I recently purchased new Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires for my 2002 C32 AMG only to find out in a tech bulletin that M-B does not approve use of this tire. Representatives from The Tire Rack insist these tires are now applicable based on a re-design of the tread pattern, M-B says they are not even with the new design. I'm still dicussing this with both parties to find out which is the case. Has anyone else had any similar experience with this?

 

"Not approved"? Why do they feel the need to approve tires?

Maybe they dont "approve" of them on the C32 becasue they are not Max Performance tires.

 

Where is the listing of approved tires for MB vehicles available?

 

I was told by M-B that the tires were not "approved" because of drifting issues, the tires are ZR rated, so performance is not an issue. The tech bulletin list is at http://www.alldata.com/TSB/35/0235BNAJ.html Item number 10.

 

If they aren't approved, why did they come on my SL500? and why are they listed in the brouchure as the tire that do come on the SL500?

 

Remember that just because they have a high speed rating(ie ZR) does not mean that they meet the dry traction requrements for a high performance car. Any tire that is all-season will "break loose" before a max performance tire would in the wet and dry. Allseason tires just give you better traction in winter conditions becasue of the extra sipes in the tread.

I would like to see what "drifiting" means.

 

The A/S are not approved, attached is the bulletin list for the 2004 SL 500 http://www.alldata.com/TSB/35/0435BRAN.html
I assume your car did not come with A/S tires?

 

Here's the one for my 1991 300CE

http://www.alldata.com/TSB/35/91353818.html

 

My mistake...they are Mich. Pilot Sports...but not A/S.

 

Glad to hear that!!!

 

I had Pilot Sport A/S's on my old 330ci. My rear right tire completely came apart at about 60 mph and I'm fairly certain I didn't go over anything. The tires were only about 2 months old with light use. I've been a little leery of that model ever since.

 

I haven't made any progress with M-B, Michelin or The Tire Rack yet. M-B insists that the new design is not approved either, the original design was causing vibrations and pulling or drifting. The Tire Rack representaives tell me that the tires are fine, which is interesting because M-B says they're not, and any problems associated with these tires will not be covered under my warranty.
I have a message in to Michelin and I am awaiting a reply.
I wonder how many owners have purchased these tires from The Tire Rack, or any other retailer without knowing they are not approved by M-B.
More to follow......

 

Who cares if they are approved by MB. If you want the tires then install them, nobody is going to stop you. MB could care less what tires you install on your car. You might want to consider a higher performance tire for the C32, however. After all the Biggest change you can make to the performance of a car is in the Tire!

 

When I had my '03 E500 I purchased two sets of AMG wheels/tires from the tirerack. For summer I used Bridgestone SO-3's (an awesome tire) and for the winter months, the pilot sports A/S. After putting them on, I noticed the car was pulling. As some of you may know, pulling was a big problem with the W211. At first I tried to ignore it, but I couldn't handle it. Luke at the tirerack was very helpful. Just to make sure it wasn't the "pulling to the right" problem with the car, I re-mounted both the stock conti's and then the SO-3's. When I confirmed it was the tire they sent me another set. Same thing. When all was said and done, I put nearly 5,000 miles on those tires and tirerack still took them back! I ended up getting Yokohama db's, and had no problem. If you want a pure performance tire, the SO-3's or the PS2's are hard to beat. Almost immediately after taking delivery of my E55 I replaced the stock conti's sports with PS2's. I still have the SO-3's on the other set of AMG wheels, as well as the conti's. So, I'm set with tires for some time!
BTW, they are not "approved" by MB, but I have seen cars in my dealers showroom with these tires on. I doubt if they would even notice if you were to have a problem. I had thought the pilot sport A/S problems were limited to the W211.

 

I just received the following reply directly from Michelin, however I have not searched for the bulletin on STAR Tekinfo yet...what's confusing is the M-B North American Tech is still claiming not approved..I'm going to follow up one last time with a different Tech.

"In North America, roads have a slight slope towards the outside of the road built in to evacuate water. Unchecked, this road slope or "road crown" would normally cause a vehicle to pull to the right. Vehicle and tire manufacturers design in a slight left hand pull for North American applications to account for road crown. This characteristic in the tire is known as Residual Aligning Torque.

In original equipment programs, tire manufacturers work with OEM's to achieve the perfect Residual Aligning Torque balance between the tire and vehicles. The OEM specifies the amount of left hand pull for the specific original equipment tire. Replacement tires, on the other hand, are designed to match a broad range of vehicles and therefore employ an "industry average" approach to drift. Depending on the specified drift for the original equipment tire, some vehicles may be more sensitive to alternate, replacement tire fitments. Some Mercedes customers experienced vehicle
drift after mounting Pilot Sport A/S tires. This does not reflect an issue
with the tire or its manufacture but points to an application issue - one of matching tire drift to vehicle drift. To accommodate Mercedes customers, we made a very slight modification to the Pilot Sport A/S to increase the level of left pull and eliminate the sensation of drift due to the road crown.

You may view a Mercedes Star Bulletin on Mercedes STAR Tekinfo for a bulletin concerning this issue. This bulletin, states that the Pilot Sport A/S is now approved for Mercedes Vehicles."

 

the pilots were put on my car by an MB dealer, they were actually nice driving tires, i've been through just about ever brand for z-rated tires, i put 12k mi on my pilots before changing to biger rims, they still had some tread too.