fenriz79

Maybe this should go in the tires section... but I'm asking here anyway

I have a 2003 E-500 and it's time for new tires. Any recommendations on where to go? Are the SAM's Club / Wal-Mart install's okay? Should I go to the dealer?

Also, I live in the Southeast US / Northwest Florida area... lots of rain (and sun too!). Any tire recommendations? I don't want to break the bank...

Thanks in advance...

BudC

Like many people here, I buy my tires from the Tire Rack http://www.tirerack.com/ and have them mounted locally. Some people will charge you more to mount the tires than if you had bought them there. Others will refuse to mount the tires unless you buy them there. I've always been able to find a local tire shop that would do it for me at a reasonable price.

You can go here http://www.tirerack.com/installer/index.jsp to see what installers will work with the Tire Rack. You can have your tires dropped shipped to the installer or you can have them sent to your house (UPS). That's what I do although the tires for my E320 wouldn't all fit in the trunk so I had to put a couple in the back seat on towels.

Your car probably came with Michelin MXV4+ all season tires. That's one place to start but you can also check the Tire Rack to see what else is available for your car.

Good luck.

Vik888

Buying tires online .. how does it work if something is wrong with one of them, or the car isn't driving straight due to a bad tire or something? Not that I've had to return tires often .. just once.

Vik

fenriz79

I got on TireRack.com and found a good set of tires for my E-500. They have been purchased and will be drop shipped to my installer. I called the installer and they work with TireRack.com and welcomed the job. Overall, I'm saving about $150 over what SAM's Club was going to charge me. I'll let you know how it goes...

BudC

I honestly have never had to return a tire to Tire Rack so I haven't checked it out. Since the Tire Rack has a pretty sterling reputation, I just assume that they would resolve any issues I might have.

I only buy well known brands made in Europe and I've been doing it for over 20 years without a problem.

BudC

One of the major reasons I deal with the Tire Rack is that I can never find the tires I want stocked by local sources. Another reason is that places like CostCo really don't carry the kinds of tires I want to buy.

pinebaron

I love dealing with Tire Rack; perhaps one of the most efficient online companies around.

Vik888

For those of you buying tires online and having them installed locally .. are the shops doing the installations any national chains or are they indep shops?

Vik

BudC

They have both Goodyear and Firestone shops listed as installers.

I have mine done at independent shops because they usually charge the same to install my tires as the tires they sell. Goodyear on the other hand have high prices for installing tires from the Tire Rack.

vettdvr

I have had 3 sets of tires in 60000 miles. Warning on the type. Now I will only buy OE tires. Either Conti's or Michelin. I will also only have the dealer install them. Our E500 has been aligned twice,, once by independant and second confirmed by MB dealer. The tires have had cupping/noise issues from start. The only tires that ran well were the Conti's origionally installed. My suggestion. Look at your tires and buy exactly what you have on it now. As for Walley Mart,, they won't install tires on the Mercedes, my Corvette or Truck. So I just don't buy from Wally or his brother Sam.

On line rack might be ok but once you buy them you are on your own. I found that I can get prices at the Dealer very close to online and don't have to haul the tires around and beg someone to install tires they didn't sell.

Whatever you decide remember nothing worse than a really nice Mercedes making tire noise louder than the radio when you drive.

BudC

The OEM MXV4+'s on my 2004 E320 got so noisy I had to replace them at 18,000 miles. Unfortunately, Continental didn't make a good tire in the size that fit that car so I got MXV4's again. It doesn't matter since I have a new '08 on order. Continental does make a good tire for the E350.

As for the point about buying from a dealer, I've told my wife that if I'm not around she should have everything done with the car at the dealer including tire replacement.

sgaar

I compared the final price for a set of tires for my ML not long ago and I found that http://www.discounttire.com/ is cheeper that TireRack when you factor in shipping, mounting, etc.

They have all the brand names however they don't have locations throughout the country but if you have a location close to you check them out and see what the total price will be for the same set of tires.

BudC

I've checked twice with the local Discount Tire store before I bought tires and Tire Rack was cheaper overall. Besides, none of the Discount Tire stores in the Phoenix area stocked the tires I needed and would have had to get them from LA. I really hate doing business with Discount Tire. When I listen to the crap they feed naive car owners, it turns me off.

Oh yes, I recently paid $60 for road force balancing a set of tires and not only did they fail to use stick on weights but the clip-on weights were loose. I took it back and they did a regular balance but wouldn't refund the difference for the road force balance.

I'll put up with the hassle of dealing with the Tire Rack because I'll get what I want at the lowest overall price and I can take the car where I please to have the balancing done the way I want it.

Dema

TireRack provides list of installers local to you. Generally I have the same fear that something can be wrong with tires purchased online and it isn't easy to return, because your car will be without tires for some time. It seems TireRack concerned about own reputation and I didn't hear any complains yet..

LAZARU5

I drove the factory supplied Conti tires for the first 44K miles. I ordered ContiExtremeContact A/S directional tires from Tirerack. I think they were about $130 each at the time. I see they are currently $104 on the Tirerack site. I had the tires drop shipped to the MB dealer and they mounted and balanced them for me.

MB dealers do not sell the ContiExtremeContact tire since is not on the MB MO list. My dealer will install any tire ordered elsewhere as long as it's not one of the tire models that they normally sell. After 22K miles the tires have plenty of life left and I am very pleased with the winter and summer performance.

I will defintely get another set next year.