Normandy

Gents, I recently switched out my Continental LX sports for Mitchelin A/S +3’s. I’m impressed with the handling in the road noise has been better than the continentals. However, I am not impressed with the ride quality. I’ve even dropped pressure all around to 35 psi and it still feels too bumpy for me. Has anyone else had this experience?
I extensively researched these for months before I purchased them and I’ve only found one article that stated they were a bit “bumpy“. Given that I’m still in the exchange phase for these tires, I may switch to the Continental LX 25.
Let me hear your thoughts

thanks

GregW / Oregon

I have no experience with these tires, but I just wanted to say 35 psi in still kind of high if ride quality is a concern. On my car with 21s, 31 psi is the base setting, except more in the rear if loaded. What does it say on your on the fuel filler cap? Also, not finding that particular tire. Michelin has an A/S 3+, but that is a high performance passenger car all-season, not a light truck tire.

mikapen

@Normandy Try a couple of things. As @GregW / Oregon said, fool around with tire pressures. The new V167 chassis seems to need less roll stiffness from the tires, so the recommended tire pressures are lower than W166. That's emphasized by the wider track at the rear - previous versions had recommendations of several psi more in the rear but no longer.
There can also be a difference with a warm suspension, especially noticeable in winter months on low profile tires. Is there a difference after the suspension warms up, after a few miles?

Normandy

according to the door sticker it says 45 for the front and 48 for rear. I think the gas cap says 32 if I remember correctly. These Michelin‘s were kind of hard to find in the 265/45/20 factory size . I am kind of noticing that the shoulder of the tire is quite squared off. I believe the continentals are a little more rounded which I believe should play into a better ride. Perhaps someone on here can confirm or deny that…

Normandy

Appreciate the reply. No, the ride stays pretty bumpy the entire time. Especially when going over potholes, speed bumps etc. I’m not opposed to lowering the tire pressure a little more but I feel that I shouldn’t have to lower it 15 psi off of factory just to get a decent ride when the other continentals road better at 40 psi, you know?

another_geek

I bought a set of these last year for my previous ML63. Generally, I love Michelins but these were the worst set of tires I've ever owned. I hated them and ended up swapping them out after 9 months. The ride quality was crap and I found them noisy as well. I found that they tramlined excessively also. It was to the point that I never felt as confident when driving at speed compared to other tires. Would never recommend these to anyone. I ended up going back to Continental Extreme Contact DWS 06.

mikapen

@Normandy do you have a 2020 GLE V167?
If so, use the gas flap for tire pressures. It sounds like your pressures are for a W166, also as shown in your signature. You might update.

Normandy

no, mine is a 2016 GLE. I’ll check the signature for sure, thank you

Normandy

I appreciate the advice. I’m quite disappointed as everything I read on these tires was very positive until I try them out. I think I’ll switch to the Continental cross contact LX25.

threeMBs

OP, you are in a wrong forum. Use W166 instead of W167.

Normandy

Sorry about that.. thanks anyway gents

superswiss

I don't drive an SUV and I'm not big on A/S tires, but may I give some advise. The Michelin A/S 3+ is a fairly old tire now and has effectively been replaced by the new Pilot Sport All Season 4. Both of these are Ultra-High Performance Sport All Season tires, though. Perhaps somewhat of a misfit on a GLE 350. The Continental LX25 is a touring SUV tire. That's a completely different category and will provide a much more comfortable ride. For a comparable Michelin tire you should look at something like the CrossClimate2. I've actually recently put a set of those on my wife's car. It's not a heavy SUV, but I'm quite impressed by them. We use her car as our winter road trip car when we go in the mountains, and it always had A/S tires, but I wanted something better for the snow. The CrossClimate2 actually has the A/S 3 Mountain Peak designation, so it actually handles snow, which most A/S tires really don't. The ride is superb and handles pretty well as well. Haven't tested them in actual winter conditions yet myself, but they have extremely good reviews.

mikapen

Not a problem. We needed another thread anyway!

Ron.s

There is also a Michelin Crossclimate SUV that I recently installed on my wife’s Audi SQ5. Tire Rack rates the CrossClimate SUV number 1 in AS tied with a Pirelli Scorpion Verde Plus ll. I think the only negative about the M is some tire noise. It should perform well in snow but might not be quite as good on black ice or greasy hardpack as it gets some water on top from melting. I’m looking forward to one less set of tires to switch fall and spring.

antigeek

The door stickers are MAX pressures. The gas door has the regular pressures.
I learned that with my C300 after a few very bouncy rides.