No. I have driven a diesel with Airmatic and conventional tyres & it was great. Ride, handling & especially turn in were superior to any RF.

 

Thank heavens we have none of that compliance BS here with our Benz owned dealerships. You get the tyres you want as long as they have the desired speed rating or greater.

I hope your dealer is not just spinning you a story.

 

My dealership DID swap mine out for a fee, and applied the road hazard I purchased. It took a bit of convincing, but they did do it.

in fact, 500 miles after I swapped the non-run flats, I got a flat by hitting a pot hole, and they took care of everything. However, it took about 1 week to get a new tire.

 

i have a 2015 c400 w/ 19" run flats and amg suspension. i didn't realize it came with run flats and they sound like a great option. the ride is not as smooth as standard tires to me and i got a screw stuck in one tire at around 2000 miles on the car / tires. i took it to get patched and MB of walnut creek and america's tire both said pirelli run flats are not patchable and a new tire was $450+. i couldn't believe this - if you get a screw in your tire it costs you nearly $500 for a new tire since they are unpatchable. i took it to a small shop that fixed it with no questions asked.

now the car has 4500 miles and i hit some rail road tracks a little harder than i should have and when i got out of the car i heard a loud hissing sound. with in 3 min the front right tire was completely flat.

MB roadside would only tow me to a dealership and they wouldn't patch it if it was punctured.

i didn't feel like waiting aroudn for AAA and it was 9pm at night so there would be no where open to tow it to.

once you drive on the tire completely deflated you need a new tire. i called 10 different places and no one could find the 93Y tires on the car. only 1 shop i called could get the 93Y tires, everyone else could only find 86Y and it cost me $432 for a new tire.

I will NEVER get run flats again. there is no room in the trunk for spare at all. i didn't realize run flats were not able to be patched and there was no spare whatsoever. unbelieveable.

 

Online sellers (Tirerack as example...I don't work for any of them) have OEM new, warrantied run flats for the W205 from $152-$226 per tire, depending on brand that came stock on your build: Perelli, Conti, or Michelin. They also have non OEMs which seem higher rated and some with long warranty including road hazard. Costco and other retailers have pricing on runflats which isn't much more. I realize though, if you're disabled or at a dealer, you're going to pay much more for ANYTHING you "need", and will run into pushback on runflat repairs.

 

The reason that no sensible tyre shop will repair a RF is that there is no decent method to check the integrity of the carcass.

 

i understand why they won't repair them but i wish i had known prior to buying the car. if someone had said - this car comes with run flats and you can't repair them and there is no spare in your trunk AND, on top of that - there is no room in your trunk for a spare if you ever wish to not use run flats, i might not have bought the car.

run flats sound like a good idea - i personally do not like them at all and have had nothing but problems in the 4500 miles i've put on my brand new car.

 

Dealer/salesperson unlikely to point this kind of thing out. A good use of the boards though for homework before buying, this issue well documented.

Either way, it's fixable, you can swap out the RF tires on your own to non-run flats and get compressor/tire sealant that will bandaid you until can get a permanent repair. That's what most new cars coming with now anyhow. Ideally, there'd be space for a spare, I agree with you.

 

maybe if u have a slow leak. i said my tire went flat in 3 min after i hit some rail road tracks.

that would not have worked w/ a compressor and tire sealant.

i was also told not to use tire sealant because it could damage TPMS and then you'd need to replace that as well.

a spare is a pretty simple inexpensive idea that should not be abandoned IMO.

 

There's tire sealant kits now safe with TPMS. Spare tires are going by the way of home phones....extinct. Love it or not, it's reality. And as said, i agree with you...if manufacturers not going to offer cars with the spare, at least have room for them. Not happening, obviously in this, or many other new cars.

 

i hear ya. i will never buy another car like this ever. i love the car but there are a few things i'm really not liking. my power steering malfunction problem is another serious issue that i should not be facing in a $60,000 brand new car.

and once again, tire sealant i doubt would have helped me w/ my leak that i just had. it was not a slow leak and was hissing like nothing i've ever heard. i've hit rail road tracks super hard in $6,000 cars and never had this problem. now a $60,000 car and the tire is flat within minutes and a new tire is nearly $500 for the same tire that's on the car.

 

I recommend buying a spare runflat ( tyre only) so you can keep it in the garage & load it in the boot or back seat when going out of town or off the beaten track.

This would prevent being stranded in woop woop & waiting for a new one to be delivered. In Australia on weekends people have waited up to 4 days for a tyre change.

I presume most garages would be able to fit one ?.

Being only a tyre, luggage could be packed inside it making best use of the space.

 

Same experience here, never again !

 

Run-flats serve a purpose -- so you don't have to change the tire. If you are somewhere where that is inconvenient, impossible or dangerous (e.g., busy freeway), or the Mrs. is alone in the car when it happens, then you will appreciate having run-flats.

Run-flats are a compromise, as are conventional tires. Many cars now come only with run-flats, and MB also sells an inflation kit. But, anyone who bought the C300 not knowing that it had run-flats, well

 

I am going to try an convince my dealer to change them before I take delivery. I had a similar experience with my CLA, it was actually cheaper to change all tires than to replace one (my CLA 18" amg sport wheels) because it wore out at 15,000 miles. Crazy, the "law" says they can't be repaired, any mainstream tire place will not touch them, but they will give you credit for them if you ask to exchange. IMO, RF are stupid.

 

Most "country" girls can change a tyre. Every father should make sure his "girls" can .

 

Your welcome ! The ride quality of cars, riding on most brands of all season tires, would diminish considerably @ temps below 7C. For Toronto winters, proper snow tires would improve the ride of your car. Non-RFTs (snow rated) would be even better !!!

If you have driven more than 300 km on the OEM tires, it is unlikely that an independent tire shop will give you very much credit in trade.

 

The other morning I began to drive my C400 and received a message of 6 pounds of air in my left rear tire. With run flats I was able to immediately drive over to the dealer where it was discovered that a screw had gone through the tread. So no need to change a tire on a bitterly cold morning or wait for a service call. Needless to say, I have become a fan of run flats. By the way, I also purchased wheel and tire insurance so the replacement tire cost me nothing.

 

I switched my run-flats to conventional tires (Michelin Premier AS) and I have found a dramatic improvement in the ride quality over bumpy roads and potholes. I own the 2015 C-300 sport edition with base suspension and 17 inch wheels.

For those readers who are considering making the change, I will attempt to quantify the difference (over bumpy roads): if I were to rate the ride quality with run-flats as a zero and that of the perfect ride as a 10, I would rate the ride with the conventional tires as a 7. It cost me $1227 and now I'm stuck with 4 run-flats. But for me,it was the only option as driving the car with run-flats caused back pain. I had actually initiated discussions with my salesman to trade the vehicle.

I am so appreciative of the advice received from the members of this forum. Thankyou for helping me find the solution.

 

For me, the run-flats are not the problem, at least not the whole problems. I have a C300 Luxury 4matic with so-called "Luxury" steel suspension. The Pirelli Cinturato 7 tires are 36 psi in front and 38 psi in the rear. Over rough surfaces and tar strips, the run-flats actually ride better than the Michelin Pilot A/S tires of my previous 2007 C280 4matic Luxury (W203). Over manhole covers, my neighbour's 2009 Ford Taurus rides much better.

My biggest complaint (because it is my wife's biggest complaint) is that, in spite of using the word "Luxury" twice (once for the trim level, once for the suspension), the suspension of my C300 is much sportier than my previous W203. In our area, we have a lot of pavement ripples from frost heaves. My previous W203 floated over most them (but didn't wallow or steer inaccurately). The sportier C300 follows the ripples and throws the occupants around. Since most of the ripples are on the edge of the road, my wife is thrown around much more than I am.

So, yeah, I want a granny car! Not everybody wants sporty! My wife is 80 years old, for God's sake! Why didn't I get a Buick, you say? Well, why do you sports car wannabes buy MBs and then complain that they are not as sporty as BMWs?

Anyway, in the suburbs west of Boston, you NEVER see anyone driving "sporty." It's impossible! You might get a quarter of a mile of "spirited" driving, and then you'd be up against someone doing 30 miles an hour in a 35-mile-an-hour zone. (Only the state roads have speed limits higher than 35-miles-an-hour, and that's where the cops are.) The pavement markings on ALL roads indicate no passing, and some towns have signs on all roads into the town saying "No Passing in ____." It's a bad idea anyway. The area is completely built out; there's a driveway every 200 yards, tops. Everybody's got a cell phone camera, and they call in the license number of any hint of aggressive driving. Then a cop calls you up AT HOME and chews you out. It's happened to me.

 

Got the C250 AMG line with sport suspension. The car comes with Bridgestone Potenza S001 RFT. Indeed the RFT tires with sport suspension are the worst nightmare. I'm not talking about the Bridgestone but all RFT tires in general. They're like riding on a steel instead of rubber. Terrible! Anyway, after 2 days of agony and pain I finally get rid of the RFT's and bought myself a nice set of Yokohama Advan S105 (non RFT). What a difference! Now I'm back riding on a rubber again. I was thinking about Michelin PS3 but Yokohama Advan S105 is more comfortable ride due to its softer compound and much more quieter too I might say. Overall very impressed with the Yokes. I give it 9,5.

 

I agree, for me the run flats or MOE tires rides excellently. The MOE is the newly designed run-flat for MB. I ordered an extra tire as a spare; just in-case.
My son-in-law has an E class with 18" AMG wheels and run-flats. He went through 3 tires--all pothole caused. When comparing cars (C300-E) He noticed that his AMG rims stick out beyond the tire (The rims (metal) would hit the curb first) while my 17" rims are in; my rubber (tire) extends out and the tire would hit the curb first. He also pointed out that 18 and 19 inch tires have less depth (compared to my 17") to absorb the impact of a pothole blow.
CliffordS

 

It is natural to believe that bigger is better. When accompanied by a much higher price (as in the case of optional sport wheels), bigger is assumed to mean more fun! However, bigger wheels do not mean a larger overall diameter of wheel and tire. That size is limited by the size and shape of the wheel wells in relation to the suspension travel. This may seem obvious, but some people seem to be unaware that more alloy (18", 19", even 20"!) means less rubber, not more rubber. This ignorance explains the spectacle of ordinary, grocery-hauling sedans, even SUVs(!), riding on alloy sport wheels with tires that look like rubber bands. (A run-flat tire on a 20" wheel must be very close to a solid rubber band!) So this is really about appearance, not performance. Wheels are pretty; rubber is ugly.

 

Couldn't agree more. I lowered my car, put 20"s on it and the ride (over potholes) feels better. The suspension is stiffer with a much better feel. The run flats are horrible.

 

I'll definitely try the tire change when time comes, but honestly don't mind the run flats. The car has a great suspension.