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I'm looking for a guide to replace the tires. I have E350 2013 Sport 4Matic and now tires replacement is due. I'm really not a sport driver i just bought this car a year ago, I want more quite and comfort/luxury ride with no tire noise, can you please guide some tires that I can go with? I live in Chicago and want all season tires. I went to MB dealer in my area and they quoted $1300 for 4 tires Contiprocontact MO XL BW, my wheel size is 245/40R18. Currently installed tires by previous owner is BF Goodrich, cheap tires and a bit noisy too.
I went to Costco tire shop and they quoted around $800 for Michelin tires because they do not have continental, I don't remember the Michelin tire name/model they quoted. I heard Michelin tires are good too? which tires will give more quite, comfort/luxury ride experience?
Your expert opinions would really help, thank you.
tire questions are a very polarized. I used to swear by Michelin as the best but after 12 bad tires consistently chunking pieces of rubber, I am now a Continental guy.
I appreciate how Conti tires don't degrade prematurely into soft chewing gum as they age.
To get more comfort with low profiles 245/40R18 tires, the limiting factor is the 40 aspect ratio. My comfort E35 I believe is on 245x45x17 non staggered.
Last edited by CaliBenzDriver; Jun 27, 2021 at 11:19 PM.
2016 E350 4Matic wagon, 2019 Ford Expedition, 2019 Chevy Bolt EV
your 'sport' model has 18" wheels, and stiffer lowered suspension, so the ride is already somewhat compromised from the 'luxury' package, which has 17" wheels and taller/softer suspension. I'm still on the new Contis the reselling dealer put on.
I've been a big fan of Michelins, either Primacy all seasons, or Pilot A/S, but I've not gotten a set in awhile on anything, and haven't' experienced the chunking CaliBenzDriver talks about.
Costco also sells bridgestones, and I was pretty happy with the 'stones' I put on a different car. they come in various flavors, looks like in your sizes, there are various Turanza 'touring' tires, and Potenza 'performance' tires. Of course, Costco will likely only stock 1 or 2 of these in any given size.
I want more quite and comfort/luxury ride with no tire noise
. . . more quite, comfort/luxury ride experience?
If you go to the Tire Rack site, put in your car and tire size, select all season tires, and select ride comfort as the only decision factor, these three tires are the result: Vredestein Quatrac Pro, Continental Purecontact LS, and Yokohama Avid Ascend GT.
I recently replaced the Continental Pure Contact LS tires that were on my E350 when I bought it. My local tire store owner convinced me to try out a set of Nokian Tyre One. I had them put on right before my wife and I left for a four day road trip.
The One tires have performed very well. They are at least as quiet as the Pure Contact LS tires, and they seem to handle as well also.
I would have no problem recommending either the Pure Contact LS or the One tires. Time will tell how well the One tires wear, They hare an 80k mile tread wear warranty. And they have aramid belting in the side walls. But the Pure Contact LS tires have a 70k mile warranty, so not a lot of difference in predicted wear life.
If you go to the Tire Rack site, put in your car and tire size, select all season tires, and select ride comfort as the only decision factor, these three tires are the result: Vredestein Quatrac Pro, Continental Purecontact LS, and Yokohama Avid Ascend GT.
As always, this topic is about opinions, not facts.
I have the Yokohama Avid Ascend GTs on my 2016 rear axle. They are quieter and just as grippy as the OEM Continentals I have on the front axle, which I've kept because they are almost new tires (9/32). If they were half worn, I would have replaced all four with the Yokos.
I think outside the box regarding tires on European cars. I do not feel obligated to buy Continental or Pirelli... because, IMO, tires are tires for the most part. Mercedes-Benz buys them by the trainload at the lowest bid, not their performance values.
I've had the Yokos on my older MB for years without complaint.
2016 E350 4Matic wagon, 2019 Ford Expedition, 2019 Chevy Bolt EV
the OE tires on mine, 17", are ContiProContact and have an "MO" Mercedes mark (the same tire/size comes in a AO Audi special version). oddly, the 'identical' tire in MO has a UTQG of 500 AA A, while the AO has 400 A A.
I had used Michelin Primacy in my W212 ,245/45 R17 .They were soft and not having a tire related noise as the stock tires that came with the car which were Continental .(Those stock tires were not DWS )
There are so many tire threads on here, like any car site. At some point, you just need to go with the gut. MB uses the Continental brand for OEM tires for a reason. I use them in the winter months and chose a different high performance summer tire during the summer months. The Continental tires ride very well, but have an Achilles heal. The sidewalls are very soft for a compliant ride, and will easily bubble if you hit a pothole. I’m in the Chicago area also and have replaced my share of Continental tires over many years.
Thank you all, look like almost everyone has different experience with different brands but this is for sure helpful to know.
I went to costco today and they quoted Michelin Pilot Sport AS4 and BS Potenza RE980 AS, he said Michelin is slightly better than BS. So If I choose to go with costco for Pilot sport as4 over continental, would you think it will give better performance and quite/comfort drive as compare to continental?
Thank you all, look like almost everyone has different experience with different brands but this is for sure helpful to know.
I went to costco today and they quoted Michelin Pilot Sport AS4 and BS Potenza RE980 AS, he said Michelin is slightly better than BS. So If I choose to go with costco for Pilot sport as4 over continental, would you think it will give better performance and quite/comfort drive as compare to continental?
Again, this is all personal preference and opinion... self-validation of one's purchase decisions.
I would have to answer no to your question. IMO the Michelin Pilot tire series will be noisier. The Bridgestones are definitely a very noisy tire. My summer tire is the BS S-04 Potenza Pole Position and they bark. Higher traction/grip tires are just noisy.
I talked to Tire Rack chat today and below is their answer, copy pasting:
"Smoothest and quietest tires in your size are: Bridgestone QuietTrack $242.99, Vredestein Quatrac Pro $170.97 and Continental Pure Contact LS $184.99. Among these three, Bridgestone QuietTrack is the winner.
Michelin pilot sport tires are performance tires. Grand touring all-season tires are the smoothest and quietest type of tires. Michelin Pilot Sport AS 4 is one of the quieter performance tires, but these Grand touring tires are quieter and also have better snow traction."
Would you agree with their opinion? I was going to finalize Michelin pilot sport but after his answer I guess I am going to end up with Bridgestone quiettrack? not sure if someone else has any experience with it and are more quieter and confirm?
I concur, Grand Touring tires are my preference for everyday use year around.
apparently this new generation of 'quiet' tires have a foam band on the iinside that acts as a noise damper.
Correct, I would also prefer to have smooth, quieter and comfort ride for daily use and Grand touring tires are best for this vs high performance tires which are more love of sporty riders i guess.
I see Conti PureContact LS is cheaper option in grand touring so may be thinking to go with this one too but let's see. I have Car-X shop near me so may be will go there to get these replaced, hoping they do good job because this would be my first experience with them.
Can someone please confirm if I put tires with 97V (149 mph) will this cause vibration? if yes at what speed? I went to Carx for conti Purecontact LS (97V) and the guy there said it may give you vibration at speed of 80-100mph? but tires with 97Y (186mph) will not. Is it true? Currently my tires are with 97Y and never faced vibration.
I had the conti’s that were original with the car. Same rim size and sport suspension. Via wheel repairs, 3 of the 4 were essentially new with maybe 15k miles on them. The other had 28k-ish. They wore extremely well, but was chasing a drowning noise earlier this spring and as part of that process, I went for the Michelins Pilots. Then drove the car 1,100 miles back home. Night and day difference in terms of ride comfort and noise. I’m a Michelin guy though, only tire I’ve ever had that rode the way I liked across all different car brands. Especially Lexus, where quiet and serene is their thing. I like them so much, as I type this, I’m having the 21” wheels on the wife’s new GLS switched out from the Pirelli’s that came with the car to a new set of Michelin’s right now before going on vacation. That car has 25k miles on it now. The pirellis aren’t bad, but loud and stiff. The rears are practically at the wear bars, fronts are fine (staggered wheel sizes, comes with the territory for rears to wear faster on that car).
I’m 100% Michelin in my house. They even made the VW ride much smoother and quieter (pilots on that one too).
There's a reason why super car companies go to Michelin for their custom tires. The Veyron couldn't get to its famed top speed without Michelins. They can also be $100-$200 more per tire and not everyone can or would drop a G on tires.
Last edited by Fliplegend; Jun 30, 2021 at 12:15 PM.
Can someone please confirm if I put tires with 97V (149 mph) will this cause vibration? if yes at what speed? I went to Carx for conti Purecontact LS (97V) and the guy there said it may give you vibration at speed of 80-100mph? but tires with 97Y (186mph) will not. Is it true? Currently my tires are with 97Y and never faced vibration.
I would not trust the work of someone saying such non-sense.
Any properly balanced pair of wheel+tire should not vibrate at those speeds. That is why we have digital balancing machines to know "exactly" the proper weights, and their location on the wheel to put them. Unless his balancing machine is OFF, any vibration is coming from another source but never from a well-balanced wheel+tire pair.
Over the years I have driven with tires with H, V, and Y ratings at those speeds and never had any vibrations. In fact, I had a vibration once @80MPH (not an MB), and it was an issue with a front axle, and the vibration went away once the axle was replaced.
2016 E350 4Matic wagon, 2019 Ford Expedition, 2019 Chevy Bolt EV
the E350 is governor limited to 130 MPH, so any tires with a speed rating higher than H are a waste.
the correct tires for my E350 4m wagon with 17" wheels have a load rating of 99, tho, not 97. 99 is 1709 lbs per tire, while 97 is 1609. the 18" wheels use 97, and I'm not sure why, unless the 'sport' package also lowers the GAWR ratings front and rear, my wagon is 2502 lbs front, 3219 lbs rear.
Taking the maximum GAWR value (rear axle) / 2 = 1609 lbs --> 97 rating
I guess that an S212 can take a larger load; therefore, a higher rating is required.
Regarding the speed rating, I would not cruise an H rate tired above 100MPH regardless of a stated max of 130MPH.. Too close to the top speed for the margin of error in manufacturing. Nor I would cruise a V above 120MPH either. Perhaps occasionally,
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Need help with replacing tires of E350 2013
