BoBcanada

Guys is traction a big issue with E55k? Is it hard to drive @ wet roads or @winter with winter tyres?

saber

I answered no; but I want to specify what question I was answering. Under normal driving conditions, I have found that the car does as well as you can expect from rear wheel drive. The massive torque produced by the engine is well controlled with a light foot.

WannaBeAMG

whats with the @'s?

BoBcanada

DUnno i guess i'm lazy.....

teflon

It does handle fine, but note that a RWD veh does require a slightly different approach to driving and throttle control. Once I got the hang of it, I can outhandle most other FWD cars in snow and rain. Of course tires make the biggest difference. Don't skimp, esp on snow tires.

IluvS500

would a car like this drive ok say, in rain on your way home from work? heavy or light.

teflon

IMHO, it has less to do with the car than with the tires. The stock tires should be plenty fine, but also Goodyear Eagle F1 GS's would be a good choice if wet weather driving is a concern. Certainly the "traction control" (or whatever MB calls it :-) helps as well, but it's not really doing anything better than any other car similarly configured would do.

BlownV8

I've had the Goodyear F1's and they were horrible. They were noisy as hell and wore out in 20,000 miles. Traction was Ok in the dry but they were not very good in the rain.....funny that they are supposed to be good in the rain. Now, Mercedes has removed them off the approved tire list and even recommends not to use them. I also thought the stock Conti's were crap as well as the Nitto NT555's. Sumitomo HTRZII's are nice as are Kumho Escta Supra 712's. The absolute best tire for the money are the Kumho's and they have been the best tires on my E55 too. I have two E's and have racked up more than 100,000 miles on the cars in the last two years, so I have a bit of first hand experience with the tires.

teflon

OMG! Funny how that goes - I had Kumho Ecstas on last summer and hated them so much, I dumped them after 5000 mi - Extremely noisy, _terrible_ in the water, and bad tramlining (only thing going was the price, I thought).

Thanks for the tip on the GY F1's - I would be running them today if they had been in stock at TireRack - they were highly recommended. I just bought some of the new Michilin Pilot Sport PS2, and they are far and above the best tires I have owned. The car drives like a different one now. Not had enough rain yet to say how good they are in the wet yet though (funny thing to say in Cleveland this time of year :-)

By the way 20K miles is pretty decent for a max performance tire, IMHO.

BlownV8

"By the way 20K miles is pretty decent for a max performance tire, IMHO."

Not when the majority of your driving is done on the highway it's not good. The reviews on TireRack rate the Kumho's Escta Supra 712's very high and they are by far one of the quietest tires I've had on my E55 and the F1's were by far the loudest ones. The F1's are garbage. Don't waste your money on them.

I know you didn't get the A/S but here is what Mercedes says about the Michelin Pilot Sport all season:

"Please be advised that the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S (all-season) is not an approved (nor certified) Mercedes-Benz tire for any Mercedes-Benz passenger vehicle. Use of the above mentioned tire can cause vehicle tracking issues which MBUSA will not attempt to correct. MBUSA will not perform warranty wheel alignments on any subject vehicle which has any non-approved wheel/tire package installed. For any question as to approved wheel/tire packages please refer to WIS and EPC."

MelsE55

I went from the original Pilots to some Yokohama dbs all seasons. I live close to Houston and it rains a lot so I wanted an all season tire. The Pilots lasted 20k, I am pretty easy on the starts and stops. I like the Yokos as they are quiet and directionally stable and should provide some good life.
The traction control system on the Benz is pretty good. ESP off is really the hot setup. It is an electronically controlled, external limited slip final drive. The ESP is a life saver in a car this fast. I have had some moments in the pouring rain and bad roads. I felt like getting out and kissing that E55.

teflon

Well, the spring rains have kicked into "normal", so I can now report on the wet performance - Again, excellent. handling and hydroplaning resistance is the best I've experienced so far. I've noticed that the ESP light is going off a lot less (if at all) with these than with my prev. Kumhos or the original Pilot Sports (these are the newer PS2's).

Assuming these tires wear well, I'd have to rate them "exceeds expectations".