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Lets chat Tires for my wagon, size and type for GT use
I'd love to get a good discussion going on tires. I've done some searching and most of the info I've found has trended more towards drag racing and performance.
We mostly use our wagon as a grand touring car. We have our primary home here in Louisville, CO and a second home in Midland, MI so we do our version of a mini cannonball run between the two homes probably 6 times a year. Typically loaded up with luggage, a cargo box on the roof, two mountain bikes, a giant yeti cooler and a pair of shetland sheepdogs. I can only imagine what people think when we autobahn past them at xxx mph.
We don't use the wagon for this trip in the winter as we also have an F350 and an Escape (likely soon to be replaced by a GLC). I generally avoid driving the AMG in bad weather, and do not have a regular commute. But, if I take the wagon up to Winter Park or out to Moab for some mountain biking, or on the cross country road trip, I need to be prepared for the likelihood that I could get caught in a variety of inclement weather. Obviously I would want a tire that's excellent in the rain, and as long as visibility is good I'd prefer to keep the pace up.
In general, I'm probably leaning towards the Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4. But I'm not married to that decision at all and would really love to here everyone's thoughts.
Even more so than tire brands, I'd really love to discuss sizing a bit more. I plan to stick with my factory 18" wheels. If I ever buy some 19's they'll be exclusively for driving around home in the summer and for looking gangster at the local cars and coffee, not for bombing 1400 miles road trips. (full disclosure, I did actually just make an offer for some 19" wheels... but again, that's not germain to this discussion lol).
I would LOVE to upsize the tires just a little bit. A but more contact patch is good for grip and wear, and a bit more sidewall is good for durability and comfort. I know every car has its own constraints on tire sizing, as I'm newish to the E55 I don't myself fully understand what these constraints are. The car is at STOCK ride height, and I don't plan to lower it. I typically leave it at comfort ride height unless I'm mobbing up a canyon, or you know hard parking like a badass at starbucks. of course.
So just for reference, stock sizes are: F 245/40 R 265/35.
We could go with a F 255/40 R 275/35 setup that would give us a bit more width and touch more sidewall. Only a touch, like .1"
We could go with a F 245/45 R 265/40 that does not change the width at all, but gives us a nice bit more sidewall, about .4"
Go full hog with a F 255/45 R 275/40, this starts to become a substantially bigger tire. The fronts are overall 1.3" larger in diameter.
Or I could just be a normal person for once and just buy stock sized tires. that would be a first for me. all five of our vehicles are wearing larger or wider tires lol.
ok enough, thanks yall. curious to hear your ideas.
I run different wheels and tires for winter and summer on my Wagon, but I can give you some insight from my experience so far. I went with factory sizes on the summer tires, and a square setup at 245s on the winter wheels and tires.
The winter tires I have are Pirelli P-Zero Sotto Zeros. I would not recommend them, as they are a bit noisy, and do not have very good grip in the snow, as I was reminded of this morning. Took a couple tries to get up the ramp out of my apartment's underground garage, and would not have been possible without a good running start from the dry pavement inside the garage. This is disappointing in more ways than one, as they are also not very good in wet conditions.
For my summer tires, I went with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, in factory sizes on the factory rims. The difference was drastic when coming from Conti Sport Contact 2s. They are excellent in both went and dry, have relatively low noise levels and good ride quality. Their only weakness I have identified so far is lackluster performance in below freezing temps. The difference in overall grip levels completely transforms the car though. Obviously these cars are quite heavy, and as such they put a lot of stress on their tires. I would highly recommend the 4S.
One note of caution on running different tire size than factory. The factory stability management system is calibrated for the factory sizes, and may not react appropriately if you run tires of different sizes and especially different outer diameters than stock.
I run different wheels and tires for winter and summer on my Wagon, but I can give you some insight from my experience so far. I went with factory sizes on the summer tires, and a square setup at 245s on the winter wheels and tires.
Yeah, we do this on almost all of our vehicles, even the F350 gets Duratracs on the stock wheels in winter and more durable MTR's on 20's in the summer. Its win/win for performance and tire longevity I find.
No plans to do this with the E55 though, its just not going to go out in winter often enough to justify some dedicated tires. I've only put a half tank though it since November, that's just occasional ripping around the hood for fun on nice days.
Originally Posted by feeshta
The winter tires I have are Pirelli P-Zero Sotto Zeros. I would not recommend them, as they are a bit noisy, and do not have very good grip in the snow, as I was reminded of this morning. Took a couple tries to get up the ramp out of my apartment's underground garage, and would not have been possible without a good running start from the dry pavement inside the garage. This is disappointing in more ways than one, as they are also not very good in wet conditions.
I hate to say it, but EVERY time I've bought Pirelli tires I've ended up being disappointed and told myself I'd never do that again. Last pair I bought were P Zero's for my Sierra Cosworth, I felt they under-performed in every way and lasted for about an oil change. My personal favorite pure winter tire is the Hancook iPike. I've had these on several cars and have been extraordinarily happy with them. Had them on a Focus ST and driving that thing over Loveland Pass or Berthoud Pass every weekend to go skiing was a total hoot, rally car!
Originally Posted by feeshta
For my summer tires, I went with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, in factory sizes on the factory rims. The difference was drastic when coming from Conti Sport Contact 2s. They are excellent in both went and dry, have relatively low noise levels and good ride quality. Their only weakness I have identified so far is lackluster performance in below freezing temps. The difference in overall grip levels completely transforms the car though. Obviously these cars are quite heavy, and as such they put a lot of stress on their tires. I would highly recommend the 4S.
Absolutely, I'm a huge fan of the Pilot Sport 4s and its the obvious choice for a summer tire. However, I'm a bit afraid that if I try and push it in the shoulder seasons and get caught out in some inclement weather I'd be highly compromised. Especially if weather is bad enough that I have to slow down and the tires cool off. I think I'm willing to sacrifice some canyon performance for a bit of weather safety net. I think at the moment i am leaning towards the Conti SC2's, as they are a pretty good value proposition, and I was happy with my last set. I'm still seriously considering the Michi all seasons, I haven't heard much in the way of personal experience on this yet.
Originally Posted by feeshta
One note of caution on running different tire size than factory. The factory stability management system is calibrated for the factory sizes, and may not react appropriately if you run tires of different sizes and especially different outer diameters than stock.
Yeah, that's a big reason why I wanted to get this thread rolling, I'd love some more information on where the margins are here if anybody happens to understand.
This does lean me towards just going one step wider, which is not much on the sidewall.
If you are looking for an all season with the ability to deal with a little snow in a pinch, take a look at Conti DWS. I had them on an E39 540i in the past and they were a surprisingly good mix.
The only real reservation I have with an all season is ability to handle the power in the dry when you actually want to put your foot down. The Pilot Sport 4S just barely accomplish that task. Don't think anything much less sticky would be able to hold up. As long as you can avoid snow, the 4S will perform just fine., Just have to be aware that you can't be a hoon in temps below about 40F, but grip is still easily adequate for safe driving. It's roughly equal to a snow tire on dry pavement.
Unfortunately I have 19's so can't comment on the sizes. I will comment the noise with the DWS will drive you crazy. I find the michelin a/s tires to be an excellent mix between performance, styling, and multiple season traction.
The only real reservation I have with an all season is ability to handle the power in the dry when you actually want to put your foot down. The Pilot Sport 4S just barely accomplish that task. Don't think anything much less sticky would be able to hold up.
Ha, no kidding! Fortunately I perceive my AMG as more of a burnout machine and not a drag car when launched from a dig. I think as long as I can put enough power down to be quicker than 99% of general traffic we'll be happy with the results.
I think I've pretty much settled on going with a high performance all season, I think that will suite our needs well and hopefully keep us out of trouble if we catch some inclement weather on some of our journeys. I know we are giving up some ultimate grip but I think that's okay if I'm realistic about how I use the car and where I feel that its talents lie. I'll admit that I'm also very intrigued with owning tires with 500+ treadwear. We own five cars, and man does it suck when they all want shoes at once.
I think my choices now come down to whether I want to go with the Continental's or the Michelin's. The old adage is: "suck it up and just get the Michelin's", but the Continental's are well reviewed, have a slightly higher tread wear rating and saves about a hundo. I could be swayed either way at this point.
Next decision is sizing. I've mentally debated this quite extensively and I think I've read almost every other tire thread in the forum here trying to see what others have done. I think the best course is to go a step wider in the front and one or two steps wider in the rear. Hopefully the slightly larger contact patch can give me back a bit of that traction, and I get a slightly taller sidewall for comfort and durability. This also keeps the diameter equal front and rear. However... going with stock sizing does save me a bit of coin. To my surprise, going with the wider tires means that my Merc and BMW will wear the same size tire. Might be nice to give the 540i hand me down shoes every now and then.
In the meantime, I put the wagon into Hovercraft mode, pulled all of the wheels off and gave them a thorough refresh. sanded to bare metal, fixed all nicks, dings and cracks (only one thankfully) and gave them two coats of primer, two coats of color and two coats of clear. Excellent results for a quick and dirty DIY wheel rehab. I'm a fabricator and wrench, NOT a painter, so doing a set of wheels was a good opportunity to bust out the paint gun and have a little practice.
245/40-18 and 275/35-18 on my wagon. Goodyears exhilarate all seasons. no complains
Yup, after more research I think I'll have to go with that exact sizing because of the 9" rear wheels. I really liked the idea I had up above, but I just don't think that will work without a 9.5" wide wheel.
no estate here, but ive run Toyo Proxies S4 for a full season now and really like them. I was on R compounds before and im always shocked at the level of grip I get.
Thanks for the good discussion everybody. I ended up going with the Continental Extremecontact DWS in 245/40-18 and 275/35-18. Very pleased with the fitment, the slightly wider rear tire matches the front a touch better if you ask me. It was nice to have the beast back out on the road the other day.
Good choice, as these are also the tires I run on my E63 but in 19"
Thanks, very pleased with them so far. We'll be running about 250 miles round trip down to Pueblo tomorrow, it'll be nice to spend some time with it on the highway. I'm looking forward to doing the Michigan run with it, but I want to bring the F350 back to Colorado so I think I'll take the BMW and leave it in MI for the time being.
The E55 might stay kind of local to the Colorado home for awhile, at least until Covid calms down enough for us to enjoy a real vacation. When that happens we'll ship the E55 to the Redball in New York, enjoy NYC for a couple of days, then head on over to the Portofino for a couple of days of vacationing in LA if you know what I mean.
I do find it strange that such a powerful and heavy car has such narrow wheels tires and I think I'll explore some additional options in the future. I found another thread here where a guy put rears on the fronts and then had the fronts widened to 10". I found this to be a very interesting idea and while I was it at I did mount a rear to the front, it doesn't seam like it would fit, but it totally does.
Because threads love photos, our E55 at the Michigan house.
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