sdk2424

Living on Long Island, NY, I have had to replace 9 tires in the past three years and the prior three years about the same because of the abundance of pot holes. Because of this, I built my CLE 53 Coupe with the 19" AMG Wheels which are run flat all season tires. Do you think the performance will be drastically noticeable?

W205C43PFL

If you can go back to summer performance tires but ditch run-flats and get a fix-a-flat kit or MB's Tirefit then it will improve ride quality and likely decrease the chance of pothole damage.

Run-flats as you already know makes the ride harsh and the stiff sidewall is more susceptible to pothole damage than a traditional tire, not to mention they don't last as long tread life wise compared to traditional tires.

I highly do not recommend all seasons on a performance oriented vehicle like the CLE 53, 450 maybe but not a CLE 53. Get yourself some Pilot Sport 4S instead.

MJP_43

I feel your pain. I live on the same *****hole (sorry, but this is accurate). I bought the wheel and tire insurance and it has paid for itself. The dealership even has an article describing the abysmal road conditions to promote the insurance. I've lost count of my bent and cracked rims and blown tires.

Newsday did a story on "Pothole Island" two years ago. And who did they interview? An f'ing tow truck company that's making money hand over fist towing cars with damaged wheels and tires. The quote was something like, "Well, there's noting we can do. Temperature fluctuations and the winters and salt are causing the problem"...what? Weather has been going on forever. I wrote them a scathing response...no reply.

I've been driving on Long Island for over 50 years! The roads have NEVER been this bad. The roads used to be properly maintained and repaired. Suddenly today's governments, state and local, only repair them, with *****ty skim jobs, when the roads become seriously dangerous. The government seems to be powerless to do anything about 'nature', what? Really?.

We pay some of the highest taxes in the country including gasoline taxes...where does the money go? Not into infrastructure I can tell you that.

I'd love to get off this pile of sand but my job is keeping me here.

W205C43PFL

Does it have anything to do with the amount of SUVs around? Due to the larger sidewall on SUV tires, they are less susceptible to damage (so I heard) and therefore maybe they use that (people mainly driving SUVs) excuse to not repair roads or their response time/quality of work is not as good?

MJP_43

Just go along...get a truck or SUV to cope with poor roads, and "F" the rest of us who drive perfomance cars, eh? Absolve the government of any responsibility...?

So, when the roads get worse we'll all just have to buy real off-road vehicles or tanks, right? Good government policy? I think not!

W205C43PFL

Exactly, it is frustrating.

Long live sedans, coupes, convertibles basically "real" cars, not SUVs (a sort of truck)

shadi150

I have the 20" wheels (with run flats) on my 23 C43 sedan and have had 0 issues so far and I've owned the car for a year now, kock on wood. Also, I live in Texas, the roads here are absolute garbageeeeeeeeeeeeee. I previously owned a 19 C43 coupe with 19" wheels (whatever the biggest size was, it had run flats) and I think I replaced the front two tires a total of 15 times lmao. So I wouldn't worry about tire issues on any newer cars, IT SEEMS like the manufacturer took our complaints into consideration and fixed something to make them better idk. Maybe I am lucky so far, again idk just my input and experience. Also, for the record, I do drive my car hard almost all the time but I try to chill on the more crappy roads.

I'll be buying the CLE53 so I'll update my experience once that happens. On my C43 coupe I think within the first 3 months I went through 3 tires lol, so I will know pretty quickly how it is.

Final comments, I'm probably just a professional swerver after 5 years of owning AMGs so maybe just ignore everything I just said and learn how to drive better lmaooooo 😉

MJP_43

I'm very dismayed to hear about the widespread pothole problem, well based on 2 posts... This isn't the forum for this. If anyone knows where we can vent our concerns, please send a link.

I'm glad that the new wheels seem to be stronger. And, in the new C43's and CLE's, the front tires are much bigger. You get 265 front's vs the meazely 225's on my car. More contact area = less stress.

I got very good at dodging potholes myself. I had to memorize where they were on the roads on my commutes and drive in the lanes with the fewest to avoid. The biggest ones on our Northern State Parkway were in-between the lanes. Huge 10 inch wide by 6 foot by 6 inch deep craters that kept you from changing lanes. I blew out a tire in one in the rain because I couldn't see it. The other problem was that avoiding potholes took away from my awareness of what other cars were doing and made everyone else nervous with my sudden darting maneuvers.

I drove a 2024 CLE 450 and bigger non-run flats definitely makes for a smoother ride.

sdk2424

Yup. It's really insane. They patch them and then a month later they are back with a vengeance, covering an entire lane. I need to be able to get to work without any delay (no capacity to wait for a tow truck), so I have no choice but to get run flats on all of my previous sports cars and now this now one as well. Giving up a little performance for piece of mind is well worth it in my opinion. Build date is July and expected delivery some time late August/ early Sept. Looking forward to it!! I think they did a beautiful job with the car!! Enjoy!!

sdk2424

Unfortunately, there are no 20" run flats that will fit the CLE 53. My dealer called all over and they don't make them with the specifications needed to match the performance tires that come with the 53.

splunge

I plan to order the 19 inch for the CLE 53 ,mainly because of potholes in the GTA and I actually prefer the looks . Part of my reasoning is my current E450 has endured many serious encounters with holes of various sizes and at various speeds and my 19 inchers have survived ( so far ) .

sdk2424

They are nice looking rims!!

sdk2424

MJP_43

For roads that haven't been recently paved there a 3 kinds of potholes; 1) regular potholes, 2) repaired potholes, and 3) road that is about to become a pothole.

MB2timer

I know about NYC roads in particular and Long Island roads in general. Very nasty potholes when the weather is miserable, which is probably 7-8 months out of the year. That means you get to put the spare on in miserable cold, wet weather conditions. My brother in law hit a pothole one winter years ago, was so broke, he had to beg family to pay for the tow and a new tire. I am so glad I don’t live there anymore. It’s great when a job, and a location are both desirable. But if 1 is not, it’s like a prison sentence.

MJP_43

Oh wait, there's more 'good' news. NYS has a statute that indemnifies them from damage due to roads between November 15 and May 1. Worst pothole season...how convenient!

I tried getting compensated for my first pothole damage. I took pictures with circles and arrows to document the evidence but, NO dice.

sdk2424

Truly remarkable!!

RJC

Run flats have come a long way but they still are terrible, making the ride so much harder and adding unsprung weight which is never a good thing.