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Purchased 2 of these for rear tires from tire rack:
285/30ZR-19 CONTINENTAL EXTREMECONTACT DWS 06 XL
and they are terrible. I get the flashing yellow traction control light often and I'm not that aggressive of a driver. It's not a throttle control thing as it often happens when I'm just coasting through a curve. I can't believe these tires are so much worse than the
285/30ZR-19 CONTINENTAL EXTREMECONTACT DW XL
that I had previously. I live in Texas and don't need an all season tire. As soon as the fronts are worn out I'll replace all 4 with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S's if I can find them in my size.
Purchased 2 of these for rear tires from tire rack:
285/30ZR-19 CONTINENTAL EXTREMECONTACT DWS 06 XL
and they are terrible.
If you live in the NW, like I do, where it rains all the time, these tires are great 3 season options. And much more quiet than other options I've tried. PM me if you are interested in selling them
I'm happy with my Hankook Evo V12. For daily driving they do excellent job. And i'd say they're the best for the buck. Unless you need performance. That's a different story.
thanks HLG600. I have the tire pressures set to 30/33 as recommended on the door sill. Do you think I should try a different pressure? I'm still really surprised at how often the stability control light and braking occur. It's often when coasting through a curve.
I've had problems finding Michelin's in my size and that's disappointing that the 4S is not offered yet in 285/30ZR19. I have the previous versions in whatever size the front it. I wonder if the mismatch between the tires is contributing to this? They are down to 4/32" so I'm going to replace them soon and will do a full set of the same tires. Making arrangements with kbob999 to send him the all-season rears.
The mismatch can surely be the issue.
What size are the fronts? Can you engage the cruise control at 55 mph, and it stays on?
Not having cruise working is the first sign of tire mismatch.
The fronts are 255/35ZR-19 MICHELIN PILOT SUPER SPORT XL. Cruise control and normal driving are fine but even mildly spirited driving results in automatic braking and the stability control light blinking.
That is the same front tire size on mine, and I don't see those issues you are having with the same tires. And I'm driving the SL55 with more power.
There may be more to the problem than the tires.
Test the tires at 35 PSI front and rear and see what happens. Otherwise, a scan with the SDS may uncover other issues.
thanks HLG600. I have the tire pressures set to 30/33 as recommended on the door sill. Do you think I should try a different pressure? I'm still really surprised at how often the stability control light and braking occur. It's often when coasting through a curve.
I've had problems finding Michelin's in my size and that's disappointing that the 4S is not offered yet in 285/30ZR19. I have the previous versions in whatever size the front it. I wonder if the mismatch between the tires is contributing to this? They are down to 4/32" so I'm going to replace them soon and will do a full set of the same tires. Making arrangements with kbob999 to send him the all-season rears.
I find it odd that there is a discrepancy in recommended tire pressures considering that the tire sizes/specs are the same. For reference:
2009 SL550
2009 SL63
I run +2 PSI over factory, so 38 PSI front, 40 PSI rear. Continentals have relatively softer sidewalls, which don't respond well to lower tire pressures.
Now you guys made me wonder the tire pressure on my vehicle... I do remember seeing on the door sill 26 front and 29 rear, which did seem to me too low for the tires, but hey, they're the manufacturers 🤔 I still ended up setting to 32 front and 34 rear
Now you guys made me wonder the tire pressure on my vehicle... I do remember seeing on the door sill 26 front and 29 rear, which did seem to me too low for the tires, but hey, they're the manufacturers 🤔 I still ended up setting to 32 front and 34 rear
I think the AMG and high performance R230 variants use higher pressures for handling vs. lower pressure for comfort.
My 2003 SL55 used 18" stock wheels, and the door card shows 35 front / 36 rear for tire pressures. That is what I run on my 19" tires.
I will definitely try the higher tire pressure (35 all around) when I'm back in the country in a few weeks.
I do think there may be more going on than just the tires for stability control issue. I asked the tire shop about this and they had a few people drive my car were able reproduce it but they didn't think anything was wrong with the car. This isn't my regular shop.
Would an SDS store the reasons for why the stability control was activated after the fact? I live alone and can't be watching it while driving.
The SDS will store all errors until you delete them.
If there is an error in the system that is current, it responds with "F" for the fault.
If it happened in the past, but is not happening now, it shows "f" for the fault.
Thanks again kbob999. I wonder if a tire slippage situation would be considered a fault and be stored. It seems like a track day would generate a huge number of those and there isn't anything wrong with the system or sensors. They are just responding to track conditions. Something like a yaw sensor being unresponsive or detection of differential wheel travel being way out of a normal range would be true fault conditions. I can swing by my indy (not the tire place) and see if any codes are stored.
I'm thinking the SDS scan would show if there is an issue with the stability control system that is triggering the system easily.
As you suggest, I don't think a 'normal' track day stability response would be recorded in the system.
Seems like there's more going on than tires. Those aren't amazing tires but they aren't terrible either, not something that should yield a dramatic difference in handling. Also, if you don't need all season tires always default to summer tires, they are so much better.
I find it odd that there is a discrepancy in recommended tire pressures considering that the tire sizes/specs are the same. For reference:
2009 SL550
2009 SL63
I run +2 PSI over factory, so 38 PSI front, 40 PSI rear. Continentals have relatively softer sidewalls, which don't respond well to lower tire pressures.
Worth a shot.
part or most of the explanation for the discrepancy could be the difference in curb weight between the 2 models.
EDIT .... I just checked and the 2009 SL63 appears to only weigh 44 more pounds than a 2009 SL550 ... so that is NOT the explanation (my bad : ) (I seemed to recall that the difference was a lot greater between the AMG and non (steel vs alum sub-frame ... bigger brakes, etc), but that must not apply to 2009 ...
Last edited by latemodel21; Dec 16, 2020 at 03:09 PM.
EDIT .... I just checked and the 2009 SL63 appears to only weigh 44 more pounds than a 2009 SL550 ... so that is NOT the explanation (my bad : ) (I seemed to recall that the difference was a lot greater between the AMG and non (steel vs alum sub-frame ... bigger brakes, etc), but that must not apply to 2009 ...
All good, I thought about weight differences as well and looked up the weights before posting the comparison.
For the nose-heavier SL65, factory spec is +2 PSI Front / +3 PSI Rear over the SL63. The recommended pressures for the SL550 are too low, IMO. Regardless of which iteration, this is a heavy car with an aggressive wheel/tire setup.
Continental tires, in my experience, have softer sidewalls. Meaning, tires pressures that work well with a Michelin or Pirelli tire can be too low for a Continental. Experienced this on several BMW and Audi cars over the years with the DWS 06 specifically, where bumping up the PSI moderately corrected any ride issues.
finally had some decent weather and got to do some spirited driving after pumping up all of my tires to 35 and still had the traction control light come on too easily
for 285/30ZR19 rears. think I'll go for the Michelin Pilot Super Sports. anything but the Continental DWS 06.
But I will wait for when the fronts are ready to be replaced (which should be within the next few months) and when I get codes scanned with a proper scanner to make sure there isn't something else off.
was due for B-service so I asked them to scan for faults relating to traction control. Paid extra $135 for:
"Fault in the tele aid for large deviation between wheel speed signal and speed computed based on GPS signal. Check wheel speed. No issues found, all speeds reading. Check tele aid, it is operating okay. clear all fault codes. Correct tire pressures and test drive, traction control working okay."
After I picked up the car I was able to trip the traction control on a mild curve that didn't trip it before these tires.
When the fronts need replacing (which will be soon since they are at 4/32") I'll replace the rears too. Will update this post at that time.
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