rob8

Hi Everyone:

When I bought my CLK320 cab, it had Douglas tires on the front (which I believe is a Walmart house brand made by Goodyear) and BCT tires on the back, which I have never heard of. They all need to go, so I'd appreciate any opinions on tires. They are 205 55 16 front and rear.

CJackson13

Michelin is always good, but you definitely pay for the brand name.

Kumho Ecsta is probably the cheapest tire you will find. But still good.

Yokohama SDrive is a good tire as well.

Sumitomo HTRZII is a good tire along with others.

I've had all of these tires, and the reason that I say they are all "good" is that essentially every tire is the same. With a 205 55 tire, there wont be much difference between the brands.

Best of luck with your tire shopping.

Williams707

I'm a huge Nitto Invo fan. Worst tire you can get is the Pirelli Pzero Nero.

sick430

BFG

dlbehrns

I like Hankook Ventu v12. great tire for the price. not an all season but a directional high performance tire.

beefstallionAMG

Are you looking for performance or durability? When it comes to tires typically lower performance tires last longer. They are made of a harder compound that does not stick to the road as well and you lose handling. Softer compound tires give better handling but wear faster.

If you want a summer tire:

Sumitomo HTRZ III is a good inexpensive tire.

Michelin Pilot Super Sport is stickier but lasts longer using a new compound. It outperforms the HTRZIII and lasts longer too. It also costs more depending on your tire size.

The Hankook Ventus and HTRZII (not III) are inexpensive but have sidewalls prone to bubbling if you hit a pot hole or curb them.

beefstallionAMG

Tire Rack has good reviews, tire guides, and prices

www.tirerack.com

clk_55

I've been torn between the Pilot Super Sports, Continental DW, and the Bridgestone re970as (960as was the best tire I've ever had). I already have Blizzaks for the winter so it won't really see snow.

Not that it's changing my decision heavily but tirerack has a deal on continental tires that's really sweet. Buy a set of 4 an get 2 nights at a Marriott free. That nets these tires at like $200 or less for me since I travel frequently. I'll be ordering the Continental DW tonight and will keep you guys posted on how they ride. Right now my cars riding on toyo t1r's and they're hard an shot. A big appeal for me with the DW is actually the softer sidewalls. Here in NYC the roads are more for lunar rovers than AMGs

aqeelr

I've used fairly inexpensive brands such as Nexen, Barum, Nankang and now hercules.

All of them have been perfectly fine, my favorite being the Nexen closely followed by the Hercules. Running 255/35/18 in the back, 225/40/18 in the front.

beefstallionAMG

Are you intentionally giving bad advice? Most of the tires you mentioned are notorious for uneven wear, bubbling weak sidewalls, blowouts, and poor overall quality. If you actually used them on a car and didn't at the least have noise or vibration you got very lucky with them. No reputable tire retailer will carry them because they're dangerous.

Korean brands like Kumho or Sumitomo make decent quality tires that compete with US, Euro, or Japanese brands. With tires you get what you pay for most of the time.

aqeelr

I'm really not, I've been using them for a while and nothing wrong, I was surprised too based on the reviews I read. I've personally had absolutely no issues with them, maybe you're right and I did get lucky.

beefstallionAMG

Tires totally transform the way a car drives. If you are using your car to get groceries they may be acceptable in the case you have no uneven wear or sidewall bubbles. If you push the car in any performance direction the tires you mentioned will fall directly on their face ie: increased braking distance, poor road adhesion, sidewall flexing through turns. Have you ever tried a name brand performance tire to know the difference?

DarrenV8

Nankang NS2's are fine, NS1's are ditch finders. I have a friend that drifts with NS2's with no problems and good grip, far from a grocery drive.

As someone mentioned, I wouldn't touch Hankook with a barge pole, I've had so many problems with that brand over the years. You only have to look at them funny and the side wall goes.

Another make to try may be Falken. I've used them in the past with great results, though not tried them on the Merc yet. My current tyres are some cheap things that the previous owner put on. The front end want's to slide in the dry, not good.

beefstallionAMG

LMFAO there's so much misinformation in this thread. It's your car. You're welcome put on anything you want. Why not just run some Ling Long's? (China's knock off using Yoko AVS Sport tread pattern) http://www.caranddriver.com/comparis...ng-l688-page-3



DarrenV8-
Nankang NS2's might be good for burnouts. I've never tried them. I've just read their bad reviews of droning, bubbles, and bad wet traction.

Falken has some great tires and some not so good tires. It really depends on which ones you're talking about.

I ante up the money for Pilot Super Sports. They cost about twice the cost of inferior tires, but also last about twice as long. The are at the almost the same performance level of Dunlop Direzza ZII without losing wet traction. They're in high demand for people who know tires and are frequently out of stock. Due to the demand a lot of distributors just upped their price.

AMG Boost

Go for Michelin Pilot Super Sport and dont look back.

DarrenV8

I'd agree with Michellin, never had a problem with them and they seem good value for money. They even last longer on motorbikes.

To me, that sounds like the NS1's. I don't know where you got doing burnouts from, drifting takes a high level of control and grip to keep the balance of the car while going sideways. An unreliable, unpredictible tyre would be a death sentence in that environment. I had NS2's on my Celica, and they were fine in the wet too, never had any sidewall issues or uneven wear. Still different vehicles and different drivers may vield different results. Have you actually tried them? Still, can't go wrong with Michellin.

beefstallionAMG

I haven't tried Nankang and never plan to. I never heard of anyone in autocross or local track events running those tires and I've seen a lot of tires used and talked about. Its not a performance tire or even good street tire. How many bad reviews of them would you like?

I had the NS-II's before. I had them wrapped on my Motegi MR-7's on my Prelude SH. These wheels lasted about 7k miles before all 4 of them started to form bubbles. Eventually 2 of them popped. I had a blowout on 1 of them and the entire tire seperated off the bead. They did not wear well at all. These tires were never going to last more than 10K miles. I believe I had then in a 215/35/18 which was way to low of a profile, but regardless they are trash. If I remember correctly they did not grip either. I will find pictures of the bubbles and blowouts and post them later when I get home from work. My recomemdation: I feel that the tires are the most important part on your car. It is the one thing that makes contact with the road. I suggest spending the money and getting quality. I have had Nanking NS-ll, BF Goodrich Traction T/A, Hankook Ventus Sport K104, Nitto Neogens, and Sumitomo. My favorite were the Hankooks. They lasted forever and I loved them. I had the Nitto's on my civic which was slammed and I also highly recommend them as well. Stay away from Nanking. You will have issues, I promise.

Made in Taiwan/China, what do ya expect? Several hundred saved by skimping out on such vital safety vehicle components over the course of a few years is ridiculous.

I had a set on my BBS's before I switched to PS2's. They were ok in the dry, but God did they scare me a few times in the wet. PS2's are much better in every way, and I will never buy anything but Michelin's again.

Pancho

Ditto on the Kumho Ecsta. Commute daily at 80mph, been using them since 04/27/2010, buy a set from Tirerack about every 8-9 months, with no problem, and never a flat. Couple of years ago gave up on the staggered, and now have been using 225/40R18 KumhoEcsta4X on all four corners without a problem. Average about 20K a set, and I let my horses go every chance I get, which is at least 4 times a day, floored 0 to 80 from the toll booths. If no traffic, I press the envelope on the ramps. Live near a state park with a well paved 2 lane road on a dam on a nice size lake. Dam is about 3/4 mile long, and you can see the whole thing, and if road clear, then do 100 on the dam. If something goes wrong, then it's just me and eternity. Owned it since new. I love this car.

jonUF02

This has been beat to death many times, I hate saying this, but... search for it.


My 2 cents:
I had the Hankook Ventus V12 and they had terrible grip. I bought the very cheap Achilles ATR and they grip much better, hard to break loose my 19x9.5's now, no problems in over a year. I have 19" wheels, staggered and directional, so there is no way to rotate them. I get terrible life from any tire, these perform as good or better than those expensive brands mentioned, so why not buy a new set every year or so for only $400. You will spend at least double that on Michelin or Pirelli.

Ghennes13

I have the Michelin pilot sport as/3 and I hate the way my car handles on these. Feels sloppy. Which one do you recommend for Corning and tight response?

2MERKS

https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/tires.htm

I would run the yokos, or Michs. Check the link above.
GL
2MERKS

HansBa

I have the DWS06 on an X5 as well as a GTI and it's superb.

https://www.automobilemag.com/news/t...l-season-tire/

cindyclk

Ditto!

Ghennes13

What makes them better than the as/3?