I have a 2007 R350 with 25000 miles on her, I am looking to get new tires and was wondering if anyone has any advice thanks

 

Go with the OEM Michelins. I put Sumitomo's on mine, and while a little more aggressive, they have more noise. My wife says she doesn't hear it, but I can.

 

+1 on OE Michelins

If R-class are like my GL, they should have "MO" molded on the sidewall which indicates made to Mercedes specification. And, if that's the case, this is discussed in owners manual.

 

at $250 a pop for Michelin's I will pass.

i will go with Falken Ziex S/TZ-04 for my next set of tires where these are good tires for a reasonable price

 

Give us more background info.
What are the major factors for next set? Performance, mileage, $$$?
How big is your rim, what's the tire size?

I am running Conti CrossContact LX tread rated 680AB. Almost 10k miles and so far so good, quiet.

 

I am looking for peformance and sound (quiet), also I live in Florida so lots of heat and rain, not much snow, not really interested in dropping 250.00 a piece unless absolutely needed thanks

 

I still have my 4x4 Conti Contacts on 17" rims. I bought the OEM 18" rims and mounted "MO" Michelin Latitudes. (Mercedes Original). Great tires, the Mercedes Mechanic say the tread lasts longer than the Contis, and smoother handling. While the Michelins were $335 Canadian apiece, the Contis would have been even more. All the cheaper brands seem to copy the exact tread design of the Michelins. The service manual only lists the two brands, and I'm kind of a "factory knows best" guy.

For something different - you could try the Pirelli Scorpions that came factory on the R63s - by changing to the larger 21 or 20 wheels.

 

I went with the Goodyear Fortera SL Edition on my 20" OZ's.
Great performance, very quiet and smooth.
Oh, and they're very inexpensive - check them out at tirerack.com

 

I have an 08 R 320 and got 38,000 miles on my Continentals, which was 14 months.

I put Michelins on and noticed right away they are not as soft as the Continentals. I feel it slightly in the steering wheel, but not bad to which it irritates me. I'm hoping it will settle down as the tires get worn in a bit.

I think you should be getting 50,000 miles out of tires or more. I know the car weighs 5200 pounds and it's all wheel drive, but longer life out the tires would be nicer.

We'll see how these wear. I would have no problems returning the Continentals.

 

we replaced the stock Contis on our 2006 R500 after only 25k miles (mostly city driving) with 255/55 R18 Kumho Solus at $170 per.

we only have a few thousand miles on them but they are quiet, as grippy as the contis, good in the rain...i expect they will get louder as they wear as all kumhos seem to but even the contis got loud as they wore unevenly....

 

Thanks for your input.

I'm not unhappy with my Michelins, but that feeling in the wheel isn't something I'm used to.

I look forward to see what you have to say about those Kumho tires for the long haul.

Most of my miles are highway plus your "500" engine might be heavier than my "320". Maybe.

 

Bridgestone Dueler HL Alenza, they are are little more expensive than the other brands, but you'll be so much happier with the results. I couldn't wait until my factory Contis wore out..(didn't have to wait long lol) so I could put a set of Alenza's on.

 

the dueler alenza were designed for the premium SUV market....how have you found them in terms of sidewall stiffness/cornering? while the R is a mix between a big luxury SUV and a big sedan, i prefer pushing the handling towards the sport sedan side. i felt that the r500 plowed too much (understeer) in corners with the contis. the kumhos are definitely sportier and turn in is a bit more crisp. definitely less understeer in corners.

it looks like the dueler sports might be a better match for the R...

tread wear is going to be a factor given the weight of the R. with a car that heavy you need to give up some dry weather grip and go with a tire that has a tread wear of 400+ IMO particularly if you drive aggressively around town....

the kumhos and alenzas are both 440 i think....

BTW how may freaking versions of the conti are there??? like 15....

 

tedd,

when you say soft do you mean the sidewalls? or the rubbber/treadwear rating?

i found the contis very forgiving in terms of sidewall stiffness over bumps. and quiet on the highway.

i dont recall what the treadwear rating was on them but i believe it was 360 on the conti 4x4 contact. while the lower treadwear makes for a stickier tire, i found that the more forgiving sidewall simply allowed the tire to roll over more and push in corners/turns. that "feeling" is more pronounced in a big heavy car like the R particularly since setting it up in corners is almost impossible IMO...it wants to push/understeer in lower speed turns/corners and at higher speeds has a tendency to oversteer as the back end gets unweighted and wants to come around. definitely not a car that you want to drive at the limit. it likes big fast sweeping on ramp type of curves the best...around town it is much closer to a big 'ol SUV with a lot of weight and a higher center of gravity...

 

Tire "sticker shock." Get used to it.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...150147524.html

 

interesting reading, especially about the guy who regretted buying "sports package." one point the article may have "twisted" the truth is in comparing the average tire prices over the past 10 yrs. given that cars are now running larger tires (16-19" common) vs. 13-15" previously, this is somewhat expected. this metric reminds me of people claiming home prices are up "x-fold" over the past 20 yrs without comparing the $'s/sq ft as homes used to be 1800 ft and now averaging 3000 +ft. just my $.02.

Btw, I'm going to get new 18" for the R's soon...Tirerack seems to have decent prices for them, though the prices appear to have gone up the past 2 months.

Patrick

 

I got them because I live in a climate where I experience decent snow fall in the winter months. They have proved to be great in snow/slush/rain and haven't seen any drawbacks from dry pavement traction. I had a set on an ML as well, had nearly 30k on them when I traded it in and they still had half their tread life. For a comparison the stock Michelins only lasted 12k miles before they warranted replacement. This R weighs more compared to the ML, so we will see how tread life compares, but it looks promising so far.

A side note: Factory tires are of a lower grade than tires you purchase in the aftermarket, they are intended to wear faster. So comparisons between factory tires and retail tires are usually skewed.

 

My wife has a 2006 R500 that we bought new at the end of '06. This past summer she needed tires after about 35k miles and we were headed out for a roadtrip vacation so I went to the dealer. They quoted me a price of around $1300 for new tires and I thought that was a little steep. I researched some tires and ended up choosing Dunlop SP Sport 5000s (http://www.dunloptires.com/dunlop/di...ea=Performance).

I ended up buying them from tirerack.com for $109 apiece (where I buy all the tires for my other cars - Honda Element, F250 King Ranch). I had them shipped to my local tire guy. $491 to Tirerack.com for tires + shipping + approx $30 per tire for mounting, balancing, labor, tax etc = $615 total for new tires on the R500 vs $1300 from the dealer.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....0&autoModClar=

We have had the tires on since the end of June and they have been REMARKABLE tires. My wife basically hauls the kids around town and we take the car on family road trips once a quarter. The tires have been great in the rain & weather and seem to be showing little wear after 4 months.

I don't work for tirerack.com or anything but I really like doing business with them. This is my 3rd set of tires from them and they beat EVERY other local tire supplier including Samsclub. It is super easy to use them and if you know what you are looking for, they are a great channel for the consumer to get quality tires at hugely discounted prices.

BTW, I also had to put brakes on her car and our dealer (whom we have a good relationship with) quoted us something like $1600 for front and rear. I took it to my local, chain tire & brake person who did it for $860 with the exact same parts (including new sensors). I really like the mercedes but the dealer pricing KILLS me. What is up with that?

Thanks
db

 

thanks for sharing info on the tires.

careful about blanket statements re: OE tires. perhaps true on lower priced cars but only true some of the time as car price goes up...tires are not designed to wear faster....some tires have lower tread wear ratings and thus wear faster. and consequently they have better dry weather grip since the rubber is softer....many tires simply wear poorly and need to be replaced too early or the tread compound becomes more slippery over time ( i have found this with kumhos in particular).

 

This really isn't new info, there was an article written up in Car and Driver sometime last year letting the cat out of the bag on OEM tires. In most cases the OEM tires will look exactly like retail tires and carry the exact same name, but the truth is in the numbers. The OEM tires will carry an extra letter or number, in reference to their original destination (OEM). Yes its unfair to make a blanket statement as in "all" OEM tires are this way, but from experience I know MB has fallen prey to this practice in some instances.

The problem lies in that manufacturers don't have any real ties to tire manufacturers. The brand of tire that goes onto a car ends up there because the tire manufacture bid the cheapest or in some cases paid the most to have their brand on the vehicle. This is reinforced by the car manufacture not warranting the tire, but rather referring you to the tire manufacture for any problems. So for the tire manufacture to save money, they make a lower grade of tire to supply the demand of the car manufacture and still make a profit. Because the tires on a vehicle rarely cause damage to the actual vehicle or its components, the car manufactures look the other way.

You very rarely see a car manufacture promoting a certain brand of tire, off hand Ferrari and their relationship with Pirelli is the only one I can think of. But if its something that goes into the car and may very well cause problems such as motor oil, well look no further than under the hood of every MB and you will see a Mobil 1 sticker. If car manufactures felt so highly of their tires, they would promote what brand is on their vehicles, maybe not in commercials and the like, but at least in the vehicles brochure.

 

... to add an interesting point - think about different markets (ie. countries) being like boxes with walls - wherein the Mercedes product is shaped, designed and labelled for that country's peculiarities and laws.

In Canada there are no Mobil 1 stickers under the hood that I know of - but I've seen them under the hood on many US models...could be just lack of sample size - but I suspect there's some tied selling going on there.

 

Please forgive the shift in topic. I've been a snow tire user for many years. I never had any regard for all-season tires in the snow, though I must admit that I've not chosen to use any except when a rental car came with them mounted.

I took my R500 in today to swap my summer tires for winter tires. My summer tires are Pirelli P-Zero Rossos in stock 255-55/18. My winter tires are Michelins in the same size.

My shop called this morning as they were starting to work on the car. The owner wanted to know why I wanted to spend the money to swap the tires since "the tread pattern of the two tires was about the same."

My understanding about the difference between summer and winter tires is that the composition of the tread compound is quite different. The summer tread compound is designed to remain flexible down to a certain minimum temperature. The compound of the winter tread is designed to remain flexible below that temperature. Along with the tread patterns, the compounds are designed to maximize traction between the tire and the road surface regardless of the temperature. In addition, the winter tread pattern is designed to provide improved traction on snow and water-covered asphalt.

All my information is derived from TireRack's videos and write-ups, supported by articles in Car & Driver and Road & Track which say that their drivers routinely swap summer tires for winter ones during snow season. Of course, TireRack is a major advertiser in those and other car enthusiast magazines.

I've used snow tires on my cars since 1973 on such cars as '72 and '75 Honda Civics (on front wheels only), '82 VW Jetta, '92 Honda Accord, '95 Ford Crown Vic, '02 C240 and '03 C320, and '07 R500 (on all four wheels). In most cases, my other-than-winter tires were all seasons but I never trusted them for driving in snow.

Please share your experience with using all-season tires vs. winter tires in cold temperatures and on snowy roads.

JR

 

I drive mostly on plowed highways and I have found all season tires to be adequate for my commute. We occasionally get a heavy storm where the plows can't keep up. All seasons won't leave me stuck in those conditions but I expect a lot of slipping.

A lot of this comes down to your comfort level with losing traction. Personally, my first new car was a RWD Ford Ranger pickup with wide, sporty all season tires. I drove 7 NH winters in that truck and got stuck once. I drifted around corners, fishtailed, skidded to stops, etc. That's my idea of winter fun. Someone like my mom, on the other hand, feels out-of-control and impending death at the slightest hint of wheel slippage.

 

Your right on with your analysis. Something the previous poster was getting at is winter tires tend to do poorly on wet surfaces. If you live in a climate where you only get one or two decent snow storms, or the roads tend to be plowed and in good condition, then going with a strictly winter tire might not be the best route. If you experience a lot of snow fall, or live in an area that doesn't get maintained quickly, then the pros would out weigh the cons of winter tires easily.

 

Well, when you have summer tires or all seasons, and you get icy road or more snow, you can typically see something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMETr1JQ24M

If you need to drive in real winter, you mount on winter/snow tires, like Bridgestone Blizzak, Michelin X-Ice, Nokian Hakkapeliitta 5/R + some other brands. These are the best real snow tires on the markets right now. You can drive with these on icy roads almost like in summer with your summer tires. (and this is not ad, I have just driven 10 years every winter on snowy/icy roads)

I'm from Finland (now living in So-Cal) where it's mandatory to use snow tires from December to March. You drive summer tires, you get a ticket. And you never see those situations like shown in that video clip Well, maybe the first snow in the fall which is always "a surprise" for people there in Finland. Well, like rain here in So-Cal