Darkmann

I postd this a couple of days ago in the Tires/Suspension section. Not too many responses. i'd like to know what your esperiences have been. Here's the original post (edited some!!!)

The test car I drove before purchasing my '01 E430 had Continental tires and drove well. My car came with Goodyear Eagle F1's and frankly, I really don't like them. Not the noise, that's expected with the low profile performance rubber. The problem is that the tires tend to slide sideways when they encounter road irregularities (slightly larger bumps, etc). I have under inflated and over inflated to have some balance. Over inflation seems to work better (it also gives a better stiffer ride which I prefer), however, premature tire wear is what I will be looking at. Does anyone have this problem with these tires? I am very familiar with the Potenzas (use them in my other cars) and would like to switch ASAP. Opinions please. Thanks.

AMGLOU

Why are there Goodyears on your car? Mercedes never uses amercan tire brands on their vehicles. Look into using Michelin Pilot Sports or Bridgestone SO3 pole positions. Both tires are excellent and will give you the performance/ride you desire. My advise, although I am sure some would argue, pitch the goodyears!!

Darkmann

I believe these F1 are made in Germany (A variation of the US GS-D tire). They are very good loking tires but they lack lateral stability - at least on the 430E. I plan to go back to Potenzas. Michelins are great but way overpriced.

AMGLOU

Just to clarify, whether some goodyears are made elsewhere I do not know. However, I do know that Mercedes has never nor will they ever outfit their cars with goodyears. The owner you bought it from must have switched them. Anyway, like I said the pilot sports are great, they come standard on my E55 and I have no complaints. The bridgestone's are supposed to be the best of the best. Dunlops are also pretty good. Good luck

apb

For a less expensive alternative that I like very much, try TOYO T1-S. They are rated 280 AA A and z for speed.

Darkmann

Darkmann

I don't know where you get your info or how you can be so sure that MD doesn't use Goodyear tires. My 2001 E430 was bought new from a MB dealer and it had the F1's on. Could the dealer have changed the tires to Goodyears - but why? Also, if you visit Tire rack's site and querry the OEM tires for the 2001 e430, the Goodyear F1 shows up. MB does use Goodyear, probably not the ones made here at the homeland.

Black E430

I too have Goodyear Eagle F1 times on my new 2001 E430. I think that my next tires will either be Michelin or Yokohama AVS db.

allenjdmb

several models of w210 (v8 and some turbodiesels) came with goodyears.

elvanker

I've seen lots of E430's at dealerships with the Goodyears on them, my 2001 E430 Sport thankfully came with the Continentals.

vinmanc32

I even questioned it when I bought my car, seeing them on some cars in the showroom. Seems Goodyear is starting to hit the Euro market hard. My car came with Pirelli P Zero's which are also a very nice tire. They dont last long but they are great when they are new. I hear the SO3's are excellent and may be my next choice at the end of next year.

Savan

MB definetly uses the F1's on many of their E class models. I have them on my e-430 and have had many problems with them since I got the car. Living and working in downtown Seattle, I must have had at least 3 flats and several punctures just from a half a years worth of driving the car. I have never had this problem with any of my other older cars! I have had to replace a complete set already (which pissed me off because the tread was still pretty new on my tires).

And to top that off, Goodyear is discontinuing this model. So if you ever need a replacement, you'd better hope they are in stock.

AMGLOU

I stand corrected, Thanks for all your feedback. I did not realize that goodyears were offered on new Mercedes. I guess since I had never seen them on cars in the showroom, i assumed they were not available. I have personally only seen dunlops and michellin's on the vehicles. Thanks for the info though. Back to the original question though, I think the Bridgestone s03 or even the old s02's along with pilot sports are much better tires than the goodyears at least from what I have seen. Good luck

AJChenMPH

My mom's 2001 E430 also came with the GS-D2's, and as someone mentioned earlier, I also noticed the lateral instability on irregular road surfaces. Interestingly, it only seems to occur when the weather is cold -- we got the car in July, and it's only popping up now.

I plan on taking the car to Lime Rock in the spring, and will let you know what I think of "at the limit" handling and performance.

I spend a little too much time on the Tire Rack's website and have more or less concluded that I'll replace the tires with Dunlop SP5000's, since we need a/s tires here.

AJChenMPH

By the way, since this thread is up, does anyone know if differences in air pressure (from left to right) affect steering alignment/centering? The steering is slightly off-center, and I'm wondering if it's due to differences in air pressure (the tires themselves look fine, though I'll have to check), or whether one of the famous NYC potholes threw out the alignment. Any thoughts would be appreciated, thanks.

rwd

FWIW, I tested two US 2001 E430's yesterday, and both had F1's. One set was quiet and the other was super-noisy over the same route, and I wouldn't mind knowing why. I didn't check, but FAIK, they could have been on the wrong sides. The noisy set would have been a deal breaker, particularly if I hadn't just driven the other.

The E320 I drove had quiet Michelin MXV4's.

Darkmann

Because they're high performance low profil tires, they will be noisy - soft compound, smaller amount of air volume in tire, hence as the air molecules oscillate, thre's less damping. Skip the physics for now. Assuming that the tires are not dfective, and that one car was not a 4-matic and other non 4WD, the only xplanation I can come up with why one set was quieter than the other is that they were set at different pressures - these tires have low speed (<100mph) and high speed recommeded pressures and diffrent for front/back. Still unlikely, but not impossible.

rwd

They were both rwd. The pressure and rotation occurred to me, but I didn't check either one at the time.

I've had experience with Gatorbacks, F1's and other performance tires, and, as you suggest, it was the quiet set that was surprising. I didn't even think about the tires until I drove the noisy set,then I went back to see what the others were and found they were F1's, too.

Personally, I haven't had much luck with changing tire pressures doing anything other than screwing up the handling, and the noise seems to be a given. That's why I was interested in the quiet set. If I find out what was different, I'll post it.