor roads.

CitronC230K_03

mine came with michelin pilots from the factory.

ayilar

Michelin Pilot Sport Primacy tires here (car built in Summer 2004). Good tires in dry conditions and impressive in the wet, but rather hard on bad roads and a bit too noisy to my taste right from the beginning.

I just swapped back from the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA2 performance winter tires. The noise level of the PA2s is much lower; indeed, after 2,700 miles they remain as quiet as when I first got them, and whatever rumble they make is low-pitched and not annoying in the least. IMHO, only a part of the Primacy's loudness could be attributed to the greater width of the rear tires (245 vs. 225 on my winter tires). The PA2s also give a smoother ride (indeed, a smooth ride), with surprisingly little trade-off in terms of handling precision.

Bottom line: the Primacys are OK, but my next set of Summer tires will be PS2's or Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3's (or, perhaps, Pirelli P Zero Nero A/S tires, if they are _much_ quieter than either of the other choices).

gaiex

Mine came with continnental sportcontact 2, but no grip at all in wet

808_230K

built 8/04, primacys on mine as well

inFiniTE LooP

mine came with michelin Pilot Sport 2 Z-rated tires, 225 in front 245 in the rear. i've noticed my rear passenger side tire is BALD now though, so i've gotta replace my rear tires, the PS2s were nice but i looked at the price and they are nearly $200 EACH, not sure if i'll be getting them again considering i only got around 15,000 miles on'em. but who knows, i'm surprised nobody else has reported that they got the PS2s, i thought they were standard on all the sport sedans???

edit - i'm pretty sure they are the PS2s, they may just be the normal Z-rated pilot sports, i'll double check tomorrow

molarband

I have a 2002 Mercedes C240. My front right tire looks like it is about to explode.

Is it okay to switch it with my spare tire in the trunk with the bad front tire permanently? I looked at the model number (Michelin 205/55R) and it looks like it is the same except the nuts are different.

Is it bad to use your spare as the permanent tire?

inFiniTE LooP

in the owners manual it specifically says not to use the spare for more than x thousand miles or so i believe, however, i'm not sure if it applies if it is a full size spare or not because that section could be outdated, anyone have more input on this?

I KOMPRZ

I dont think a spare tire would be the same as what was on your car. Besides why would you want a bad tire in your trunk and run on the spare permanently? Get a new tire for God sake...its for your own safety...esp when you said its about to "explode"....damn.

CitronC230K_03

why not just buy a new tire. that way you have a "spare" when you need it!

nicedeboy

Yes, if you get the old tire off the rim and put the spare tire on the regular rim... you can use it. Its the exact same 4 tires that came with your car. When a dounut started on my tire, I had the tire service place take off the old one and put the spare on the rim. Just make sure they balance it.

ctC230K

have you considered calling roadside assistance and have them bring you a new tire?

Buellwinkle

If you have a physical problem with your tire, like there's a bubble that's about to explode as you put it, it should be covered under the Michelin warranty. They prorate based on treadlife and I assume that's OK because the other tires are usable. Just go to a tire shop that sells Michelin like Costco and see what they say. If for example the tire is $100 and they say it has 50% tread left and they honor the clain, they'll sell you a new tire for $50.

respdoc

This is not rocket science..

Your spare is just that a "spare"....

First change out your damaged tire with the "spare",
drive the car with the "spare" to your local tire shop of choice,
buy/ have mounted the correct size, rated, brand etc. as the other 3 tires on the car,
return your "spare" tire into the "spare" tire well and drive off....

Your spare was designed to save your rear when you hit that one nail you thought you missed causing a flat at 2 am while your cell phone just happens to be out of service range...

molarband

wouldn't they charge more for the tire? I would think it would just be cheaper to buy a new tire.

The reason why I wanted to just use the spare as the permanent tire is because I was planning to trade in my mercedes and did not want to spend anymore money on it.

respdoc

Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the spare rim look different compared to to the stock rim ??

You think they just will not notice ?

amdeutsch

Actually you are drawing wrong assumptions here. His car came with a full size spare (same as the other 4 on his car), not a donut like yours. Therefore he can do what you can't. :p

dennism13

Don't know if it applies to the W203 (I'd think it was similar if full size spare was stock), but according to the W208 manual the clk comes also with a full size spare. It does note that the spare wheel is optimized for weight and has a life span of 12K miles. I presume the bolts look different as they are also optimized for weight. The bolts heads I have (stored with the MB tools) don't have metal material in the center of their heads.

The wheel is fully functional (again according to the manual). So if you're planning to sell it sounds like you could run on it provided you sell before 12k.

respdoc

lol..not quite though..if he uses his spare for a perm. tire that means he has no spare as a back-up (unless he buys a spare to replace the spare in use but then he would be defeating his whole purpose of trying to save a couple of bucks on not replacing the damaged tire)...So he would still be S.O.L. if a true need for a spare arises since his would be already in use.


I could not find a good pic of the spare but from what it looks like, the rim looks different and I'm willing to bet if he has the sport rims on his car to begin with that the spare rim is surely not the same...

CitronC230K_03

a full size "spare" is still a "spare". what happens when he needs a "spare" and all he has a mr. bubbles on a rim?

SOL!

f00b4r

Just check the tire specs. All mb's I have seen the TIRE on the spare is the same as the other 4. The WHEEL is not. You can use the tire as a replacement for any of the other 4 but the wheel is not nearly as strong as the real wheel.