Max Blast

All,

I'm looking for new tires and searching the board yields fragmented and very subjective info even though we all drive the same car in similar conditions. The one tire I have found good info on is the Hankook Ventus but it's not a player out here in my zip code.
I think it would be beneficial to us if we condensed the relevant info into one thread and made it a sticky.
So feel free to chime in here, (this is just my take and example on the standard review format we should implement) but the very least we should cover is

1. Tire Name, dimension, load/speed rating
Continental 4x4 Contact 275/55R19 111H

2. Distance driven/prevailing conditions
23K on mostly dry pavement at the speed limit.
Occasional weekend trips on wet roads and dirt roads.

3. Noise
Very quiet. No noise on dry pavement when cornering at speed limit.

4. Traction dry/wet/snow
Great dry traction on pavement, good traction on dirt/gravel. Great wet traction, no hydroplaning issues. No snow driving experience.

5. Longevity
Down to 3 mm. Rotated every 5K. Expected to last another 3K, small bits of rubber missing on tread blocks on front tires.

6. Owner's narrative
Great tire. Have not had any problem with these in dry or wet conditions. Tires are still very quiet despite bits of rubber missing on tread surface.

I've been plowing through reviews on tirerack and discounttire but very few of them apply to our vehicle. Just because a tire is awesome on a puny jeep liberty does not mean it will last 70K on a GL, on the other hand a tire that's noisy on a Kia Sportage may be whisper quiet to us.
Furthermore, so it does not devolve into a study in subjectivity I recommend we stick to a standard format and present the facts, not conclusions. There are a lot of OE spec tires available outside the dealership to the GL and a rating standard would help avoid costly mistakes.
Feel free to chime in here on how best to present this, the main point is this should be out there and readily available.
Thanks.

lkchris

Tires made for the GL are high-performance tires from which you should expect no more than 25K miles treadlife.

This is the kind of tire on which you'll find MO molded into the sidewall and the kind Mercedes recommends. I suspect you'll only find such tires from Michelin, Continental, Pirelli, and perhaps Dunlop. Looking for non MO, i.e. nonMercedes-approved tires represents subjectivity in the first place, as certainly there is some sort of "belief" involved.

I'd be scared to death to drive on tires that might get 70K miles treadlife, as they'd surely be traction-free hockey pucks.

Max Blast

Understood, I pulled out 70k merely as an example (albeit highly unrealistic). I would not expect more than 25-30K.

mdadgar

Yes, surely.

<rolls eyes>

- Mark

pteam

Personally I believe the GL doesnt need "high performance" tires. Its not a "high performance" vehicle, its not a "sports car" or anything of the such. Its a 7 passenger SUV in which the main concern should be fuel economy / low rolling resistance and longevity. People shouldnt be trying to get "high performance" out of a 7 passenger SUV.

nynd

My X5 (somewhat seven seater) was a sports car.. LOL! 20" rims.. 325/35/20's on the back, with the sports package, now that would grab a curve and not let go... different beast. GL can be made to look sporty.. and still have the great mileage and roominess for 7.

aggst1

Main concern should be (and it is) safety at all conditions and speeds as much as possible. Fuel economy should be at the bottom of the list. If one needs a fuel efficient vehicle they need to look elsewhere for a much lighter car. Also, high performance for a GL does not necessarily mean high speed.

Brocktoon

I have to agree, in part, with Kent on this one. You guys may have the perception that the GL is similar to a minivan. It may be in mission, but it certainly is not built like one or riding around on the same suspension as one. This is a heavy, AWD performance car with a RWD handling bias. Have you actually had a look at the camber that is set up in the suspension? 400lb of torque and 6000 pounds of car going through that is no joke. Treadwear is only half the tire wear story. When you have major camber like that, the internal stresses on the tire carcass is huge, even on a light car. That's where you get shifting belts, vibrations, and eventual failure or tread separation.

Unlike Kent, I think the MO tires are probably OK, but I think they could be somewhat underrated for nature of the car. I prefer a high speed tire with at least one ply of nylon on the cap, as is common on the OE tires in Europe. Over here they are all polyester, and I have never had good luck with any tires from any manufacturer on a heavy European car that did not have a nylon ply cap.

When it comes to tire wear, also realize that all of your traction, ABS and stability computers are set up to expect a certain coefficient of friction in normal situations. If your tires are too hard, it will lead to excessive brake wear and fuel consumption as the systems will be constantly applying them to avoid what it detects as slippage. I have seen and felt this first hand from my pal who put some cheap tires on his 911 Turbo to sell it. The computer was intervening so much it was undrivable. On the GL, it would likely be more subtle, but it would use up brakes and fuel just the same...

aggst1

I am in total agreement. In my view the tire manufacturers should stop using treadlife in their ads because the majority of consumers buy tires with the longest rated mileage without knowing what they are giving up. I had a discussion recently with someone that does just that thinking that the best tires are the ones that last the longest and everything else is marketing hype...

Brocktoon

Me too. Although, as I said, I think there are likely better tires than the MO selections, but my beef is mainly with the construction and suitability to the sort of road conditions we have in the Rockies, not treadwear. That's what pro-rata warranty is for, right?

Max Blast

All great points - what I envision this sticky type tire thread is to serve as a data bank for GL owners in the market for OE spec (not limited to MO) tires, which as we know will happen every 25-30k or so. Please share your experiences with a particular tire on your GL here.

43221B

Would any of you GL owners like to take a guess at the mileage on this GL MO tire? The tread depth is the same on both sides of the tire. The difference in the picture is just from the fisheye effect.

LEOSOPHIE

It must be high or you wouldn't be boasting. How about 30,000?

43221B

No, not quite that good. These were at 20,000 and I was doing my 3rd rotation. I'm one behind due to the selling dealership putting the locking lugs on with an impact gun (big no no!). Anyway, these are the 275/50 20 Goodyear Runflats. I should get 40,000 unless they start to wear faster. I'm happy with them. Very smooth and vibration free. Just a little noisy.

pteam

43221, what tire brand is that and what psi are you running?

43221B

Check out the post above. 32 in all four.

Max Blast

How has your ownership experience been with this tire overall?

43221B

I think it is an excellent tire. It's a little noisy but completely vibration free. The sidewall is pretty hard but not so hard that it makes the ride uncomfortable. If anything, I think it provides good feedback on road conditions and I like the way it handles at higher speeds. My guess is that it has very hard rubber which is what gives it better durability than the MO 19" tires. I think you notice the hard rubber a little on snow and ice but it performs acceptably for light duty snowy driving. No real complaints. No flats yet.

chsu74

I would have to disagree. When buying tires, its all about application. I have street tires and track tires. I used to look for value in street tires and spare no expenses for track use. I started tracking with Sumitomos this summer and was surprised at how predictable it performed.

Threads on value tires and people who have tracked them with satisfactory results. There is also a similar thread on a M5 board.

http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/9...sumitomos.html

http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforum...-any-good.html

mdadgar

Bingo. When I buy race tires, I buy fast ones. When I buy street tires, the criteria are different.

I FINALLY learned this lesson with my wife's old 528i. I spent years putting expensive high-performance rubber on it and I finally realized that it spends most of its time sitting in the garage (she's in sales and works from a home office when she's not traveling by plane). So for the next tire I change I went to a cheaper (but still good quality), less high-performance tire. I saved a bunch of money, the ride improved dramatically, it solved a nagging vibration problem that had persisted for years, and I learned something about matching the tool to the job.

- Mark

chsu74

^ what people do not realize is that high priced tires have issues like flat spotting just like other tires. Because your wife does not drive her car all the time, lower tire pressure plus a stationary car could have been the culprit.

mdadgar

Yeah, I know a bit about tires. Flat spotting wasn't the issue. The high-performance tires with the stiff sidewalls just weren't a good match to the suspension on the car.

- Mark

Brocktoon

Mark, Suit yourself. I think you are confusing the tool and job with mission and actual application. Just because it walks like a minivan does not make it a minvan.

Chsu74, I don't think you get my point. I was not the fact that they were cheap, it was that they were so out of the spec the car was expecting, the car was lurching and stuttering from the traction and stability computer on the track, it was undrivable. I was in the car for a couple of laps and it was really bad. Not sure, but I seem to recall they were Kumhos.

mdadgar

<shrug>

Everyone thinks their own car is the most special-est on the planet.

Buy what makes you happy.

- Mark

Brocktoon

You might find the last section of this article interesting. Has nothing to do with the "specialness" I feel for my car, it has everything to do with the fact that even OE tires on many imports/higher performance cars have a far lighter duty construction over here than those found on identical models in Europe or other markets. Rented a nice Golf VI in Zurich had nice Continental tires, 2ply poly, one nylon. My brother bought the exact same car in Canada, similar spec and wheels, same tire size (I know because he was thinking about buying one, so I took extensive notes) he got Korean tires, all poly construction.(except steel, of course!)

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/pre-20...res/index.html