Switching to a Quieter Tires?
 

I have an 08 C350 Sport with Michelin OEM tires. My only complaint about this car is the ROAD NOISE on the highway. On some surfaces, it's ridiculous - especially from the rear 40-series tires. I'm thinking about cutting my losses and trying a "quieter" tire. I know I'm running the risk of finding out that this is simply a lack of noise deadening in the car, and not so much a tire issue.

So I'm wondering if anyone has successfully quieted the tire roar with a different brand of tire?

I think it's more the car than the tire...your money may be better spent getting the MB mat for the trunk.

Michelin tires are very good tires, you may want to conceder Pirelli PZero mo

tires can make a huge difference, depending on what you have on there now.

Lowered noice level not by tires. But by pasting Dynamat in the boot, especially the bare metal spare tire well.

+1

Noise
 

Go to tirerack.com where you can look at test results between tires for your particular car. I chose Bridgestone RE-050A for my C300 and the noise while certainly noticeable is less than some other tire brands.

Some road surfaces generate a lot of noise. It may not be the fault of the car or tyre.
I suggest travelling on the same noisy road surface with another prestige vehicle ( say a mates) & compare the noise levels.

the OEM michelins are considered very quiet tires... I have the same ones. one huge reason for road noise is the gigantic side mirrors on our cars.. lol. The car is pretty quiet though, just turn up the music a bit and u won't hear a thing. With mercedes its you get what you pay for. you want quiet, get an E class or S class which is like you hear absolutely nothing!

Fit non directional tyres - Michelin PS2 or Pilot Exalto PE2 (not old PS1 or Primacy or heaven forbid Conti SC2/3 which start noisy & become worse with wear) - rotate wheels corner to corner every 8000 miles to change direction of rotation or across the same axle if staggered. Maintain correct tyre pressures & watch castor bushes & alignment to ensure no feathering or cupping of tread which causes air pumping noise. Yokohama AVS db2 is another known quiet tyre on these cars. Fit Dynamat to badly damped trunk area. Maintain this regimen & you will be delighted.

Thanks for all the advice. I think all try the Dynamat solution first. I can't do tire rotations as I have the sport package, staggered wheel sizes, etc. I was just in our neighbor's new BMW 335d. I thought it would have more road noise, since BMW insists on runflats for just about everything - it was quieter on just about every road surface. It's not the side mirrors - they've never bothered me. This noise is primarily coming from the rear of the car. So, I think I'll go for the Dynamat and see what happens. Thanks again for the advice!

You can rotate with staggered - Just swap across the same axle e.g. swap fronts with each other. Then each will be rolling opposite direction to what it was.

i've noticed a lot of road noise as well. but had attributed to the low-profile tires that came with the 18" AMG wheels.

I was running Falkens on the A3 and they were noisy as hell so when I got the C200 and wanted to upgrade to 18" I was wary about what tyre I was gonig to run. I eventually chose PZero Rosso and couldn't be happier. Don't know what I will put on when they wear as it will be an expensive exercise. I ended up going with Toyo Teo's for the A3 and they are real quiet as well.

Every review I've seen has said how exceptionally quiet this car is... maybe it's the difference between the 17" and 18" Rims?

I also would imagine there is cheaper insulation that can be acquired at a building supply store. However i do wonder what the spray solution version of dynamat would do for my trunk.

Cheaper insulation is duct insulation wrap called Frost King available at Home Depot or Lowes. Corvette people use it to bring down the noise. Reflectix (also in these stores) is another cheap alternative.

I have factory installed 17'' Michelin Primary Sport tires....I like them and I will replace with same Michelin soon . searahing pricing in the market Michelin is more expensive maybe only Bridgestone Potenza compare it

What is a Primacy Sport??? there is no such tyre in the Michelin Range - Primacy are touring tyres.

I pulled up trunk floor cover - have not done that in almost two years of leasing it. I was stunned to see bare metal with no sound insulation! My '99 E-Class seemed to have styrofoam and other substances molded everywhere. I just assumed this would be the same. So I think I'll try the DynaMat option - it's worth a try as I'd really like to keep this car - it's been a bulletproof tank.

Thanks a bunch, I was actually thinking of using one of those.

they could be Michelin Pilot Sport PS2

no, stock 17" OEM Michelin's are Pilot HX MXM4 tires... for any1 who has these, DO NOT BUY THEM AGAIN!! very expensive and rated very poorly. you could get much better tires in every aspect for the same price.

Yes - Likely - Nice tyre

No - It's luck of the draw - Some come with PS2s - some Primacy's, some Conti SC3 - some Pirelli.

Yeah - the Pilot HX -- is not Michelin's best effort.