Hi All,

I been going crazy behind my 07 GL450 tires (275/55R/19) and getting hammered with new tires every 14-17000 miles. Here is my question.

1) I had Pirellis on them and that was ****ty tire I have ever had on any of my car.
2) After a lot of resarch 40000 miles ago I decided to put Hankook on them, it was nice, great in snow and in wet condition but became a little noisy on slow speeds after 20000 miles and to my surprise it was still holding awesome thread, then 1 day happen to visit DiscountTire for the rotation and balance, and had a chit chat with the manager and I just casually told him these tires has become noisy and he was like can I test drive I am like sure why not, and told him you break it you buy it.....
3) He came back from the drive took me to his fancy desk and said I will give you a deal why not go with Conti's and I was like havent tried them yet, and he said that those tires are superb and all good things and said you gotta shell out more 7-800$ I was like ok do it.....
4) I drove on this Conti's for 13000 miles and I live Chicago and these tires stink snow and in these weather I also happened to drive to Canada and I was scared to death on the highway when the wind was blowing and in snow it was doing Fish tail dance...
5) Came back to Chicago went to Discount again and said this is some POS in snow and they were ohh you got the maximum juice out of it and these tires only last 18K and I said it wasn't the case with Hankook's well after some discussion and arguments they again got me a deal and said we will buy back these tires as a courtesy to you for $115 each and I was like sure please proceed.
6) The discount guy this time insisted me to put Nitto Motivos which has 60000 mile warrant and it is W rated can't believe it and it was cheaper than any tire in that size I said sure why not give it a try.

7) Its been only 100 miles on the tires and the tires are quiet but I dont know for some reason I feeling vibration on slow speeds (30 - 40MPH) from right wheel, is it Tires or my wheel?
8) I wasn't getting any noise with Conti's apart from bad performance in Snow.

So what you guys think did I do a good thing buy going with Nitto's or I should stick with Conti's or Hankook please advice.....

I ran the Nitto Motivos on my Cayenne, they are way to hard, once the temp drops the noise is crazy, and the traction is terrible. I would not think the Motivo would have the correct weight rating either, but I have not checked. I am looking at changing to another tire, and was going with the Conti Extreme Contact DWS, had a great experience, but they wear in about 20k. Never tried the Hankook. On your vibration just get them rebalanced, it is possible that a weight fell off. It happens all the time. Good luck!

Actually I got them rebalanced and swapped the wheels (RF - LF & Lf - RF) last Saturday vibration still exists but not as bad as it was before, Tire does make a humming noise at 35-45 MPH speed, even my kids can figure out that noise. Discount tire guys are telling it could be Hub Bearing I said can't be I had Cont's and never heard this weird noise.

I am suspecting Nitto's aggressive Tire threads are causing this issue.

Been looking at the Motivos for my GL when it needs them.
I put a set on my wife's E and so far they have been great in the snow and cold. (also in Chicago, so we are having a great snow/cold test winter.
They seem quiet but it has been all suburban rural driving and with the amount of snow, ice, salt, and sand on the roads, I would not call it a fair test for noise.


Your post seems to be the first bad report I have found on the tires, but there is not much good info out there.


Post when you find out about the noise and vibration. Maybe a slightly out of round tire they need to replace. (Stay on them)

I too went on reviews and thought these would be the best tires, I am thinking to do another 100 or so miles before making my decision and will get it checked by my indy if its really the hub bearing.

If I read your first post - it seems you were happy with the Hankooks other than a little noise before you were convinced to swap them?

I assume you are talking about M+S tires, and not pure snow tires, but would you mind saying what the name of the Pirelli and Hankook tires they were?

I have Contis on an 2013 X166 and was contemplating changing to Pirelli Scorpion Zero M+S but haven't due to complaints on noise. Primarily looking for better performance for the times I'm in the snow (based in the Bay Area).

Your feedback from your experience is / will be useful. Thanks.

Edit: you've had them RoadForce balanced - right?

I believe I am not the only victim of Pirelli's there are many if you search on Google, I don't deny Pirelli is good tire but its not good for this heavy truck, for me I like my car to be silent if there are too much of noise and whistles it makes me go crazy because I am driving 70+K (when New) truck and I want it to be quiet and different if I am OK with the sound then why shouldn't I go with Dodge Caravan anyways...Both Hankooks and Pirellis was All Season tires (M+S) 275/55/19 Continentals are good when they are new but as soon as you hit 7000K it would become a safety hazard tire in Snow, I live in Chicago and do lot of trips to Canada and all these places love snow, and moreover Conti's says its M+S but it is really a summer tire, you can compare it on TireRack.com I would recommend Hankook because they are nice and holds the thread pretty well but do gets noisy at around 18-20K but if you are OK with sound then its a good tire. I might switch back to Hankook after trying these Nittos for few hundred miles.

Agree on the noise level. Interesting post in the X166 forum today on the Conti 4x4 Contact from a former X164 owner that said they were terrible in the snow on the X164 but he is really happy with them on the X166. I haven't personally been that impressed yet.

The Hankooks were the Ventus AS RH07?

Would be interested in your view on the Nittos in the snow compared to the Hankooks (or Contis) if you happen across some frozen tundra

Hi Dalema,

I have already tested this Nittos in Snow and they performed A+ if you see the tire threads it is very aggressive and nice so Snow it got goood traction. And in fact I am getting extra mile (MPG) after putting these tires, the only thing is the noise which is bothering me way too much.....And the only reason I don't want this tire is because I am afraid this might get more noisier after few thousand miles, and it will really be a big deal at that time, even if I let it go for now. I will keep you guys posted how it goes...Hope it helps someone else.
Hankook did pretty well too in Snow and yes it was Ventus AS RH07

First of all its called Tread not Thread. Sorry just had to clear that up. This is a great tire size. Unique in its footprint for traction and ride on dry and wet. On snow it's a bit prone to snowplowing due to the size so there's no question you need snow tires not m+s in Chicago Canada or anywhere else where it snows a lot. The size of the tire and the weight of the car preclude any long mileage. The most you can hope for is 25,000 "Quality Miles" imo. Make sure you check your alignment and air pressure 32 in front 38 in rear to maximize tread wear and ride quality. Conti, Pirelli and Hankook are all great 3 season tires. Snow tires like Nokian, Bridgestone or Michelin in winter. Hope that helps.

I think the reference was to "Forum Threads" not "Tire Treads"

"not" Read again.

Thank you. Tired of reading about tire threads.

My OEM Conti's lasted @36k miles...OK for first @30k miles. At 36k miles, I replaced them with the Hankooks and happy for @41k miles before they got loud (only at low city speeds) and lost snow performance. Replaced Hankooks after 46k miles with Toyo tires. Time and miles will tell if they are any better than the Hankooks.

Hey all - just bought my 2011 GL450 a couple weeks ago and the tires were really noisy and thumping. Dealer said the tires were cupping (Pirelli Scorpions) and was not a wheel bearing. I went for the Nitto Motivo's because the price was right and did not see favorable reviews for the Pirellis Scorpions.

In my view the Nitto's are noisy and do not recommend them. I might be wrong as it still could be a wheel bearing or differential but an SUV at this price should be much quieter at 70 mph - at 25 mph they are okay though.

****see update post below

It is indeed the Nittos being noisy may be it dosent suit this vehicle, but overall for other cars I heard they are good.....

Anyways I am going back to Conti's because that is the only tire which is quite and silent with worst performance on Snow.....

you can try Hankooks those are noisy too but not as bad as Nitto....

Disappointing to hear, as the Motivos are quiet and have a lot of grip on the E.

Did Discount Tire swap out your Nittos?

As far as the Nitto Motivo's go, don't buy them unless you're prepared to deal with road noise at freeway speeds. America's Tires aka Discount Tire was awesome enough to swap my Nitto's for the Pirelli Scorpions and I just paid the difference in price (Kudos to them and their service) and the freeway noise is gone. I know most of you hate the Pirelli's and I appreciate that. But the soft compound that causes them to wear out quickly also keeps them quiet, which since this is a 3rd car, I can live with. The Pirelli's are the OEM tires you drove out of the show room with so go figure (at least with the 2011 GL).

The Nitto's are a harder compound tire, hence the 60k mile warranty, but I can't stand the freeway noise - not on a Benz. I haven't tried the Michelin's or the Conti's but may in the future with some good postings.

This is a case where you get what you pay for since the Nitto's were $220 cheaper.

Never had a set of Nitto's that I liked. All were either too hard, too noisy, or both.