nishalp

Hey guys, I am a little tired of having to change tires every 10K. I know Michelin has the Pilot Sport 4 which are run flats but with 20K instead of 10K but for what ever reason, they do not carry it for our cars anywhere on the west coast from what I can see. Not Mercedes, not Costco, not any online store. I wanted to get ideas from what everyone has on their car today and how it is doing in a single thread that might help others... Just your primary summer driving tired mainly. Mercedes seems to offer Ultra High Performance only and I dont really need that because I dont drive that hard. I wish they would offer just High Performance at least and some other options without Run flats.

Tires Installed Now -
How many Miles on it -
Used in past and max mileage you got -
RunFlat or Non RunFlat -
Comfort compared to previous tires you had if different -
Previous Tires if different (Brand / Tire) -
Previous Tires mileage -

Any Notes.. I will start with mine below.

nishalp

Tires Installed Now - Continental ContiSportContact 5 SSR
How many Miles on it - 6,000 Miles
Used in past and max mileage you got - 9,500 Miles
RunFlat or Non RunFlat - RunFlats
Comfort compared to previous tires you had if different - Same Brand
Previous Tires if different (Brand / Tire) - N/A
Previous Tires mileage - N/A

No issues with tires from performance. After 4,000 miles, tire is horribly noisy on bumps and looses the softness on bumps. So for the remainder of the tire life, it just gets worse overall. And Nosier. I don't drive harsh 90% of my driving and tires still only got 9,500 miles. I have my car in custom profile so that I have the gas saving option to disengage the transmission on roll so you know... I only go to Performance mode to drive harsh every now and then for 2 minutes only.

alexasa

iTrader: (1)

extreme contact sports for over 60k on two different sets - best tire that I have used for the price.

I've heard really good things about the firestone indy 500 - for slightly more budget minded.

Otherwise, you can't go wrong with PS4S - it's a staple.

nishalp

I should also mention I am on the 19 inch rims as that seems to limit options even further.

GWSHARK

@nishalp i concur with Alexasa, I have the Indy 500 on my 19’s after dumping the ****ty Pirelli runflats, Night and day, great ride, super quiet. I drive spirited but not overly crazy. I have approx 70,000 Kms on them and no issues, still at least another season left in them. Not sure where you are, summer only, I carry a slime kit in case and I swap out my winters in November. Hope this helps.

superswiss

Well, AMGs are performance models, even the C43 at the entry level, so you will primarily find performance tires to go with it. If you want more of a normal car with more non-performance options such as touring tires then you have to look at the C300. Run Flat is partly what makes tires uncomfortable, so that's the first place to start. There's a lot that plays into this. These cars are not necessarily light at around 4000 lbs, so that results in more tire wear. Then being a performance oriented car it has a more aggressive alignment, specifically camber that affect tire wear. The C43 not as much as the C63, but for example on my C63S I only get about 8k miles out of the front tires due to the aggressive camber. Surprisingly the rear tires last longer despite all that power only going to the rear.

If you want more of a comfortable tire that lasts longer, you need a touring tire with softer sidewalls but harder compound that doesn't wear as fast. Just quickly checking Tire Rack, I see 3 Touring options for the C43 sedan. The Michelin Primacy Tour A/S, Pirelli Cinturato P7 RUN FLAT, and the P7 NON RUN FLAT. Neither of them are Mercedes spec, but that's not necessary. They all have wear ratings of over 500, even though you can't compare wear ratings between manufactures. But just for comparison, the PS4S has a wear rating of 300 whereas the Michelin Primacy has a wear rating of 540, so they will almost last twice as long. You can compare ratings directly within the same manufacturer. Now this does not account for any uneven wear due to the alignment.

Performance tires have a soft compound on purpose. They are meant to be grippy, but as a consequence they'll wear much faster. It's the nature of the beast.

nishalp

By Summer I just meant I dont need Winter tires. Live in the dry, never any rain, CA so just use summer tires. Will look into the Firestones. Never looked there. We dont have Firestone shops here but I think some other shops carry them.

nishalp

Thanks. Price was not as much as my concern other than I would like to get tires where I can at least drive them for more than a year before they start to have noise and harsh rides from wear and tear. I do 10K a year of driving so that like after the 4th month on these tires, I am feeling the change. I am cool with the Michelin Sport 4 and am ok with the Run flat. At least they run 2 years. Used to use them on my previous G37, loved them. But for what ever reason, no one carries them for the C43 anywhere on the west coast or even online that I could order from. Even though the Michelin site says they have it. So in the absence of that option, was seeing what others have. Even if I had to give up Run Flats, I would be willing to do that but without the cost of total performance on the tire. So not sure what All Season would do to the car but I am sure it would not be good. But do I need Ultra High Performance, not really, I am cool with High Performance with a little more mileage.

superswiss

The PS4 and PS4S are two different tires just to be clear. The former is generally for smaller sizes and the latter for larger sizes. Also just because they lasted you 2 years on the G37, doesn't mean that's what you'll get out of them on the C43. There are shortages at the moment. Many tires are hard to get at the moment. I'm running the PS4S on my C63S and they've been in and out of stock. I also live in CA and pretty much need a new set every year. Actually at the moment a little less as I haven't been driving as much since the pandemic. All-season tires won't give you much here, unless for example you occasionally wanna drive the car to Tahoe in the winter. A lot of the non-performance tires, though are generally all-season tires as many, particularly in the USA don't want to change between summer and winter tires.

nishalp

Ugh. I was hoping the Michelin would give some more miles.