I need to replace at least one tyre because I tore a hole in its sidewall and am currently running on my complete fifth wheel spare, which I want to retain as a spare. In several threads I have contemplated switching to non-runflats, and now could be the time, as I have 22,500kms on the current tyres and while there still seems to be some life in them, it's not a huge amount.

I am in Australia, and am constrained by what's available here. While I am particularly interested in the experience of other Australians I'd also be interested in reports from other GLC owners in other countries.

OPTION 1 - just buy another run-flat

This costs $AUD600 (probably around $US450) and I'd have to get it from MB, as the tyre dealers tell me that Pirelli haven't released to them yet. The easy solution, but doesn't address my concerns about runflats.

OPTION 2 - put on non-runflats of the same size: R20 255/45

In order to get a reasonable range of options and a good deal, this is likely to mean a day trip to Sydney and back to visit Tempe Tyres. When I rang them they recommended either the Pirelli Scorpion Zero (under $AUD300) or the Falken FK453 (cheaper at $AUD195). More expensive options are Goodyear Excellence ($AUD339), Dunlop SP Sport GT ($AUD335), Michelin Latitude Sport ($AUD409), Continental ContiCrossContact UHP ($AUD450).

Anyone got any comment on or experience with any of these options?

OPTION 3 - switch to 18" or 19" wheels and non-runflats

I'd really like to do this (I can explain why if anyone is interested). Would have to convince the other owner that the cost is worthwhile. The problem is working our what wheels would fit. I don't want to pay $AUD600 each for MB rims. In Australia, none of the tyre dealers have wheels listed for the GLC, so it would mean driving to Tempe and having them try to find something that fits.

My question is directed at those overseas owners who have put on non-MB wheels. How did you know what would fit? Do you have any offset measurements that I could give to a tyre dealer?

TIA.

 

A few thoughts that may help -
1. I'd be inclined to stick with a MB 18 or 19 GLC wheel which, in Europe at least, are reasonably plentiful. Mercedes Australia seems obsessed with 20 and 21 inch wheels for its specs which, given some of the terrain out of town there is a bit odd. See typical ad below from ebay.de -

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Felgensatz-Al...EAAOSwkShY98xq

This is a staggered 19 set off a GLC43 but the front size (ET38) is the size that fits all round for reference.
2. If the choice in Australia is limited and expensive, have a look at shipping from Germany.
3. For tyres, I'm on Michelin Latitude 19s. I like them but too early to comment on wear. For tyres, I usually go to Costco (which you have in Australia). They do good offers twice a year (typically 20% off for 4). Worth a call.
Good luck.

 

Thanks. Interesting ideas. I suspect that the wheels may not end up any cheaper by the time I got them here, even at the current bid.

Costco is a good idea, although I wonder whether my current size is a bit exotic for them.

What led you to the Michelin Lattitudes?

What I really need to know is the offset. No-one know?

 

Sorry, didn't make it clear - offset on the 19s is ET38.
Costco do all sizes and definitely Michelin.
I had the standard 19s on my GLC43 - came with them as standard.
Non run flat with a can of goo in the boot.

 

Hi bips,
Teckno, Melb here.
I have had the same thoughts as you re tyres.
I approached MB Oz, tech dept and asked if GLC Wagon had ADR approval for non run flats, they said no. MB Oz only submitted fun flat variant for approval, even though approved in other countries. My dilemma is if changed to non run flats, will MB Ins or other ins companies honour the policy if in an accident ? Really need ins coy approval in writing is my guess. I'm at 29000km with Pirelli run flats (marked MO) and K-Mart sell them with RACV discount for $503 fitted. I think I will get around 40000km from the set, though we still have wear or pulling issues with front left tyre.
our GLC Coupe has conventional tyres, not run flats on it. Came fitted with Michelin Latitude 3 tyres in 20". Tyres on front same as my runflats, tyres on rear are wider profile, still 20".
I'm tempted to swap over my fronts and see if any difference to crabbing or right hand turns on round-a-bouts with juddering ? Would need jacks or visit to friendly tyre shop !
There is a comment from another chap who has fitted non "MO" designated tyres to his GLC and his juddering issues had gone away for the moment.
I am trying to research the option of the space saver and the ML version, my concern is I need stamped data from rim so I can hopefully get correct type, concerned re impact on 4Matic with heat or ECU alarming. Not sure if a 19" space saver is same size as low profile 20" ?
COSTCO in Oz sell Bridgestone (I will not buy them from my Lexus exp) and Michelin. At the moment no one has stock of the new Michelin latitude 3 non run flat tyres in Oz (as of 2 weeks ago).
Carsales have a linked tyre site and I think they have some altn 20" runflats if you search with them, they often have buy 3 and get 4th free offers too, like Costco. Try K-Mart too, my local manager has been really helpful.

 

Hi Teckno, thanks for the thoughtful reply.

IANAL (I am not a lawyer), and if I ask my sister-in-law who is, I know the ultra-cautious and conservative view that I'll get. But I find it hard to see that if you fit a tyre from a reputable brand of the correct size and rating, and had an accident that there would be an insurance issue. If that were the case, then no-one would be able to buy any tyres other than those that the manufacturer had ADR approved, and there wouldn't be much of a choice for anyone.

What do you think of the ride with the non-runflat Michelins on the coupe? I'm sure that you'll recall my longstanding interest in not crashing into potholes. I'd really be interested in any differences that you detect.

Tempe Tyres in Sydney have a different Michelin - the Latitude Sport - for $409. I don't know what the difference is compared to the Latitude 3, but they're a fair bit more expensive than the Pirelli Scorpion Zero. For four they would cost $500 more and I'd need to know that they're worth it.

The ML spare is interesting. although I already have a fifth wheel. I don't usually carry it around town, but with non-runflats I may. If an ML spare could be sourced cheaply enough then I could consider it as an around town spare.

My problem at the moment is timing. I hope to travel to a remote area (by tyre dealership standards) in a week and a half and I want my fifth wheel operational by then, one way or another. I'm going to visit Costco today, but I suspect that the local one here is not as big as a big city one, but we'll see. I'm currently planning a day trip to Tempe Tyres in Sydney in the next day or two. The only question is whether they might have 19" rims that would fit, now that I have the wheel sizing sorted out.

 

Hi,
Re approval, its not so much the brand, but the type; my concern is run flat Vs standard "normal" tyres. The biggest insurance blunder is to make sure the tyre size and ratings, load and speed are the same as what's on the sticker in fuel cap. If you do not go under those ratings normally you are ok. I did go under my speed rating for my SAAB 9000 Aero when I had it , but had ins approve it, It had a ridiculuse 280km rating from memory, but I was within load rating, which was ok.
The Coupe is a different ride. wider tyres on rear. That said, smoother ride due in a large part I think to air suspension, I have steel springs in wagon. The normal tyres are nice to ride on, not as harsh on speed bumps, but air suspension is a big winner.
I have purchased a 4x4 tyre repair kit with spaghetti inserts if I get a flat in runflats. Tyre shop told me if I use can of goo to seal normal tyre, they cannot repair or plug the tyre, its a toss away !, so even if I get normal tyres, or get a flat in Coupe, I will look at repair kit, before using goo.
Difficult choice. I'm keen to find out more re ML space saver too. A number of MB space savers on eBay, but I need data off rims and tyre to determine correct unit.
Might try and get data from MB tech, sometimes they are difficult to get precise data from.

 

Ah, one other thing, even with run flats, due to sizing I have found some tyre shops have a 6 week wait !
I purchased a full size Pirelli tyre ($503) and have it in my garage. I too am interested in a non genuine rim, but need settings, such as offset, etc. I have heard of a few GLC being written of, but so far cannot find any wreckers who might have one in stock to canabilise.

 

Written off? Eeek.

I rang my insurer (NRMA) and they're happy with any modifications so long as the rego people are happy with them. No, I'm not going to ring the rego people. It's a legal tyre so long as it has tread and is not damaged and meetings the vehicle's load and speed ratings.

Did you get the OEM Pirelli Scorpion Verde R20 255/45 run-flat for $AUD503? Gosh that's good. Tempe Tyres told me that tyre shops can't easily get it, but hope to soon. My MB dealer seems not to have any trouble, for around $AUD600 fitted.

I forgot that you had air suspension on the couple. It's all coming back to me now. That would make a *lot* of difference. I'd really like it - I have test driven the AMG 43 and although that has different air, I still think air would solve a lot of my problems. But I'm not prepared to order and upgrade. Too expensive. I told the other owner of the GLC that new rims and tyres would be a lot cheaper.

What is a 4x4 repair kit?

The offset and wheel size is in the MB brochure you get from the dealer, but in very fine print, and someone has tabulated all the info here:
https://mbworld.org/forums/glc-class-x253/648583-glc-43-amg-20-21-wheels.html#post7011303
The 18" & 19" wheels have ET38 offset and an wheel size of 8, and the 20" has ET40 and a wheel size of 8.5.

 

Hi, the 4x4 kit, we have two, one brand is 'off road gear', Maxi Trac", from GPC Asia Pacific, P/N MTTRKS2. It does state for 'aimed' for tubless tyres, 41 piece in storage box. Self vulcanizing plugs, valve cores, reaming tool, insertion tool, etc.
Looking at insert in MB booklet under tyres it states, light ally and steel wheels, some temp steel wheels need different wheel bolts to standard alloy wheels, for steel space saver use wheel bolts provided in "tool case" ? So might be best to check if ML space saver has different securing steel bolts.
My ins is MB via QBE, good idead to check that way. I took out wheel and tyre ins for about $180 I think, covers two free rims and tyres a year with no contribution and no effect on claims history, thought it worthwhile as some ins coy will not cover run flats, in fine print they are excluded. One tyre claim covers the premium and some !
If you have a K-Mart tyre up your way I'm happy to pass on Managers name and ref for what I paid, yes it was for OEM Pirelli on car, with MO stamped on wall too.
Other topic, I also purchased a wheel nut extender bar, telescopic to help undo wheel nuts and from Harvey N, a Uniden Jumper start kit, model UPP120, it will start flat car battery multiple times, use for smart phones/tablets and had a small air pump as well, reasonably priced at $140 I think.
Hope this helps. Thanks for the offset data too.

 

Update on Costco - not of much benefit here. Only stock Bridgestone and Michelin. The Michelin Lattitude Sport was $475, which may (or may not) be cheaper than other local tyre stores, but is still a lot more than $409 at Tempe, and ditto for the Bridgestone Dual HP. And when I say 'stock', they weren't actually in stock, and would have to be ordered.

Thanks for the tip about the repair kit - will def get one with non-runflats.

Won't ever use QBE again, but may consider someone else's tyre insurance.

The wheel and offset data in that table is completely consistent with the information in my MBA GLC brochure, just to reassure you.

 

In order to 'fix' my crabbing issue, Mercedes UK has put Continental SportContact 5 with Star OEM marking (BMW and RollsRoyce if I am not mistaken) on my car. Besides it fixing the crabbing issue at all temperatures, it also has the added benefit of incorporating ContiSeal technology. These are not runflats but do have a self healing element to them. I actually find them excellent.

 

How do you find the road noise with the Continentals? The AMG 43 here comes with a 21" Conti and it has a reputation for road noise, and that was my impression too in my one and only test drive. Although that's less an issue in practice with the AMG 43, as it's the exhaust note that you're mostly listening to, but it could potentially be in other GLCs.

At a quick glance, there are a number of variants of the SportContact 5 sold her, but not sure how to pick the one with the star rating.

 

Many thanks for the 'tip', as said earlier there seems to be several variants her in Oz, SportContact 5 and SportContact 5 SUV, etc. Did you keep the sticker with the EU data on it, or what additional sidewall data can you offer please. This was on a BMW site for RFT...


For vehicles with "Runflat" tires
Warehouse material Philippsburg
Continental PremiumContact 5 SSR
205/60R16 92V
4
Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance ROF
205/60R16 92V
4
Bridgestone Turanza T 001 RFT
205/55R17 91W
4
Michelin Primacy 3 ZP
205/55R17 91W
4
Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance ROF
205/55R17 91W
4
Bridgestone Potenza S 001 RFT
225/45R18 91W
4
Michelin Primacy 3 ZP
225/45R18 91W
4
Continental SportContact 5 SSR
225/40R19 89W
4

 

I have left an email with Oz Continental re CSC 5 series. It appears from the web that they do not supply either run flats or standard tyres in 255/45/R20 (101W) types For GLC 250d, (AMG pack).
Hopefully they will come back to me with options that I can post here.

 

Yes, I agree regarding the road noise. I was annoyed at first to find out that as standard the they came with continental, and that it was the only manufacturer doing tyres in this size with MO marking.

The Star marking, normally show up under BMW OEM tyres, will never show up if you search by your vehicle registration mark, models seem much quieter to me. This is now my 3rd set of tyres within 7k miles so it isn't the variation between new/old. Look for the BMW originals and you'll find them.

 

@Teckno - in this particular search the 'BMW' tyres showed up as Rolls Royce. You can see the label differences.

 

If anyone is interested, Tempe Tyres in Sydney now has the original tyre - Pirelli Scorpion Verde R20 255/45 Run Flat for the 20" wheel - at $AUD490. Just came in. A lot cheaper than your local MB dealer. I plan a day trip up the Hume and back tomorrow, but it's not my intention to come back with one of those if I can help it. It will either be a set of the non-runflat version, or something in a 19" if I can get the wheels that fit.

 

A report, for those interested, and a puzzle.

I made the trip up the Hume Highway to Tempe Tyres today, and came away with these 19" wheels and some Pirelli Scorpion Verde non-runflat tyres, for somewhat less that the price of just 4 OEM 20" tyres from my local MB dealer:

http://www.tempetyres.com.au/wheel-f...20Y463%20Black

Attached are some shots taken en route home. As you can see, they're badged for MB, and even come with a small AMG plate on the rim, which is a bit hard to see in these shots.

The initial impressions were good, other than they'd been inflated to around 40psi. Why do they do that? Speaking of which, do the same tyre recommendations hold for these 19" non-runflats as for the 20" runflats?

Now the puzzle. If you read that link for the wheels, you'll see that those wheels come in an ET35 and ET38 fitment. As the MB documentation shows, the 19" MB wheels are an ET38 fitment. So you can imagine my surprise when I glanced at the receipt on the seat next to me as I was driving away, and noticed that it said ET35. So I stopped at the next opportunity (not easy on the M5) and called. I was told that it's normal for after-market wheels to have a slightly smaller fitment. Who am I to argue? This is all new to me and these guys are the professionals. The wheels seem to fit and run ok.

But having driven 3+ hours home, I now can see that those wheels come in both fitments, and I can't help wondering whether I was given the wrong one in error. I'll call again in the morning, but I expect the same answer and it's a long way there and back again just to argue.

 

I like them, I think they look good!

 

+1

i like them too.

 

Thanks for the positive affirmation for my selection (I only had a choice of two), but the question remains ... why the 35 rather than the 38? I'm going to sleep on it.

 

I am a noob when it comes to tire and wheel offsets but I've read somewhere and it mentioned as long as it's within 5mm offset, then you're okay.
I would trust the the tire shop.

 

Great looking wheels - similar to GLC63.
On offset, I think 3 cm is not a big issue although why they didn't stick with ET38 is curious.
Suggest you do some full locks on the front just to check rubbing/clearances.

 

i think you meant "3mm"", as 3 cm is quite an offset.