mleskovar

Both articles only mention one reason for having new tires on the back....hydroplaning. They also address more reasons for putting them on the front. So the recommendation is to plan for <1% chance of hydroplaning at the expense of better front end stability while cornering and improved braking performance with 100% of the driving? Am I missing something? Slow down when rains hard.

Jeffy

Its much safer for any wet weather driving to install the new tires on the rear and move the half-worn tires to the front. This provides the car with a more stable understeer tendancy that is much easier to recover from in any loss of traction situation. If you put the new tires on the front, the rear end could loose traction and spin the car out of control before you even have a chance to recover. Check out this link to the Michelin USA website where they advise new tires to go on the rear and talk about it with a video.

http://www.michelinman.com/care/tip6.html#5

I attended a Michelin demonstration of this with two identical cars; one with 30% worn front/new rear and the other with new front/30% worn rears. Doing simple wet handling manuevers had the latter spun off the track uncontrollably and the former was easy to control understeer.

Hope that helps.

-Jeff

Dr Chill

The factory Michelin Pilot Sports on my daughter's 2004 C230 sport sedan are 225/45-17 and 245/40-17. Can I go to 225/50-17 and 245/45-17 which are .9 or 1.0 inch larger diameter without rubbing? She already bent one rim and I'm looking for a little protection form potholes.

amdeutsch

1) Sure you can if you want the speedo and the odo to be off
2) Tell her to be more careful. Kids that don't have to pay for it usually don't treat it properly
3) Which rim did she bent: front or rear?
4) Rears can handle 255s without an issue.

tyro

Bend is spelled bend, not bent.
Jim Banville made me post this. I swear :v

BabyBenz6spd

How many miles does it usually take to wear out these OEM tires?

What replacements are you guysing replacing it with?

just want to hear your opinions~

BabyBenz6spd

I've decide to go with one of these selections after couple researches

1. Yokohama AVS Sport
2. Yokohama AVS ES100
3.BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW 2
4. Pirelli PZero Nero M&S

Those are my top choices because they offer good wet traction at pretty good price.

If money was no object, I will definitly go with:

1. Pilot Sport (Again)
2. Pilot Sport 2 (Aka PS2)
3. Bridgestone Potenza S-03 Pole Position

I love them, but they are outta my budget. (Running close to $180-$190 per tire)


Anybody got any of these they can share their experience with?

Humbucker87

If you know a place where I can get pilot sports for 180-190 give me a call cause I had to replace my left rear two weeks ago because of a nail, and it cost me 260 for one tire! They are worth it though. Nothing holds road traction better than the pilot sports. One suggestion though get the pilot sport All-Seasons. They are the same price and only if you are a true tire conosieur (spelling?) will you be able to tell the difference. The adv. is that they have better traction year round and also get much better mileage.

I dont know about many other tires....sorry.

BTW my parents were pissed when they found out how much these tires are and the fact that they could either replace just one or all of them.

mick1

according to some of the threads i have read in this forum, some people had to change them at 12,000 miles. I have 8,000 miles and I do see the tires wearing out a bit already. When I change mine, I think I'm gonna look for something that is gonna last a little bit more than the factory equipped tires

boynix

tirerack.com?

rubenl

I can vouch for the Pirelli P-zero nero's they are great tires...

OEM Michelin Pilots for sale

mick1

I guess in your case, the nail did irrepairable damage because normally you don't need to replace a tire for that. They would just repair the punctured area.

mikefl52

I put the AVS ES100s on my 2002 C230 coupe and I have to say the look pretty cool, but track a lot on Orlandos wonderful roads compared with the original Michelins and therefore I would not personally recommend them. My new 2005 C230 SS came with Pirelli PZero Nero Rosso and the car rides very nicely, but I have no idea how they will wear.

Let us know how they ride whatever you get since for me this is a subject that does not get a lot of coverage in the forum. We talk a lot about the wheels (especially size) that we put on our cars, but not the tires and how they ride in wet or on dry or how they track.

Dr Chill

Gentlemen, thanks so much for the parenting and spelling lessons. Now, how about an answer to my question. The tires I want come in 245/45-17 and not 245/40 or 255/40.

amdeutsch

Chill Doc. Just had to say that. j/k

BabyBenz6spd

What a nice crowed we have here on this topic =) I'm so use to people telling others to use the "search function" lol

I currently have around 18000 miles on my current set of OEM Pilot Sports......looking at the thread life indicator.....I still have maybe another 5000-7000 miles of useable life.

I think I will give the PZero Nero a try, since my roomate have a 2005 Porsche 911 Carrera and PZero Nero was the OEM tires that came with it.......If its good enough for a Porsche, I would absolutly think its good enough for my C230


Keep those opinions coming~~ More the better~

amdeutsch

Keep in mind that Porsche sometimes come with tires developed for them especially. I read that there is an identifier on those tires designating this. This would imply that there will be a difference. But why am I telling you this? STF

<duckundrennwegschnell>

capt_paul

I just had to replace my left rear pilot sport at 6700 miles due to a flat with sidewall damage. I checked out Costco.com for the pilot sports -- $185 for the fronts and $205 for the rears. I wound up going to Discount Tire and they matched the Costco price

Mounting, valve, and disposal fee of course was not included.

BabyBenz6spd

Pilot Sports are great tires, but they seems to wear out pretty fast. :v

Saprissa

Directly from the MICHELIN tires brochure:

(not sure what the Tread Life codes actually mean in terms of miles. MICHELIN doesn't actually print the mileage, which is weird.)

Tread Life on:
- Pilot Sport 2 = 5
- Pilot Sport = 5
- Pilot Sport A/S = 7

so, yes, they DO wear out pretty fast.
My Benz orignally came with 16" MICHELIN Energy MXV4 Plus tires,
and the tread life on those was = 10

If you're in the Los Angeles / San Fernando area,
you can get 17" Pilot Sports for $177 front / $200 rear.

Warehouse prices: Call ANDY at Just Tires (818) 361-7129
also, Road Hazard Protection w/ Free Replacement is highly recommended and only costs 10% of tire price.

Carlos

Saprissa@aol.com

matteo

I just replaced all 4 original Michelin PSs - wanted to grab a set of Pirelli P Zero Nero M&S for the overall performance and durability, but settled for Continental ContiSportContacts instead. So far, great performing and smooth tire...

matteo

Forgot to mention that my stock Pilot Sports lasted approximately 50,000km, taken into consideration that I use winter tires for the horrific Canadian winters

vadim

You don't know what you are talking about. ANY hi-performance summer tire is better than ANY all-season tire *in summer*. All-season Michelin tires are no exception. Pilot Sport is a superb summer tire; Pilot Sport A/S is a price/performance compromise for lazy people who care about convenience in favor of performance.

BabyBenz6spd

SportContacts seems to be good in dry traction, how about wet traction? any experience in light or heavy rainy days?

matteo

So far I've only been able to experience them in relatively light rain, and they seem up-to-par with the PS1s. We'll have to see when it starts pouring (sometime soon according to the weather man :p ) on how they grip...but surely I'll keep you posted.

The Contis were pretty pricey, but the reason I bought them was because I only had to buy 2 from a tire shop, as the other 2 were given to me for cheap by my buddy...

If you're looking for a reliable, long lasting and good performance all-season, I'd recommend the Pirelli PZero Nero M&S - both my friends bought them for their Toyota MR2, and VW GTI 1.8T.

Tire shopping ain't easy!