jajara

Hi there i know many threads have been written , but please help me out here bf i spend a fortune, bc i have a friend with tire shop he was able to get me brand new michelin sport pilot rear 285/35/18 for 370$, i am big fan of michelin but hey , so my question is any other tires that are remotely good as michelins and slightly cheaper , so go on with bashing but plz get me some opinions bf big money spend....thanks

Stoofpilot

I had a major alignment with the Michelin Pilot Sport AS. I ended up returning the front tires and Michelin replaced them with like tires. My MD dealer had to put I believe they call them camber kits on front to get the alignment correct.

Not sold on the Michelin Man any more.

amdeutsch

Alignment has nothing to do with new tires. You must have hit something to get it out-o-wack.

five337

I just went thru this a couple of weeks ago. Is $30 a tire "slightly cheaper" enough ?

I went with the Pilot Super Sport 285/35/18 on the rear. $340 at Discount Tire. I have not had them long enough to give a useful review - but so far I am happy.

Just do a google search for Pilot Super Sport, finding anyone to say something bad about them is difficult.

Stoofpilot

The AS tires pulled to the right from the minute I left the tire dealer. Doing research on the AS also showed other drivers complaining about pulling to left. My MB dealer says that some tires depending on how they are hilt can have a rolling momentum that will naturally pull a car right or left. My MB dealer says that the issue is the SL500 has a very small camber adjustment so countering the natural tire pull without the camber kit is hard to correct.

Another test we did. The AS is a new 500 rated tire so it is pretty hard compared to the 230 rated Pilot Sport. We took the two front tires, unmounted them and moved them to the opposite side. Because they are directional, the arrows now were pointed to the rear.

When we test drove the car, it tracked true. Straight down the road. We believe this test was one of the reasons Michelin agreed too replace them. There probably was av build defect in a tire.

threeMBs

IMO, while Michelin Pilots are still the best overall tires for a Mercedes (and SL specifically) the best tires for the buck (as requested by the OP) are Hankook Venus Evo v12 and Sumitomo HTRZ III (3).

jajara

oh i need to add that i live in FLORIDA so the road is hot all the time it is burning tires tremendously.....

ECsquared

I just put Bridgestone Potenza S-04 PP on all four wheels on my wife's 06 SL and they seem very good so far.

jmf003

Suggest checking the test results (not the user reviews) on Tire Rack.

The new Michelin Pilot Super Sports look like the current king of the hill but there are lots of alternatives at lower prices.

I currently run Conti Sport Contact 3's in the summer (which I like better than the OEM Pirelli PZero Rossos) and Conti Extreme Contact DWS's in the winter.

Good luck with your search.

abiazis

Continental DWs.....$ 1,000 for 4.........better sidewall stability than Hankook or Sumitomo under hard acceleration......

jajara

i heard about conti and what the irony, i used to work in conti factory back in germany go figure ,but i think they are to "soft" for florida payment no?

abiazis

I had the opposite experience as I always thought Conti's were too hard......I had the Contact 2s

But these DWs are quiet and handle very well with great sidewall stability.......

squerly

The problem with Michelin Sports is that they are unpredictable on wet roads. They hold well, right up to the point that they "don't hold well" anymore, and then you're on your own. Yes, I speak from experiance. They are great on dry pavement, not so much on wet.

PavementPounder

I have Pilots currently, but have been considering Vredesteins after being thoroughly impressed with them on my SC Range Rover. However, the Wintrac tread type on the Range is nothing like what I would want for the SL and I haven't done the appropriate research on their warm-weather tread patterns.

Leester

I agree with ABIAZIZ in regard to the Conti SC2. Tough as nail and hard to balance properly. The Conti DW seems to be earning good reviews however.
Cheers.

lkirchner

Probably a little late to chime in but---I had PS2's on my SL55 and was not at all pleased. Under hard acceleration the rear end would hop around something terrible. I bought new wheels and thought that I would give the Hankook Ventus tires a shot. Gone is the rear end wiggle as well as the noise from the tires. For the money you can't go wrong.

zimmersci

I purchased my '04 through Star Certified 5 years ago; put a total of 30K miles on it since. The first set of Contis developed "feathering" which made the fronts sound like the brake rotors were grinding or a bearing was going out (heard only with top up). I replaced the Contis, drove them less than 10K- same problem. Now, 8 tires into the car at 30K miles, I went to the local MBZ dealer and tried to order the new Michelin Pilot Super Sports but to no avail- Michelin did not have the size--so I bought new Pilot AS, got an alignment and free hydrogen; and only have about 300mi on them. But if they are like all the other Michelins I have bought, I will be completely satisfied.

RAYREDSL

HANKOOK VENTUS V12........Replaced my worn Michelins with them after reading LOTS of positive buzz and what a GREAT decision! Every aspect of the cars performance,handling (!!!) and ride quality is enhanced. They are beautifully quiet and living in South Florida,with monsoon rain at times the breaking in the wet is magnificent. The kicker is,the price,around $850 with everything at Tire Hut in Lauderdale. I could have afforded ANY tire for my car and I ain`t tight with my $$ but I trusted people I know and was totally vindicated for doing so. Absolutely NO regrets.

danlnyc

+1 to the Hankook Ventus V12's.

Best bang for your buck IMO!

BobLibSL55

+2 for the Hankook Ventus V12s.

TwinCam

I replaced my P-Zero's 2 months ago with the Michelin Pilot Super Sport and the performance is outstanding. The wet traction on roads around Chicago is excellent and the tires run very quiet. Dry traction is awesome in tight turns. These are the best tires I have ever owned and I have gone through a lot of tires over the years. The tires also have a longer tread life than previous Pilots as demonstrated in the major 24 hour endurance races. TwinCam

donjrky

Hankook V12 hands down!

wsy3benz

I have Michelin Pilot Sports on the SL and they are ok for the money. I do not like the road noise at 30-40mph and if their sidewall stability is ok. For what I paid for the Michelins I expected more. Tire pressure has to be correct or "higher" for the Michelins or they will feel like tires out of balance.
On My S55 I have the Hankook Ventus V-12, I will say for the price I paid for them they seem to have a better sidewall than the Michelins, The grip is good, road noise is ok, price is excellent so when I need tires for the SL I will go to the Hankook.

jajara

after reading what u guys had to say i went with HANKOOK VENTUS V12 EVO and i got to tell you great choice, smooth, quiet, and great performance, thank you guys

grane

Great choice! As you know they need about 500 miles to run in and don't listen to silly advice about inflation. Did you have a 4 wheel alignment?