LV has know me for a pretty good while now and will tell you that when I review something I review the hell out of it..... I'll keep you guys up to date with mileage, wear and time photos

 

JP - thanks for opening this topic - we'll be watching for reviews.

I'm particularly interested in dry and wet traction. Several people have commented that this isn't really an issue unless you track the car. I strongly disagree.

My car had OEM Continentals on it. I hated 'em cause I could never count on them to hook up. I'm not talking about track-tire issues here - just trying to cross a busy roadway or pull out into traffic on a wet road and having the traction light pop up and the throttle backed off just when you needed it most is frightening. I don't think that mediocre-traction tires are appropriate for a car like ours. I moved to the MPSS and the problems disappeared. If you always drive like a grandma then cheap tires may not be a bad choice. The performance compromise just doesn't work for me. I'm eager to see how these stack up.

 

I agree completely and let me add that I know exactly the scenario you describe...that is why i have been running Mickey Thompson Street Comp rears for about 7mo....they CURED that slip problem that you referred to(well, we all know that no matter what tires we are running lighting up the rears is just a quick blip away) but they looked like **** and didn't have good wet manners at all....I 1/4mi my car a lot, LOT, so that initial traction is important to me as well....these do not have the M/T level of grip from a dig but they ARE close enough to be livable and have high confidence at the same time....like I said, I'm not trying to force these OR the off brand tire mantra on anyone, it's just with my tire experience day to day and knowing how often we need tires there may be options for some that don't carry the MB tax

 

These tires, from my experience feather quite badly. Especially if your camber is off +/-.
They are not a bad tire for every day road cars, but on the C63 they get beat up pretty badly. Soft side walls / cornering is pretty scary at speed. I bought a set to test tire sizes (because they are cheap) I have nothing against them. Just not up to par with other performance tires. Sure they may work for a few months. But get very loud with wear.


Good luck, please let us know how long term use goes.

 

Even on dry pavement I still have traction issues. With my MPSS'

 

Understeer or oversteer?

 

What r u on about? I got out if the car as the driver in front of me lost control of his car and ended up *** backwards across 2 lanes and he wasnt moving. I got out to check on him as well as the road to see if oil or debris caused it. I drive the road everyday and I've personally seen many cars lose it on that corner.
I applaud u for being well informed in your industry. U seem to know ur stuff. Awesome. But i also like to research and review things. I can't claim to know all brands, just the brands that I have used. I'm happy paying a premium for quality items. If I wanted something "just good enough", I would have bought Holden commodore ss, which is like ur Chevy ss. V8, does the job, n just not as good as a c63, cheap as well

 

Power cuts out due to loss of traction even with ESP turned off.

 

So just straight line type stuff? Yeah, my Michelin PSS do that as well. I'm not sure this is a street tire that would hook so much torque with 255/265 tires.

 

I totally understand that people place differing values on things, some like to save on tyres, great, I dont. Im not a clothes horse, I don't wear anything fashionable or brand name, in fact, I haven't bought new clothes in years. Besides my work uniform, I wear the same tshirt, shorts and pants I bought many years ago. Brand name Clothes isn't a priority for me. Same with house plants. Just unnecessary clutter that some people like spending on. I guess my thing is buying quality practical products that I actually use

 

I was concerned about the feathering...my first 2 sets of tires wore out the rear in 5-6000mi and that was NOT me burning them off... I had the rear set to 0°(and it did make it to 0°) and that REALLY helped but even the M/Ts wore from the inside out across the rear tires

 

I ran Fuldas on my '00 GS400 and, other than being noisier, they wore and rode as well as the crappy OEM Potenzas. And, I got a hell of a lot more miles out of them.

TC

 

THERE IS ONLY FRONT AND REAR TOE ADJUSTMENT OEM!

FOR THE C63 AMG WE SAW THE NEED TO MANUFACTURE AND REINSTATE FROM THE EARLY 90’S PRECISELY ADJUSTABLE (SINGLE WRENCH, ON CAR) FRONT CAMBER AND CASTER AND REAR CAMBER (WITH EXTRA TOE) KITS.

Allowing to get power to the ground with more even tire wear/traction.

Capability to fix it right the 1st time! No more ongoing visits to dealers or alignment shops or constantly changing tire brands.

The KMAC unique patented design allows to dial in precise adjustment accurately (under load) direct on alignment rack!

Bonus is the 4 front and 4 rear K-MAC bushings at the same time replace the highest wearing suspension bushings.

Front bushings are 2 axis/self aligning without the OEM oil and air voids. Result is also significantly improved brake and steering response.

For track days, beside the front Camber and Caster adjustable bushings we also manufacture replacement top strut mounts (no mods) that also provide adjustable Camber and Caster. Fit with factory diameter springs or smaller coil overs and also include separate radial thrust bearings for steering loads!

Allowing to further reduce understeer. Lowering lap times with improved brake and traction in the pursuit of front row of the grid on race day!

Also manufactured are full set of the 12 rear link bushings to further improve rear end control/stability. Replacing the OEM soft rubber bushings .

Front Camber and Caster bush kit #502216K $480
Rear Camber (and extra Toe) bush kit #502226K $480

Front replacement strut mounts
Camber and Caster Stage 2 (Street/race) #503016-2L $545
Stage 3 (Full Race) # 503016-3L $545

Rear 12 link bushing kit #502628K $480

Delivery price for MB World members USA/Canada is $30 one kit or $40 front and rear.

Payment can be made by PayPal, Visa, or MasterCard.

Seelink for latest 2016 catalog http://K-mac.com/mercedes/

 

Remember when Hyundai was a dirty name selling absolute rubbish.

I am sure that the "no name" tyres brands that have been around for years are improving but I am yet to be convinced that they yet reached a standard that will meet my demands of top class summer grip and upper end wet weather handling. I have read quite a few reviews where the cheapo tyres do very well in one aspect but invariably they are not all rounders. Unfortunately there is no standard for good or bad tyres.

In Australia we see the ricer and LS V8 youngsters spending mega $ on power and then throwing on the cheap Chinese tyres (yes I know premium brands manufacture all through Asia) which more often than not are stretched.

I am not saying never, but I will need convincing.

 

The biggest problem with off-brand tires is the lack of good test data. The major brands are tested over and over again by everyone in the industry, so you have a damn good idea of how they'll perform.
The off-brand tires are rarely tested. One may be as good as PSSs at a fraction of the cost, but I won't be able to confirm that before I bought them.
I'm not going to risk a crummy tires when all my braking and steering ability comes down to a contact patch of about 25 square inches in each tire.

 

+ 100000000000000000.

You get what you pay for.

 

100% agreed. There's just no testing or benchmarking so it's hard to tell what we're really dealing with.

 

I can understand that sometimes it's nice to spend less money and get satisfied with a product close to the benchmark but in my opinion you drive a car which costs close to a 100k new and has at least 450horses. For those cars you need the best tyres available because the tyre is the most important component of the car. It's not only about performance gains. More important is the safeness and I think there is a reason why those tyres are so cheap.

But maybe I am wrong and the tyre does it's job pretty good. I am excited what you will tell after a few miles and some testing

 

From my experience low buck tires on higher HP cars do not mix well....they do ok when new in dry & wet conditions, once they get some miles put on them they go down hill quick in terms of wet traction and road noise.
My c63 had a set of brand new budget tires on it when i bought it. a casual drive in the rain was very sketchy going around corners or merging into traffic, don't even think about taking EPS off as thats the only thing that keeps you right side up and on the road ... It reminded me of driving a 2x4 pickup in the rain.

ended up putting on a set of MPSS, the difference was worth the extra cash to me.

 

I have to second the degredation of some tires, but i've seen it on Pirelli Pzero Rosso's that were on my Cobalt SS when new. After 10k, they were hard and the compound was awful, slippery in the rain, etc. I ran two subsequent sets of KDW2s on the car and they performed well from new all the way to the wear bars, being beat on daily. No loss of performance, only increasing noise.

My current favorite, the Bridgestone RE-11's, are also solid for the majority of the life I get from them, and not so noisy. They are not cheap though, and do flat spot when cold which is kind of odd to me, but fantastic otherwise and hook like an R-comp tire when warm.

 

$350 for a set?
I don't know if I would trust it. If it's too good to be true, it normally is.
The argument when Nitto and Toyo were coming up, Toyo sponsored my car years ago and gave us lots of Proxy R tires for the track. Toyo was going after the big boys in track competitions and they had a great product. Those Proxy R's were the best tires we could find, not best bang for the buck, the best tires.
Nitto was doing the same thing but focused as well in motorsports.
I have never heard of these tires, not saying that is a bad thing, but to get the price down that far they HAVE to cut corners somewhere. Rubber, sidewall structure/support internal cooling capacity of what the tire has when pushed to the limit, and that makes a difference the heavier a car gets.
I am not saying this is a bad tire, and for street driving it is probably fine, but for track use I might not stick my neck out till it's reviewed by track drivers who have tested it. Maybe it has, but I have not checked nor have used them, but Yellows2k makes some very good points there.
I would be interested in hearing the results of your summer testing JPtalor.

 

Ill try a set on the rear when i kill off my toyo r888's. No rear tire has ever been worth a crap on the rear of my car other than the r888 and the hoosier dot drags. The sumitomo htrz3 were ok, but not hooking in 1st gear ever. the nitto nt05r's were flat out the worst tire i've ever ran on this car period - not hooking in 3rd sometimes. conti5p's are pretty comparable to the michelin pss, decent but still spun pretty easily. pirelli corsa system clk 63 black series tires were noticeably better and actually could hook in 1st gear. Yea i know my car runs more power than most of ya'll so its great for testing lol.

 

I'm objective and I've been dealing tires for years now....I have been dealing with Nankang for years(mostly 22-24" tires) and have never had a return...I drive hard and thanks in part to my location I get to do it every day....I'll let you guys know

 

all the michelin pss fanboys are hurting right now.

 

You mean, you're also running cheap tires and finally found someone else that doesn't value thir life much, sacrificed 70% of the car's performance and 100% of its appeal in order to save a few bucks?