Crabtree

Hi, new to your forum and hunting down a 2012 E350 Bluetec to purchase. I was at the dealer yesterday and found a nice example, Certified Pre Owned, which had the tires replaced by the dealership. But, they didn't put run flats on it, just plain Bridgestone Turnanzas. When I asked about it they told me something about them being proper as "extended distance" tires or some such mumbo jumbo. At least I thought it mumbo jumbo....this car should have run flats, correct? I thought it particularly odd as it's a Certified car and I'd think the dealer would want it to be proper. I've been out of the run flat tire world since I replaced them on my Mini many years ago so perhaps I'm missing advances in tire technology? I don't think a Bridgestone Turanzas comes close to a run flat. The run flats of circa 2004 were awful and I hear they are much better now, but not really my point. Question is, what tires should this car have on it coming from a dealer as Certified Preowned?

mikemargolis

My 2011 E-350 Bluetec has Bridgestone Turanza EL-400-02 runflats.

Not sure if all Turanzas are runflats, but your car will have no room for a spare, so you better have run flats.

And by the way, I love these tires. They are NOT the old Michelin run flats of ten years ago with the big rubber donut inside.

Crabtree

Thanks Mike.....can you tell me, are your Turanzas clearly labeled as "run flat" or similar? I couldn't find any kind of identification on the tires to suggests they had any run flat properties and thus my doubt. But perhaps they are after all. I recall EL 400 (or something like that) was the only identifier.

mikemargolis

They do not say "run flat" on the side wall.

YYZ-E55

Canadian E350BTs were equipped with a "Tire Fit" emergency inflator/sealant kit instead of MOE tires. You could certainly order a Tire Fit kit from the dealership if they have indeed substituted the MOE tires for equivalent non-MOE tires.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...jsp?techid=234

Crabtree

Mystery solved! The Bridgestone Turanzas are labeled "MOExtended"' which, I've learned, stands for Mercedes-Benz Original Extended. These are defined as ...."being specifically tuned for Mercedes vehicles. The Extended portion of the name identifies they feature run flat-like tire characteristics by offering temporary extended mobility. However, since they don't meet all the International Organization for Standardization ISO run flat tire operating limits under all permitted vehicle loads, they cannot be branded run flat tires." (Thanks Tire Rack).

So, faith in dealer restored, sorry for my prematurely errant judgement in my initial post. Oh, and they called me this morning and we completed a deal on the car....owned it for the past 4 hours and have enjoyed every minute so far!