Chucky300

I am waiting to hear back the recommendation from MBUSA.

I preempted by telling them the specific tire I wanted.

Lets see.

I had my friend drive me around yesterday and I sat in the back seat. I felt every single bump.

Kratos-TM

Amazing a simple tire change, could solve this. My God.....what's in these run flats...metal?

By the way, your other thread is misleading.....it went from a picture thread to a tire thread....LOL.....any way you can change the title?

Chucky300

LOL...let me figure it out.

aypues

so what would be the most comfortable ride? 18" non run-flat on Airmatic or MBC? Has anyone compared the two suspensions?

DaveVY

I don't know about the 18" wheels, haven't driven a car with those wheels.

I did test drive two cars, one with 20" wheels with MBC and one with 20" wheels w/o MBC.

IMO, MBC does make a noticeable difference in smoothing the road height changes (rolls or dips in the road) but doesn't make a difference in small items like pot holes. MBC also works great in cornering for reducing body roll. I like MBC but ended up purchasing a car without MBC.

Khan28

I don't have any proof but if you were to drive with the RFTs for years wouldn't they wear out suspension components faster with the harsher ride? I remember reading a thread on a BMW forum that a 7 Series owner went from 19 inch rims with RFTs to 21 inch rims with regular tires and the car still had a smoother ride.

I noticed the same thing with a 3 Series. I test drove one with stock 16 inch rims with Bridgestone Turanza RFTs and another with 19 inch VMR rims with Continental DWS tires and the one with the 19s still rode better.

Kratos-TM

That would make sense about the suspension wear. I actually thought about this yesterday.

RichM

I drove two cars yesterday. One with the standard wheel/suspension, the other with the 20" wheels and MBC. While I had very distinct impressions about the suspensions, I will limit my comments to the tires. Both cars had loud tire hum, rough ride on concrete roads, and slapping noise when traversing road expansion joints. On one section of road while driving the car with the 20's the slap was so startling over one expansion joint both the salesman and I thought I ran over something. In both cars the ride was something less than one would expect from an S Class. I expressed my displeasure with the tires, and asked if they could be switched out for a traditional tire. The answer was no even if it meant loosing the sale. Obviously, this question has been asked before as he had the answer without checking with his manager. When pressed he said there were liability issues in equipping a car with non approved equipment. I have had many other cars where the OE tires were not great for various reasons, so the S stays at the top of my short list despite the MOE tires.

Kratos-TM

The standard wheel/tire car....was it 18's and were they RFT's?

jprescott

This disappoints me to no end. I suppose I will have to go with non run flats as I do in my 7 series and live with a slime kit in my 100k car

Kratos-TM

Just received an email from MBUSA. Here it is copy and pasted....

Dear Mr. Harrell,

Thank you for your email to Mercedes-Benz USA and congratulations on your purchase!

Mercedes-Benz is able to provide recommendations for 18" and 19" wheels only. There aren't recommended 20" tires that meets our quality requirements for the below-listed vehicle.

We appreciate the opportunity to respond.

Sincerely,

Nadia M.
Mercedes-Benz USA
(800) 367-6372


For Beantrader, I'm gonna ask what their recommendations would be for the 18's and 19's. Though they can't help me, at least we can help out another forum member if we can.



...

AppleFan1

Your experience is scary. When I test drove the new S550, I did not notice anything like you did. At that time, I had no idea that there might be a problem with RFT's. I also don't know what size wheels it had. But, the ride seemed wonderful to me.

EDIT: This an intended response to Rich and not you Kratos. Sorry

RichM

Both cars (18" and 20") had RFTs. According to my dealer there is not a non RFT tire option for the S550.

AppleFan1

That's not true. My dealer told me that I could go with non RFT's if I wanted to. The only problem would be is that there would be no spare. There may be extra cost involved, but I believe you can change to non RFT's.

EDIT: Ok, I just read on the other thread that MBUSA does not have a non run flat recommendation for the 20" wheels. However, they do the the 18 and 19 inch ones.

RichM

This may be a dealer to dealer difference, and it is the dealer providing this option. As far as I can tell and have been told, all cars are equipped from the factory with RFT's. I spoke to the other dealer in DFW, and they also do not provide a non MOE option for the S550. Both dealers however said if I choose to replace the tires, there is a kit that contains an air compressor and can of sealant.

Again, according to my dealer, due to liability issues, they can not sell an S550 without MOE tires as there is not an option for a spare. I am not saying this is always the case, and may be a Texas thing. I am just relating what I have been told.

AppleFan1

Thanks for the update Rich. Did you read my post above where I talk about my test drive? Baffling!

Chucky300

I assume I am going to get this information today.

What do we do? At the end of the day, I don't see why I cant put the tires I posted above from tire-rack on these cars.

RichM

I did. The best I can chalk it up to is the road types. In DFW we have lots of different types of road surface ranging from concrete to a combination of asphalt/concrete to straight asphalt. Then you have varying conditions on all of the above. We tend to have fairly large expansion joints due to the clay roadbeds causing heaves in the highways. Then some of the concrete is grooved or textured to help with rain and water evacuation. All of the above can be a challenge for any tire, much less one with ultra stiff sidewalls.

Kratos-TM

Us 1st year owners are gonna have to be the BETA testers for new tires. It is by our failures and successes that future MB owners will be setting up their cars...

Chucky300

Tire-rack is getting calls too. They said Mercedes is absolutely FALSE in saying that they don't have a tire that fits this wheel.

These are the two tires that are selling best for Tire-Rack for the 20" S Class. They do NOT offer Michelin Pilot Sport or Super Sport for this tire. ( I asked to confirm this, and they did).

Tirerack suggests, and is getting more orders for, the Summer max performance (RIGHT)over the AS (Left Tire)

Chucky300

Just called Robin at MBUSA again.
Left a message.

Asked her for the FINAL response from MB. I wasn't rude or anything but let her know that I'd really appreciate a final answer on whats doing. I told her we were all getting very conflicting reports and I wanted to hear it directly from them.

IDEAL OPTION:

They pay for 4 (or 5?) new tires. Put them on the car at their expense. Apply the warranty from the original RFT to the new tires.

BACKUP OPTION:

We Split the cost 50/50 for the new tires but still put the warranty to the new tires.

UNACCEPTABLE OPTION:

WE pay for the 4 tires in total.

Warranty not extended.


Are we in agreement?

Kratos-TM

Wow....other S class owners are changing. That's extremely useful info right there.
So Potenza is the next choice after Michelin......
For those of us in the South who don't have winters, the summer tire is best I guess...???

Kratos-TM

In your case, I see the "ideal option" happening because you already have legitimate reasons to engage them in buying new tires anyway (you got bubbles). But for me, nothing wrong with my RFT's, so I'm banking on just getting the warranty to cover the new tires that "I" buy....

Chucky300

They said they don't make Michelin Pilot Sport or Super Sport to fit the 20" Wheel on the Mercedes Sports Package plus 1.

They said one of the numbers is off (the middle number)

They said the bridgestone POLE S04 tire is one heck of a tire and they have only heard positive remarks. This is the tire they are switching and don't suggest the all season tire.

Chucky300

Way back in another thread...there was a $2500 per car sold "make them happy" fund.

I would imagine this would be your time to employ this option.