What's a good tire choice for my E550
 

Hey gang would love your input on a good wearing tire for mostly city driving. We go up north to Ohio once a year so i might put 8,000 miles a year on the car ..Thanks in advance:confused:
the tires on it now are Falken ZE912'S

Found these for the front

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-NEW-245-40...4307ac&vxp=mtr

how much do you want to spend? Those nitto are nicer tires.

Michelin pilot sport as/3 is going to be the best overall performing tire. A best buy, right up there, would be the Cooper Zeon RS3-A, available at Pep Boys, often buy 3 get one free. A flaming bargain for a tire of that quality.

I tried the Cooper. Tires got so noisy at about half worn out the tires sounded like tractor tires. Bridgestone Serenity or Michelin Primacy , Goodyear Eagle Sport is what is on my E500 now and I am very pleased with them. I have used the Serenity tires( which are outstanding) for several years and currently I have them on my Hyundai Genesis.

That's a good point. Different people care about different things. Here's what I care about: (1) Dry Stopping distance; (2) wet stopping distance; (3) handling in demanding driving; (4) snow and ice traction. That's it. I don't care at all about: (1) mileage and wear; (2) noise. So my recommendations were based on that.

+1 on the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3. Amazing tires but pricey.

I want all this is plus I want a tire that has the best ride possible on low profile rims.

For years I was miserable in the road noise and ride of the Pirrellis on my BMW. Put a set of Falkens on that were 1. cheaper 2. Quiet 3. ride quality improved.

Down side is there is some squealing when going into the corners hard but that is something I can live with. 15,000 miles and they are wearing well.

I can't stand the Conti's on my e class.

I had the Contis on our E500, and I am predisposed to think highly of Conti as a manufacturer. I was also inclined to think of Michelin as over-hyped and over-marketed.

But that's all they had at Costco a few years ago, so I switched.

They are still expensive, but I keep telling myself that if someday I have to nail the brakes and swerve, as I had to once when I came around a curve to find a Road Maintenance truck stopped dead in the center lane of the Interstate with no warning, I expect the steering to respond predictably, the Sensotronic to do its thing, and the tires to do the best possible job in carrying out the job handed to them by those two systems.

There are times when a few hundred more for the tires could save me thousands in collision damage, or maybe even from injury...

Found these guys on ebay ..Price looks right your thoughts gang :)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-NEW-245-40...09bee9&vxp=mtr

:)

Correct me if I'm wrong but I could have sworn those tires were discontinued some time ago and we're replaced by the "a/s 3" version. They're good tires but getting a replacement might get harder and harder as time goes by, if they really are discontinued. If they're not discontinued, go for it.

The super sports replaced the standard pilot sports not too long ago. I've sold a lot of super sports to clients of mine and every one loves them. The a/s3 is an all season tire. These are your standard sport tire.

Thanks for the input im stupid when it comes to tires ... are these the old version and do i need to ask for the mold date etc!!

me personally, I would be leery about buying tires from ebay, cause you really have no idea what you're getting. I would see what you can get them for at Costco, and at Tire Rack. On tires, it doesn't matter whether you're a Costco member, because if you can print out their price, you can take it to pep boys and they will match it.

That's a great idea man thanks sir :)

I meant to write you a short comment about the best tire in each category according to my opinion but went overboard, I am so sorry lol. Here is my essay on tires, as of 2015 these are my choices for tires through research, ownership, reviews, and such, hopefully it helps you:

[BEST TIRES]:
If you want a great super high mileage all-season for passenger cars: Michelin Defender

If you want all-season capability with summer-like grip (best ultra high performance all season): Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3, read my review https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...-3-review.html the only thing I will caution is they are wearing faster than expected, but I put more miles on my car now and drive it like a hooligan. [http://bit.ly/1byDE38]

If you want the best max performance summer tire: Michelin Pilot Super Sport [http://bit.ly/1EvE7jd]

If you want the best extreme performance summer tire (more aggressive than a max performance summer but less so than an R-compound): Bridgestone Potenza RE-11A [http://bit.ly/1Jy08vx]

If you want the best R-compound track tire (adding this for kicks because these are streetable track tires): Pirelli Trofeo R (Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 is just behind but not quite as good) [http://bit.ly/162BwxF]

__
If you want an excellent max performance summer tire but want to pay less than a Michelin Pilot Super Sport: Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta

If you want a good, middle-of-the-road to high-end all season that will last longer: Continental DWS

If you want an R-compound streetable track tire and don't care about noise and want to pay similar to a Michelin Pilot Super Sport: Toyo Proxes R888


[WORST TIRES (Stay Away)]:
Please spend good money on tires, they're a very important safety feature of the car, so stay away from the cheaper brands, a lot of which are Chinese. They aren't all unsafe, but most don't come close to more well known tires in areas such as braking performance:
Arizonian (Discount Tire off-brand)
Nankang
Mayrun
Hercules Tires
General Tire (Budget US brand)
Firestone (Look into the history of these)
Uniroyal
Douglas
Nexen
Fuzion (Made by Bridgestone, not unsafe)
Geostar
Sunny
Pegasus


[OTHER TIRE OPINIONS]:
Nitto: These aren't top shelf but they aren't cheap, I trust them but I think a lot of their performance tires (specificially the invo) offer terrible grip considering how aggressive their tread patterns are, yes I'm talking about the Invo here. Their NT05r isn't a bad drag radial at all though.

Continental: Absolutely a trusted and respected brand, never really had their tires, but heard exclusively good things about them, I still prefer Michelin - yet Mercedes uses these as OEM quite a bit.

Goodyear: They have one or two products that are decent such as the Eagle F1 SuperCar tires, but honestly most of their tires are pretty bad, I had a set of TripleTread Assurance tires back in the day that were bleh

BF Goodrich/Dunlop/Cooper: I'd classify as more entry level/mid range with some okay products but I'd never buy them, the Dunlop Direzza ZII makes a good BF Goodrich gForce Rival and Bridgestone RE-11A rival, though

Hankook: Definitely isn't a bad tire brand considering how inexpensive they are, their Ventus V12 Evo 2 is a good max performance summer tire, but through a friend that runs them on a CLS55 their sidewalls are pretty damn stiff

Michelin Primacy MXM4/MXV4/Pilot HX MXM4 Lines: Owned all of these grand-touring tires, they are decent and comfortable, but being a grand touring tire they have a lot of sidewall roll and are VERY overpriced for what they are. I say either go performance oriented like the Pilot Sport A/S 3 or go completely comfort, mileage, fuel-economy oriented like the Michelin Defender or one of their eco tires.

Yokohamas: Some of these are passable tires, most I've owned have been terrible, their performance tires are definitely capable but they are noisy as hell, yet aren't a bad deal financially

Vredestein: Excellent European tire that is now owned by an Indian company, but originally from the Netherlands. Their tires that are by Giugiaro design are insanely sexy looking tires, specifically the Ultrac Sessanta I recommended above, a lot of the SRT8 Cherokee guys run them around here as they are good at making odd sizes. The Ultra Sessanta is suppposed to be a very good and progressive summer tire at a reasonable price, with a tire pattern that is squirmy during break-in but excellent thereafter.


[FINAL NOTES]:

DO NOT buy tires from eBay as stated above - you're opening yourself up to everything from fakes, to long shelf-life tires, to tires that have been stored improperly, and the like. Stick to the major retailers such as Discount Tire, Big O, or to Tire Rack. They sometimes offer good warranties and will pro-rate your next set of tires if your current set wear under the mileage warranty. If you have any more questions about tires please let me know it's a topic I find super interesting, but as you know a lot of the people on this forum have a lot of knowledge and experience as well - I am just one opinion, and as you can tell I'm biased towards Michelin and Pirelli. But paying a premium for tires is worth it 1000x over.

The softer the compound, the higher the tire performance, but the worse the wear, you have to really chose what you want. The Nitto Invo or the Michelin Pilot Super Sport won't last as long as a good all season.

If you need winter tires, nothing will beat a good Blizzak as most will tell you, but Nokian tires are becoming a really good premium winter tire.

AMG gave very good review of tires. I paid big $$ to learn what he published.
The safe way is to go to the show room and see what is on the NEW MB. Buy that exact tire if you want to maintain a "new car" drive feel on the tires. I found Michelins to be my #1 choice with Conti's as #2 I would not use any substitute on my MB .

MY 550 IS NOT MY DAILY, HOWEVER I DID DRIVE A CUSTOMERS 550 YESTERDAY, HE HAD CPC, CONTI PRO CONTACTS, ON HIS. DAY AND NIGHT DIFFERENCE IN TIRE NOISE OVER MY AS3'S COMPARED TO CPC'S. I WILL FOR SURE GET SOME CPC'S AS SOON AS THEY ARE WORN, AS3'S. NOT TO MENTION I HAVE SLIGHT INNER BENDS ON THREE OF MY WHEELS WHICH ALSO DOESN'T HELP WITH NOISE, BUT WITH THAT SAID CPC'S FOR COMFORT, AS3'S FOR PERFORMANCE. TERBACH HIT THE HEAD ON THE NAIL!

:y

I have Cooper RS3-A's on mine and I love them so far! I have zero complaints what so ever about them.

I liked the set I had until a little over 50% worn out and then they got so noisy that I get rid of them. I put a set of Goodyear Eagle Sport All Seasons on and they have remained quiet. These were put on my 2005 E500



http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....Speed+Rated%29


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

^ The second link comparing all brands as " Rank in Category" is random it seems.

A hankook placed 4 better than a michelin whom placed only 9th
Is the hankook really in the Ultra high performance category What about dunlop in this category not so sure.

A goodyear eagle is placed 2nd in this same category, not sure about either.

Some of these tires are rated on compact size cars.

I have the michelin mxv4 energy all except for the winters which are severe.

The Defender in the michelin does not list the 225 55 16 only the 225 60 16

The tires on the survey list are only UHP tires. On the left the list can be filtered by size. Where is there any mention of compact size cars?

The reviews list cars the tires were critiqued and the cars sizes are all over the board.

The safest strongest tire may not be the highest rated tire in all categories eg. noise level.

If were comparing tires maybe we should be looking at tire construction technologies and then look into the reviews.

Tire warranty and full returns are just as important after the fact

Thanks.. a great review AMG I learned a lot from it
looks like Michelin has my vote :bow: