5-Salt

My stock tires leave me feeling a little loose and looking for something a bit more robust.

I am looking for a tire for stock rims with a stiffer sidewall, excellent wet traction, 400 or better tread wear rating and in the sock size. Something other than Michelin or the crap continentals I currently run.

I not interested getting summer only tires.



Thanks for help



Vehicle Details

2000 E320 Sedan
30,000miles
based in Houston - lots of hard rain.

E-Klasse

Kumho Ecsta ASX
Treadwear: 420
Traction: A
Temperature: A



I have a set on my SLK320 and they are great.

You can also upsize to a little wider tire in the back.

Check out:
www.1010tires.com Tire Size Calculator

For example, if you have 225/55/16 now, go to 245/50/16 for a wider grip but the same outer diameter with only .39% difference. You just want to stay under a 3% difference.

5-Salt

I like the Kumho tire idea - thanks.

Any one else want to share their wisdom?

Ben'z

Hi, E-Klasse,

If we upgrate to wider tire, what tire pressure should we follow?

Thanks,
Ben

Helmut430

just to give a slightly different slant,,I just bought Michelin Pilot Sport's and couldnt be happier. They are much quieter than the Goodyear F1's i had , and grip the road like no tomorrow . Added bonus,, they were on sale!

auto-mark

which Continentals do you have and what kind of climate do you drive in? We have Conti Extreme Contacts, very reasonable at around $85/corner, work well year round in Michigan, but are not truly high performance (i.e. summer only) tires. Based on personal experience, I do not recommend specifically the Bridgestone RE950's.

f-rod

Where did/do you get Contis at $85?

My stock tires are Conti Sport Contact, they are summer tires and wore out by 27K miles. I'm currently waiting on Conti Extreme Contact but the price everywhere, including on-line, is around the $125 mark.

Are the Kumhos quite? I prefer a quite ride over an overkill performance tire.

E-Klasse

The Kumhos are quiet and they cost a lot less than the Michelins so I wouldn't call them an overkill performance tire. I replaced my Michelin Pilot Sports on my SLK320 with the Kumho Ecsta ASXs with no regrets.

The air pressure will be the same as specified by Mercedes.

Top Jimmy

I have been looking for a set of High Performance All Season tires to replace my Michelin Pilots which, while good, wore quickly and are very expensive.

I have yet to pull the trigger on getting anything as the car had been garaged through the winter. However, as a resource other than 1010, you might want to take a look at the Tire Rack's Buyers survey:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...jsp?type=UHPAS

Or http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/index.jsp for all tires.

________________
Jimmy
'96 E320, 67K and counting

f-rod

I used Tire Rack's test results and went with Pirelli P-Zero Nero. See the test results on comparison with Conti Extreme Contact, Yokohama AVS, and Goodyear Eagle RSA, here

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...emeContact.jsp

Tests showed the Kumho Ecsta only slighlty below the Pirelli, and less expensive, but the customer reviews were more impressive in favor of Pirelli.

duckwood

I have about 2500 miles on a set of Pzero Nero M+S tires, also purchased based on what I read on Tire Rack. In my application (E55), they grip pretty well (not quite as well as Pilot Sports) and have a nice quiet ride. No comment on wear yet. The only two complaints I have are definite flatspotting that goes away in about 1/2 mile of driving, and a bit rough over expansion joints. For the price I would buy again, but I may experiment depending on their wear.