kingading

Will pick up new care next week. Not crazy about the run flats, road noise and useful life of only around 8k miles. So, plan to change tires and return the car with the original run flats. Less road noise, better ride, and cheaper to boot. With that in mind, would appreciate any suggestions on the best (and reasonably priced) tires for my car. Thanks in advance.

sound 8

It seems the UK cars don't come with run flats, thank goodness.
My SL63 has Continental Contact 5 on, so I would go for them.

Wolfman

The Continentals are a good pick

There is a sale on tirerack for Bridgestone Potenza S-04 Pole Position for under $900 a set or there are Michelin Pilot Sport 3 A/S Continental ExtremeContact DWS for all season tires ($1k to $1100).

I personally prefer performance tires but all seasons my last you the whole lease duration.

I like the Michelin Pilot Super Sports, but they are not available with your wheel setup...

EuroDeliveryGuy

I have driven my SL550 about 2,300 miles so far. My previous car, a 2004 Lexus SC430 also came with run-flats. They were hard as a ROCK, and I got rid of them after 5,000 miles. With Michelin Pilots, it was like driving a totally different car: better in every way! Also, Lexus offered an optional spare tire (donut) that fit nicely in its trunk, with only 10%-15% loss of trunk space.

I find the newer, better 2013 Dunlop SP Sport run-flats on my SL to be superior to my old Lexus run-flats. However, I still plan on replacing the run-flats with regular tires.

Does anyone know of a donut spare tire that properly/safely fits on a 2013 SL550? If so, who makes it? Thanks.

branmin

The OP made a comment that the tires were only good for 8000 miles? Surely you can double that figure but depends on how hard you drive her and what you have in the first place.
I have the continentals on my 13 SL550 and do not like them at all. Feel every bump. Was considering the Pilot Sports but others have said that they would not fit.......What does fit......I am an old fart, and really looking for comfort now, so appreciate your suggestions.
So, what to do here......Had a set of Hancooks(SP?) on my 08 and for around $850.00 found them to be good. Miss the ABC on the 08....so much smoother.

Lastly, would like to know what the majority here set your tires front and back from cold? Thx.

BigHat

x

branmin

Anyone care to answer this please?

Daytona-flyer

IMHO, the stock run-flats are fine. I have over 14,000 miles and the tread looks good. They have not gotten noisy with age either. The ride fine. It's like an S class with the top up.

On my '08 Z06, I switched to non run-flats. I was getting about 8k regardless of type of tire. (that includes track days).

My current 'vette is a '04 C5 Z06. They came with non run-flats and an inflation kit should you get a flat. I strongly recommend this, if you go with non run-flats. Never use fix-a-flat. If you want something like that go with the Green Slime.

branmin

Daytona..I am trying to get answers..........If you were going to change tires and you were looking for a quiet(as much as possible) ride and were looking for standard tires and not run-flats what would you suggest..........?

also what PSI do you keep yours at now from cold. Thank you.

California John

I have the AMG package on my 2013 SL550. It has Continentals. The gas filller doors says to set the tires cold at 35psi. However, for speeds under 100mph it says to set them at 4 pounds less...thereby 31psi. I set mine (front and back) at 33psi. I never run at over 100mph. It also says something about running at an additional 4psi (39psi) for heavy loads (I forget what the spec is) - but how one would have a heavy load in an SL550 is beyond me? Fill up the "trunk" with bags of cement?

Daytona-flyer

I had a set of Nitto Invos on my C6 for a while. The only negative I found was the turn-in wasn't as sharp as I would have liked. Otherwise I really liked them.

Wolfman

I am running 35PSI cold on ours. As was stated, the Run flats on the MB aren't as bad as on other cars (our BMW running Goodyear run flats are complete crap) but just changing tires may not help you completely.

Since it sounds that your car runs on springs versus ABC, this may be the suspension you are used to and tires alone will not give you that.

I suggested a few tire options earlier; you may want to go on tirerack and read their professional reviews and see what they say about ride comfort and then make up your mind.

Last but not least, you may want to test drive another 2013/14 SL with ABC so that you can compare both cars with run flats. After all, you can read by the other posters that ride quality can be rather subjective

Daytona-flyer

I run 32 PSI all around. This more than anything can affect the ride quality.

If I'm driving to the house up north, and onto the back roads of the Smoky's, I bump it up to 35 psi.

Going back North for a few days soon. See my earlier post about sports car performance in the SL. https://mbworld.org/forums/sl-class-...0-smokies.html

Wolfman

On the old R230 you will run down the inside of your tires in the rear when you under inflate. That's why I don't attempt that.

Given that you have already 14k miles on yours, that's definitely worth a good try