I have a 2012 e350 and I am in the market for some new tires and wheels. After speaking to a few people, I am currently considering the following:

Front 19x8.5 +32, 245.35.19
Rear 19x9.5 +42, 275.30.19

The car is on a stock sport suspension and I'm not going to lower it. How will this set up look, any issues with rubbing, any suggestions on different sizes? If anyone has this set up, your feedback would be great, even better if you have a picture!

Thanks to everyone for the help.

 

Did you try? Did it work?

 

you are replying to someone who visited this site once 5 years ago, dropped a post, and never came back

IMHO, 30 or 35 series tires on the streets is awful. harsh ride, very good chance of getting sidewall failures from pinching on curbs, driveway lips, and potholes.

Now, if its purely for looks, and you never drive it, anywhere rougher than a race track then go for it!

 

Stock 18's are really the only option.

I ordered the Sumitomo HTR P03s

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...=HTR+A%2FS+P03

 

17s are a good option too, 245/45R17, standard on the luxury model 212s with the comfort suspension. Michelin Pilot Sport AS4 are quiet, smooth, and have great wet and dry traction, and long even wear.

 

 

I've been extremely happy with mine. Have them on both cars.

 

I have a Coupe with the staggered fitment, that's what makes OE sizes more compelling to me with this car. Normally I like going up a size or a half size.

So there's not really a ton of choices that fit both front and rear. It looks like the Sumitomos might work well for me. I need all-season that won't glitch out if I hit some snow inadvertently with the RWD. I have an ML 350 for winters, and the wife just got a RAV4. So far, I really like getting decent mileage, over 30-31 for me.

 

does anyone have access to a wheel alignment database? I'd be very curious if there's any alignment tweaks different between the various stock sizes, the 17's, the 18's, and the staggered 18's ? I'm just idly curious.

I remember when I swapped 15s for 16s on a Volvo 740, the shop found and used a different set of alignment numbers which were factory for a car with the optional 16" wheels. mostly I think it was a hair less toe-in, and less camber, purely in the front, as that car was 'live axle' so rear wheels just verified the axle was straight and in the right place. It definitely made the car steer 'lighter' than the 16's with the stock 15" alignment (I drove the car with the new wheels for a day or so before the alignment). FYI, the stock wheels were 195/60-15, and the 16's were 205/55-16. OD was 24.2" vs 24.9" (using a random Michelin as reference)

 

Here's what I came up with browsing for sedan fitment.

A little less wintry... I love my set on my ML and on the front of my Metris. Very sharp handling, really smooth and extra good wear for hot climates, FL TX SoCal...Carbon fibre sidewalls.
Nokian One 245/40R18 97V XL $640
https://www.ebay.com/itm/334424129006

A little more wintery....
Sumitomo HTR A/S P03 245/40R18XL 97W $590
https://www.ebay.com/itm/304393321033

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/surve...type=UHPAS&VT=

Both seem like very solid choices based on quite a few factors, especially cost, but still both compete with expensive top tier tires.

 

Exactly, my sumitomo's are great in the snow and ice

 

maybe they've gotten better, but my experience with the 2nd tier tire brands is they might be fine when new, but when they are 50% worn, the wet traction and the ride quality deterioriates significantly, while I've worn many a set of Michelins down to the legal limit.

 

I have lots of experience, I had the PO2's and now have the PO3's, I get what I believe is almost if not equivalent mileage, braking, quietness, handling and snow traction, which is important here,I have a friend with 20 some plumbing trucks and he has been using Sumitomo's on all of them for almost ten years, he is the one who convinced me to try them, I believe they offer equal performance to Michilin for a whole lot less money, but I understand, Michelins are your favorite. Maybe read through the Tire Rack tests and other reviews, PO3's are in their top three for 80 dollars less a tire, I love mine and quite frankly the Michelins suck in the snow, I would choose the Conti DWS 06 over them any day.

That said, Michelin makes excellent tires, they are the industry's top manufacturer, they have a great reputation and have earned it.

 

Well, I put Michelin MXM Primacy tires in my E550 paying top dollars for them and these tires just plain SUCK big time.

In south where I live I need good traction on wet roads sometimes in rain you can barely see 30 ft ahead The Michelins had very poor traction on wet roads, well below what is printed as “A” in the side of the tire.

I replaced them with Nokian zLine A/S tires just last week. I cannot explain how much better the wet traction is. I can barely make the slip indicator to blink with these tires on wet road trying hard to do it when with Michelins the light was blinking easily without any try for it at all.

Nokian zLine (without A/S) was even better but for some reason they stopped selling these in the NA marked area.

And these tires are way quieter than the Michelins ever were.

 

What made you choose a Michelin Touring tyre on a high output Merc ?

 

High output Merc, LOL. It's a touring sedan, touring tires too logical?

 

Touring type? I have not seen anywhere it says Michelin MXM is a touring type and if it is then it is exactly the correct type for my car. I drive 85% highway.

Michelin used to be a good name brand but after this experience with these very expensive tires with very poor performance I’m not buying another set of Michelins unless they become the only tires available for me.

 

Not on my planet with a 380+hp / 530Nm V8, luckily over here we have Jonathan Benson to make sense of it all !

A much better tyre should of been selected .

 

Definitely a 'touring' type...





Much better Michelins out there higher up the line .
​​​

 

MXM are terrible, I almost lost it on the way home with a new Acura. Any kind of OE tire should be avoided. We took off the OE tires from at least the last 5 cars we got in favor of our own selection.. Every brand makes good and bad tires, except maybe Nokian, all of their products are excellent first tier products. I can't explain it, but I know it when I see it.

The last 5 years, I used a lot of Nokian eNTYRE on various cars, and Zlines on my CLK 500. Grip is fantastic, handling is compliant, no complaints. The price of Nokian is great too, them ending up my first choice when searching on EBay. Also buying a lot of Firestones I mentioned before, my Metris van is getting Nokian One, which replaces the Zline. It looks like a van tire, but acts like a HP tire... the rear is getting the mild AT Nokian Outpost....yes, a split set!

Alas, buying a staggered set is a little more difficult. The Sumis should be the ticket. I am picky, but have a greater interest in Asian brands now.

As far as staggered sets go...General GMax and Vredstein Hypertrac seem like solid choices in the $700 range, Conti DWS in the $800 range as well as BFG Comp2, I had them before, no complaints. t\Then you hit the horrible OE type tires like Conti Procontact and the Pirelli OE and then we break out into actual top tires like Eagle Exhilarate and CrossClimate. I wish the Hankook 4S2 was available in our sizes(s) https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...el=Kinergy+4S2

But, pickings are slim and a lot of tires on backorder. I go strait to EBay instead of TR or DTD.I just want the dry rotted Pirellis I have to last thru Summer.

 

I listen to this chap...



And the many public reviews .

And so purchased .




They're not wrong...





And now it seems the 6 builds on the 5 .

 

It's a great channel, and he's a great host, except for his babydoll cut t shirts, lol.My Falken tshirt is nothing like that!
https://www.youtube.com/c/tyrereviews/videos

This is the video I try to steer people towards.... pun intended.