MAXC55

I have done some searches on the boards here and wanted to get some more input on the best replacement tire for the OEM Perrelli Rosso tire that came on my car new. My current rear tires are about shot at 10,000 miles. The fronts look like thay could go another 8,000 miles. Should I stay with the Perrelli or buy 4 new tires of another brand/model?

I have experience with PS2's and they are quiet and pretty sticky. They seem to wear prematurely on the outside shoulder since they tread depth on the outside shoulder starts out several millimeters shallower than the center grooves. An on top of that add a caster settting by MB that generally wears tires quickly and the PS2's have a short life. My last set of PS2's on my CLK 430 were bald on the outside shoulder and had lots of life on the rest of the tire. MB said the alignment was within spec.

I am looking for a quite summer tire that wears pretty flat across the entire tire. Anything new offered to consider in my purchase decision?

Thanks for your input!

tech_frog

Sorry, I don't have a solution for you, but maybe something that will make you laugh.

Instead of getting new tires, go to the podiatrist and get the extra weight taken out of your right foot.

I've found that to be my problem, not the tires.

~~~~

Took a friend out Saturday - let him drive. We came to a crossover on a highway. I said 'remember high school days?'. I told him to turn the wheels slighly and gun it. Turned off traction control.

After 75 yards of rubber on the road, he let off and said Holy ****! That was fun.

I said yeah, that just cost me $60 bucks (tires).

spr

I picked up the new p zeros. I like them better than the ps2's.

Fifth Ring

I assume you're not looking for all-season tires.

The "hot" tire for pure performance is the Yokohama Advan Neova. It seems to be topping all the usual characters in tests. I'm thinking they might be my next tires. They may not be optimal if you favor long life or quiet ride.

Picture is below.

spr

while that tire is great its not avail in 255/35/18

Fifth Ring

I would actually be willing to go a bit under on size (e.g. I could go with 235/40/17s). The 10mm variation is probably smaller than the variation between manufacturers' nominal sizes.

That said, it looks like there's nothing close to a 255/35/18.

dorikin_86

I love the Nitto Invos that I bought awhile ago.

Quiet - refined ride - sticky and not very expensive =)

MAXC55

Thanks for your input everyone. Anyone else have a good experience with another tire?

gkstar

I am in the process of selecting front tires for my C32 and have narrowed my choice to the Goodyear F1 GS-D3. The reasons:

* did not want tire that has exceptional grip but is not quiet
* did not want tire that looses significant grip at half way its life
* did not want tire that becomes loud at half way its life
* wanted tire with decent tread ware

Read a bit about tires on this forum and reviews on Tire Tack, but have no personal experience with performance tires, aside from my winter tires (excellent set btw).

FrankW

GS-D3 is the best bargain for spending over $800 on tires. if you are looking for something cheaper I would recommand hankook k104 for price range around $650. want even cheaper? General Exlaim UHP.

if you want to correct the problem with the front tire wearing on the outer edge you might want to look into the camber kits because no matter what you do the stock setup will wear out the tire faster on the outer edge. The only other way is to flip the tire side-to-side once a while to keep the tire life longer.

smackjack

On both of my C55's I replaced the P-Zero Rosso's with my personal favorite performance tire, the old stand-by Michelin Pilot Sport (NOT PS2's). The Pilot Sports are, IMO, the best overall tire for the C55, especially if you go one size up in the rear to 255's. Love 'em.

PC Valkyrie

Why do you think the Pilot Sport is better than the PS2? I'm curious because I'm going to be replacing my stock P Zero Rosso's that are getting worn. I'm thinking about the Michelin PS2's as the best tire for mostly city/highway driving and the occasional (2-3 sessions per year) track day.

If anybody else has suggestions for a good tire for occasional track use and everyday use, let me know.

spr

uh ps2's are wayyy better than rossos or the other Michelin's mentioned. Simply do a comparison on the tire rack's website or better yet check the sticky thread that is now current ranking the 07 tires by tire rack in that forum-

PC Valkyrie

It seems you really can't go wrong with Michelin PS2's, other than price......so I'm probably going to get them for my car.

Here is another question for the track junkies here. Do you think there is an advantage in going to wider front and/or rear tires over the stock size in terms of track performance/grip? I don't care about looks, but I wouldn't mind having a slight edge in grip IF slightly wider tires will make a noticeable difference.

I'm sure all of you know, but the stock C55 tires are 225/40 R18 in the front, and 245/35 R18 in the rear. I'm going to stick with the stock AMG 18" rims (7.5" wide front and 8.5" wide rear).

Fifth Ring

If you stick with the AMG rims, you will not be able to increase front tread with much, if at all. A 7.5" rim kind of maxes out at 225. That's why I went with 4 rear rims and have 245s all around. It definitely reduces understeer, and looks pretty good too.

spr

You have no rubbing with 245's??? What about with the offset difference???? The rears are 34 and there is no issue? what tires are you running 245's? you running 245/35 or 30?? Thanks I have been thinking about doing the same. Although I run 255's rear.

Fifth Ring

They are the "stock" rear tire size - 245/40/17s on the "stock" rear wheels. I've had ContiSport Contact2 as well as Yokohama AVS100s in that size and have had not any rubbing at all. I've lowered the car (H&R Sport Springs) and still no rubbing issues. They are very close to the strut at the top, but no contact.

I thought about going up the 255s in back, but I kind of like being able to rotate tires front-to-back.

Picture below.

spr

Rotating the tires is definitely clutch, I just wanted more traction. I didn't realize they were 17's. I wonder if I were to do the same with the c55's 18's if they would rub. I would suspect they would given the 4mm offset outside v. what MB performance salon recommends as well as running 245 v. 235 on an 18, but dunno??

cntlaw

My C55 is now ~39000km, I changed to PS/2 from the stock Rosso at 15000km. Until now, not any signs of these PS/2 are wearing. Your bad experience with PS/2 could be the heavier car CLK430 and/or incorrect tire pressure. Just my guess. My experience with PS/2 is they are fairly durable.

Fifth Ring

Try it. I literally swapped tires on one side front-to-back (reverse-half-stagger!) and drove around a few minutes to see if things worked. They did, and I never looked back. The 17"s on the C32 also have different offsets front-to-back so that's not necessarily fatal.

spr

I would but i have 255's on the rear-

spr

Also fwiw. I am currently running the 225 contis front and p zero's rear 255. I bumped the pressure up to CLK63 spec 40/45 and am running EUR alignment settings along with front negative camber bolts which give about .6 negative if that. I went on a canyon run and checked tire temps F&R and they were even across the track and the handling was fairly neutral I have the matching p zero fronts coming in tomorrow and the car should be even better.

I would have thought that the car would handle like **** with the greater pressure but the handling and balance is better.

FWIW I have experimented with lower pressure up front to make the front end understeer less (a few pounds lower than stock) and while it would understeer less, the turn in was sloppy as hell, which is what most feel and assume that it handles worse although it will grip better when driven properly. I then started bumping the rear pressure up and it was more neutral yet still.

I then test drove a clk63 and loved the balance. I noted that it does run a 8" front and 8.5r but that it runs 225/255 setup. I decided to mimic this hence the clk63 pressure. I like it!