Palladin

There is a good article/tire test on Edmunds Inside Line today regarding this very topic. Their conclusion was that all-season tires are so compromised that they aren't very good for either application. Sounds like the best bet for us (if you live someplace where it doesnt snow like I do) is simply getting the cheapest highest treadwear rated performance tires you can find and just accept the fact that you will replace them about every 7K miles if you're lucky. I think putting 500 treadwear tires on this car is not only a bit dangerous but also kinda defeats the purpose of having a car like this. Just my opinion, and trust me I hate this, since I do about 4K miles a month. I'm on a first name basis with the tire changing guy at my dealership. Fortunately, they allow me to have TireRack ship the tires (Sumitomos) to them and they charge me a very nominal fee to mount and balance them. I have a really good dealership, MB of Sugarland Texas and a great service advisor.

Mr. Happy

Sorry for the dumb question, I'm not so familiar will all the car lingo and tech stuff but could you quickly explain to me what is "negative camber setup on the suspension"? Thanks.

sflgator

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camber_angle

benyl

Most BMWs are setup with a little negative camber. From the back, you will notice that the tops of the wheels are canted inward. It is really apparent on the X5 4.8is due to it 300+ section tire in the rear.

my 335 looks like it has more negative camber than the C63. I am not sure why people attribute this to tire wear on the C63. Do the insides of the tires wear faster on the C63?

This is the 335 rear tire after a track day. Notice how the left (inside) has more wear than the right? That is due to the camber.

gsrjc

I always wondered why BMW has so much more negative camber than the rest of the European or Japanese cars that I have seen on the roads. The most pronounced is the X5. Does anyone have a clue why this is besides BMW wanting their cars to handle better than any other car? I wished our C63 had the suspension of a M3. I think that would be an amazing setup.

rory breaker

Thats why I got the additional warranty. The guy at discount tire specifically wrote in the notes, tires carry a 30,000 mile warranty, if they do not last customer will receive prorated credit. I specifically requested a mileage warranty, so he called up his distributor (since they dont carry Toyo normally) who advised him the tires should last 30k. So on the invoice went the 30k tread warranty.

They would not offer this tread warranty without the road hazard plan. I basically talked my way into it saying hey I'll do the road hazard plan if it comes with a treadwear warranty...what mileage can you put on it...30k, sounds good, so if they wear out in 20k I'll get 33% credit, yes, put that on the invoice, thank youuuuu buh bye.

sflgator

Sorry, but good luck with a hand written 30k mi. tread life "warranty." If they honor that, then more power to you. Personally, I would only go with a certified manufacturer's warranty like that, but to each his own. Don't think those tires will run for 20k mi. on your C63 AMG; you will most likely be looking to replace your ultra-high performance summer Toyo T1R tires (with a tread wear rating of 280 and oem stock Pirelli P-Zero's are 220) after ~ 7k mi. Awesome tires though!

rory breaker

It is not "handwritten" it is notated not just on my invoice but in the system, and I quote - "tires carry a 30k mile warranty. should tires not last 30k (car mileage would be 35,244) customer will receive prorated credit for mileage not obtained towards new or same tires"

I do not expect these tires to last 20k. If they last 10k, I will get a ~$230 credit towards 2 new tires. If they last 5k, even better. Thats exactly why I got the warranty, and got it in writing. I understand your skepticism, but dude, Discount Tire is a national chain. They are everywhere. If they do not honor a clearly notated, paid-for service, all it takes is one email to the CEO to fix the problem. This is not Billy Bob's tire factory - I fully expect them to honor what they sold me.

You are looking to accomplish the same thing by getting all season tires with mileage warranties, I am giving you a way to do it without sacrificing performance and by getting whatever tire you want. If there is a discount tire near you, check it out for yourself, see what they will do.

sflgator

Sounds good then. I've never heard of any tire chain or retailer (GY, Firestone, Sears, etc.) giving "special" tire mileage warranties; usually, they just adhere to the manufacturers' warranties if they even have them (and most if not all summer performance summer tires do not carry tread life warranties).

rory breaker

I originally asked for Toyo's warranty and since they dont carry them normally (they special ordered them for me), they didnt know. Thats when he called up his distributor, got the 30k number, and he turned to me and said I have no problem warrantying these tires for 30k, I'll stand behind that all day. Thats when I asked for specific clarification about the credit, prorated, "what if they last 10k how will it work do I just come in here and...", etc.

Only time will tell what happens, but I felt comfortable with it given how clearly it was notated, and knowing that Discount Tire is a national chain with accessible leadership who will certainly be involved if a problem arises. Definitely worth a conversation with DTD or one of the other national chains near you. Most will pricematch the internet in order to get new business and the mounting/balancing $.

Mr. Happy

Thanks guys.

exdes

I got 245/40/18 275/35/18 Michelin PS A/S+ installed two days ago. Haven't really drove the car since but hopefully I'll have something to contribute in a couple weeks.

sflgator

Sounds great. Let us know by updating in this thread in a couple weeks. Thanks!

gsrjc

So with this warranty, are they any stipulations on whether you drive the car hard or anything like that? I recall someone mentioning that the tires just need to have equal wear.

eagle_lex

the rears will have equal wear..... no tread left! ha ha

rory breaker

haha exactly!

gsrjc - the only thing that was mentioned was to not do any burnouts. "we get mustang guys in here who buy the warranty then come back in 2000 miles with shredded tires saying "they didnt last!" we'll know if you did"

Since I dont really abuse the car and drive it pretty typically, this wasnt an issue for me. He is full of **** anyway, if you are even the least bit coy/intelligent about it Im sure you could get away with it (ie dont come directly from the track, dont return them at 2k, etc).

mrc63jg

I have the stock 235 pzeroes on the front and just put some 265 pilot sport a/s's on the rear a couple weeks ago after about 5.5k miles on the stock rears. The all seasons do feel a bit more rigid than I was hoping they would, but I was driving pretty aggressively yesterday when it was 7* outside and didn't have too many problems with traction. (well, outside of 2nd gear at least) What's impressed me more than anything else is the traction on snow; while it's pretty much non existent on a light wet layer of snowfall, on snow that's already been driven on by a few hours of traffic the traction is great when cruising in comfort mode. When taking tight corners I do sometimes feel the summer fronts slide a little before the rear takes over but I definitely expected that. If I still have the car come spring time, that's when I'll switch all 4's to something nice and sticky for the summer.

CaliforniaCrook

the pilot sport a/s+ is a great tire, i work in a tire center that sells these so im familiar with them. Im going to get these for my C300 when stock tires go bad. since your wheels are off set youll pry get around 30-35,000 miles out of them since you cant rotate them. The tire is basically three tires in one and Michelin is the only company that has figured out how to do this. The A/S+ is three tires across the face of the tire so you get all the benefits the life of the tire. Other companies layer the different compounds so you have to wear through one compound of tread before you get the benefits of the other compound. Personally I think its a great tire and havent heard anything bad about them. Definitely worth the money

c63canada

I read the same article as you. I think you are perfectly right.

I'll probably buy the Sumi (really cheap) or the hankook V12 wich were rated # 2 by car and driver in this article. Or maybe go with a close to track tire the dunlop star spec.

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...r_spec_page_11

bhamg

The Sumi is a really, really good tire in it's own right. I have three sets of wheels for the M5, the corresponding tires being Michelin PS2's, Sumi HTR ZIII's and B/S RE960 A/S. On a scale of 1-20 for dry handling and overall performance in SoCal conditions, if I rate the PS2 a "20" the Sumi is a "19+." The RE 960 I couldn't stand and only drove on them for 5k miles before I put them in storage...I'd rate them an "8."

c63canada

Thanks for the info.

I just figure If I bought a C63 AMG I need a tire that can put down the power to the ground

horned_frog_c63

I have A/S Plus tires mounted on mine. One thing to consider is that the A/S plus has a directional tread. You must remove the tire from the rim to rotate them from side to side. Or you could mount the tread going in the wrong direction as I saw on an Saleen S7 this weekend. I think that it would take some serious skill to convince someone to uphold the tread warranty even if you rotated side to side (at the expense of dismounting and mounting tires every 7500 mi). I just wanted something that might last longer than the PZero. I have only changed the fronts to the A/S plus. I have neros on the back. So I am not sure how the A/S will do on the rear, but I might get 7k to 8k out of the neros. Just thought I could get even more with the A/S plus and I want my fronts and rears to match.

sflgator

Nice...Thanks! Although I still doubt I'll get 30k mi. out of the Mich Pilot A/S tires on the rear of my C63 AMG, I just hope to get ~15k+ mi. out of them and still have decent dry/wet traction (no winter/snow here in S. FL ).

sflgator

I still have the oem stock Pirelli P-Zero's on the front; 12k mi. and they look like they could go another 12k mi. It's our RWD, somewhat heavy, high TQ, negative camber C63 AMG that eats up the rear tires; I guess the extra HP/TQ of the RENNtech ecu flash tune doesn't help the tires to last either.

I figure I'll replace my set of Bridestone Potenza Sport RE760's (got after my oem P-Zero's wore out in just 5k mi. ) when they hit ~ 8k mi. (another ~ 1k mi./~3 weeks or so) with the Michelin Sport A/S Plus. I'll see how I like them on the rear, and then I may eventually replace the fronts with the same Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus. If not, then it's back to the drawing board.

CaliforniaCrook

you should get 15k no problem and still have good dry/wet traction. also depends on how you drive. if you drive aggressive all the time you wont get a lot of milage.