BoSoxFan

Took the E on its first long drive since completing break-in, 400+ miles to Virginia Beach and back from Arlington, VA. All I can say is Wow! There was a lot of rain, sometimes very hard, on the way down on Saturday but it felt totally secure with no hydroplaning. We hit several "stau's" on the way and all I can say is that if you're going to be stuck in traffic, then having drive dynamic seats with ventilation and lumbar pulse, 4-zone HVAC, H-K Logic 7 with CD changer and Aux input, and a COMAND/NAV to play with almost makes it pleasant.

I thoroughly annoyed my wife by pushing it hard in some of the cloverleafs to test the handling -- the airmatic suspension is incredible in how it combines performance and comfort.

The trip back on Sunday was sunny and dry with traffic moving well. We hit some of the usual packs with all three lanes doing 55 but when I found an opening and hit it, I'd look down a second or two later and see that I was doing 95-100 -- sometimes without even hitting the kickdown.

This is a Grand Touring car in the full sense of the tradition.

DWP

Do you have the factory Continentals on your car? Not to be the skunk at the party, but when I take a long drive in our E500, I'm much less than satisfied with the high level of road noise and vibration that gets passed up through the Continentals. Not what I would expect of a "luxury" car. Maybe you have better roads in VA than we have in CA.

Barry45RPM

Mine came with Michelins 12/04 Delivery. I find Michelins usually offer the best compromise of handling/wear/noise... I always swore by Goodyear for their grip, but they (& almost all the others wear like erasers)

BoSoxFan

Believe me, our roads are no better than yours. In fact, on my trips there are frequent #$%^&#* VDOT (Virginia Department of Transportation) comments because of the lousy state and size (# of lanes) of the roads.

I also have the Michelins -- no vibration and very quiet. This car replaces a Boxster with optional sport suspension. I felt every crack and bump in the road in that car. What amazes me about the E is the comfort of the ride and the performance. For example, if I accelerated through a corner on a very rough surface in the Boxster, I could sometimes feel it lose contact and the Traction Control light would come on. Nothing like that at all in the E.

04E500

We spent the weekend up in the mountains, only a 150 miles away, but 6000 + ft in elevation and lots of curves. Our E came with the Michelin Primax? I can't say enough about this car and its capabilities out on the road. Its very quiet, very competent, and flexible with the selective dampening, I would be hardpressed to find a better all around road car. I have never felt so relaxed while traveling. This is my third Mercedes and far and away the best.

DWP

What species of Michelins do you have, BoSoxFan? Pilot MXM4? I've heard good things about Michelin Pilots. It gripes me to think that I have to unload OEM tires with less than 10K miles on them to get the combination of ride, quiet and handling that the W211 is capable of - but that seems like what I'll have to do. They don't call them "Crapinentals" for nuttin', obviously.

BoSoxFan

I'm going to have to check and see. I still have the Boxster and drove it today (top down weather) so I might not be able to get back to you until tomorrow. I should have written it down when I checked some time ago.

luxury1

Mine arrived last week with Michelins and they are very good. Glad to see MB is dumping loyalty to the german companies for good tires...

redlands40

i thought i saw a thread recently, saying that mb would void warranty on probelms related to balance regarding the mich-tires,but someone said on the thread the car came with them ?

NATS64

I have Continentals on my car, and do not have any noticeable noise from them. However, they do feel like square tires for the first few miles when cold. Handling is great, and the long trip comfort is outstanding.

DaCeptak0n

I know exactly what you guys mean. A couple of buddies and I drove down to Atlantic City with the E and it was more comfortable than the MDX. It was so smooth while at the same time accelerating was exhilarating. This car is only the E320, ergo, no airmatic suspension, but was still cushioning all the bumps and bruises one will pass through to AC with ease!

jprescott

I have the continentals and feel that there is too much road noise. I've searched it in the tire forum but what do you all think would offer the most quiet ride ( I'd sacrafice performance)?

DavidNJ

That is a tricky size. I would try one of the Falkens, either the ZE512 all-season or the 115 summer tire.

BoSoxFan

Mine was delivered with Michelin Pilot Primacy tires. I'm a little surprised because I thought that these cars were all delivered with all-season tires whereas the Pilot Primacy is rated as High Performance Summer. We don't get much snow around here but if you lived in snow country you would probably have to get a set of winter tires or keep it off the road for much of the winter.

If the Conti's are all-season and you go up into ski country in the winter, you may want to keep them for winter driving and get a set of Michelins for the rest of the year.

I lived in San Francisco for several years before moving to Virginia so I know what it's like when the first rains come in the fall and mix with the accumulated oil coming up out of the pavement while people try to re-learn how to drive in the rain. Based on my experience last weekend, the Michelins are a great rain tire.

04E500

This is the tire on my E500, very impressed but I will not be exposed to snow or much inclement weather at all.

DavidNJ

On the Tire Rack site, people complain about the noise on the Primacy (3.9/10.0 rating) and provided average acceptable ratings otherwise (mid 7s/10 ratings).

However they gave it a VERY low repeat purchase rating (2.8/10.0 rating).

scorchie

Man, don't you know it. The first day it rains here after months you can count on the slowest traffic... because of people that didn't relearn how to drive in the rain...

I have to interject that no matter how much Conti's suck in general for traction, they do have some of the quietest tires around.

-s-

BoSoxFan

For the four years I lived there, it was like bumper cars in October. Definitely time to work on your defensive driving skills.

BoSoxFan

I'm surprised. I find them very quiet but then again, I don't have anything to compare them to since this is my first MB in many, many years and I came from a car in which you could hear and feel everything. I have driven some rental E's in Germany but I don't know what kind of tires they had and don't recall how noisy they were.

Barry45RPM

My E5 came in Dec '04 with: Michellin Radial XST 245/45R17 95H M&S

Quiet, great in rain/snow, wearing like iron & comfortable! Inflated as instructed in gas filler door "speeds under 100" 28F/30R ...funny thing is though, I can't find this tire listed at the Tirerack.com website, or on the Michelin website...maybe its for Europe only?

Kar don

I dont know if that is an OEM MB tire... is it the Michelin Energy MXV4 Plus? BTW, I would highly recommend the Dunlop SP5000s for those of you who want a quiet smooth ride.

BWL

I have the Continental ContiSport 2 tires and find them to be a very reasonable tire (both from a performance and road noise perspective). Not sure why people are knocking them, unless they are talking about the all season Continental tires.

DWP

My pre-Mercedes car was a '97 BMW 528i with Michelin Energy MXV4s. The car had an excellent balance of quiet ride, comfortable ride and nimble handling. My '03 E500, with whatever type of Contis they installed at the factory in 9/02, is deficient in all three respects compared to the BMW. The problem is in determining how much of the deficiency is due to the tires and how much is inherent in the car and independent of the tires. I wouldn't expect the W211 to handle as well as an E39, regardless of the tires on the W211, but I'm surprised and disappointed that the W211 is also noisy and harsh on less-than-perfect roads, compared to the BMW. The Holy Grail for replacement tires would be to improve handling, noise AND ride comfort, although I'll settle for the last two. I just might try the MXV4s, if they come in a size for my car, although there's no guarantee that I would get the same good results on a different car.

So why am I driving an E500 instead of a BMW? (1) A red-light runner and (2) Chris Bangle.

Barry45RPM

You might want to check www.tirerack.com for their suggestions AND www.michelin-us.com for their OEM suggestions, then make up your mind. They are 2 very accurate sources... You might want to check out the Michelin Pilot® MXM4™ for tread life/quietness/winter traction. My car came w/ the Michelin Pilots