New tyres for C class

ADP

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Hi all,

I am looking for new tyres all round for my 2003 C class 200k. At present it has the original Bridgestone Potenza's on as the car has completed 34K and had a very easy life. Drivers rear needs changing as had a slow puncture and worn unevenly and the both fronts are on legal limit. The wheels are optional extra AMG's with 245 40 17 on rear and 225 45 17 on front. I have read lots of reviews and these tyres aren't rated that well. Does any one have any ideas on alternative tyres that perform well all round including wear.
Cheers
ADP
 

rf065

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I was not impressed with the Potenzas either, especially when wet, the Conti's & Goodyear GSD3 F1's are better tyres.

Russ
 

Micman

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How on earth have you managed 34k miles on the original set of tyres - for that reason alone I would say buy some more Bridgestone Potenza's! That's amazing.

I have the same set up on my car, 245 40 17 on rear and 225 45 17 on front. I had the Continentals on it when new, more recently I changed to the Michelin Pilots. I have to say the Michelins are far superior to the Conti's in my experience, they are much much quieter on road noise and have been lasting better with more even wear.

That said my car is on 52k and on it's third set of tyres. My original Conti's managed 2 years and about 19k, the Michelins (2nd set of tyres) lasted what (until now!) I considered to be a good 22k+, I'm now mid way through the third set - more Michelins.

I'm still staggered you got 34k from your tyres! The words 'Driving Miss Daisy' spring to mind lol :eek::eek::eek:
 
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jberks

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For wear, Michelin are pretty much unbeatable. But,
People slag off every make of tyre. Everyone has their favourites and even professional reviews can't really agree. I've had Continental, Bridgestone, Federal and Khumo tyres on mine and to be honest, in terms of grip and lifespan, I couldn't tell them apart. Ok, I dare say on a track, in the wet, there would be lap time differences, but at 70-90 on the M1 and M62, I've never had an instant's concern. Wet/dry handling, hard braking - no problems, ever. There's a lot of snobbery around tyres, but in my opinion, for those of us who don't fancy ourselves as racing drivers, its cobblers.
My car is running on 245/45/17 Khumos and its quiet, smooth and when I hussled on a dodgy camber road recently, against a 3 series, they didn't embarrass themselves. An emergency stop on the M1 in the rain recently, I had to back off the pedal to avoid being rear ended - and these are 30% cheaper than bridgestones - so you get my point, hopefully.

If you were happy with what you had, the safest thing to do is to ignore the reviews and get the same again. Remember, reviewers are testing on car A and you're diving car B so as unless they say a particular tyres is harsh or noisy, in which case, avoid them, take each review with a pinch of salt.
Otherwise, set a budget and see what's out there. Provided you avoid the really cheap stuff, there really isn't half as much in it as you'd think.
 
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ADP

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How on earth have you managed 34k miles on the original set of tyres - for that reason alone I would say buy some more Bridgestone Potenza's! That's amazing.

I have the same set up on my car, 245 40 17 on rear and 225 45 17 on front. I had the Continentals on it when new, more recently I changed to the Michelin Pilots. I have to say the Michelins are far superior to the Conti's in my experience, they are much much quieter on road noise and have been lasting better with more even wear.

That said my car is on 52k and on it's third set of tyres. My original Conti's managed 2 years and about 19k, the Michelins (2nd set of tyres) lasted what (until now!) I considered to be a good 22k+, I'm now mid way through the third set - more Michelins.

I'm still staggered you got 34k from your tyres! The words 'Driving Miss Daisy' spring to mind lol :eek::eek::eek:


I know 34k seems alot but I've never gone through tyres quickly for some reason and I'm doing 36.5 mpg average on my computer (A roads, town) I have also done 11k on a pair of Dunlops sp's on the front of my SL500 and they have just under 6mm left so they are heading the same way. Thanks for your ideas.
 
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ADP

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I was not impressed with the Potenzas either, especially when wet, the Conti's & Goodyear GSD3 F1's are better tyres.

Russ

Hi Russ,
Did you find the F1's noisey? Do you have the same tyre set up as me with sports suspension. I found the Potenza's were quite noisey.
 

Alex M Grieve

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I know 34k seems alot but I've never gone through tyres quickly for some reason and I'm doing 36.5 mpg average on my computer (A roads, town) I have also done 11k on a pair of Dunlops sp's on the front of my SL500 and they have just under 6mm left so they are heading the same way. Thanks for your ideas.

Excellent driving ADP, that's your problem. Fuel economy and tyre life go together, and don't tell lies.

As for the others, if you liked the Potenzas, stick with them. I got 40,000 from the original Contis on my S Class and swapped like for like. They are quiet and their performance is beyond sensible criticism.

There is a lot depends on your own experience and personal taste. In practice, most of the "premium" tyres cost much the same after discount.

Others are much cheaper and may not last so well, but given the life you get out of them, you could argue a case for spend less and replace sooner which would help cash flow today and possibly cost less in the long run too.

At less than 6,000 miles per year, any choice will last you a while.
 

jberks

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Hi Russ,
Did you find the F1's noisey? Do you have the same tyre set up as me with sports suspension. I found the Potenza's were quite noisey.

Interesting.
I went from Potenzas to Federals and, ouside the normal worn to new tyre change, noticed no real change in ride or noise. The complaint I had about my car from day 1 had always been that it didn't glide silently along as a merc should, but I put that down to the fat tyres, sports suspension and diesel engine.
Then I drove a friends E class and, not only did it glide, but, compared to mine, there was almost no road noise. So, this time I put the same tyres as him on and sure enough, it's a different car.

I've since read reviews of the Federals that they were grippy but noisy but presumably the Potenzas were noisier and harsher than the Khumo's too, or I'd have noticed the change the first time around.
 

television

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At least on the SL they do not last long enough to worry about to care too much
 

rf065

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Hi Russ,
Did you find the F1's noisey? Do you have the same tyre set up as me with sports suspension. I found the Potenza's were quite noisey.

I don't find them any noisier that the others I've had.
I think with 245 section low profile tyres & sports suspension, noise is always going to be there, especially on the road surfaces which are also really poor in this country. There are certain newly laid roads where tyre noise disappears. It is not always the tyre.

Russ
 
C

Celtic pride

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I've got Federals (245 45 17s) on my CLK. Road noise seems Ok but no-one seems to be able to balance them perfectly I need to decide where I want a slight tremor - at 50 or 80!!

They tell me Federals are reknowned for this - is it true?

Huw
 

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I've got Federals (245 45 17s) on my CLK. Road noise seems Ok but no-one seems to be able to balance them perfectly I need to decide where I want a slight tremor - at 50 or 80!!

They tell me Federals are reknowned for this - is it true?

Huw

Have you tried a different tyre shop
 
C

Celtic pride

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That's part of the plan! - When the garden makeover's finished, the brambles intruding from the field behind are dealt with, the imminent MOT done!!!

It's worth a try and I do intend to get there, the people who have tried have been pretty good in the past though.

Huw
 

haroonz7

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have you looked in to Verdestiens, they said to be good and have some good feedback on auto express. Ive changed my p600 to them and all seems good and they are good value too at £50 a corner. Ive got F1's on my M3 and they really good on grip cant say am too bothered about the noise but in a merc it woud be important....
 

jberks

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Vredesteins are very good. I had them on my E240. Seemed to last well too.

On the Federals, as Malcolm says, try a different fitter. Its amazing how many tyre fitters are clueless about balancing. At the end of the day, the wheel and tyre are a single solid physical object so why would the make or construction have any effect on how easy they were to balance? Ok if there were badly made, they may need more weights to balance them,but it would still be the same process.
Mercs in my experience are really touchy about wheel balancing so any incompetence shows up really clearly on them. I've also has what felt like balancing turn out to be tracking so ensure thats 100% too.

I make a point of watching them balance my tyres. The machines all have big tv screens on them and you're simply watching for both readouts to come back at 0 before they take the wheel off.

I watched one fitter spin the wheel up, bang on the weight and start to take the wheel off. I told him to put it back on and check it. After an argument he did. It was still way out.

Another put my tyre on back to front (directional). I pointed it out and he took it back off the car. Once he'd swapped it around he went to refit it on the car.
me. What about balancing?
him. Oh - thats ok - I did it last time.
me. ...???(couldn't think of a smart answer for such stupidity)...check it
him - it will be fine
me - a fiver says it won't
I kept my fiver

The sign of a good fitter is when he's balancing the wheel up. He'll spin it up, get the reading and put a weight on. Then when he respins, if its still out, the bad fitters simply blindly follow the instructions on the screen and fit more and more weights (I stopped one guy on the 5th spin - he was running out of room on the rim!) the good fitters recognise that the new reading is a result of them not positioning the weight quite right and simply move it up or down a few mm. Respin and invariably 0:0.

I watched the guy who did the Landrover a couple of weeks ago do this on the first one. After that, I didn't even bother watching the other 3. He clearly knew what he was doing and proof in the pudding - she runs perfectly.

Anyway - once the federals have worn out, swap them for Khumos. Similar price and grip but a vastly better in refinement and noise.
 

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Talking about balancing,,Bosch have just brought out a new type,of idiot proof balancer,,it actually uses a laser to pin point where to put the weight on the rim, their new 4 wheel tracking machine test the camber,caster and tracking in 7 mins flat
 
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ADP

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Bought some tyres

I opted for the Michelin Pilot's in the end. I got a real good price £20 cheaper than ebay or Blackcircles. I will try and get 40k out of these one's. Thanks for everyone's advice.
Adp :D
 

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How on earth have you managed 34k miles on the original set of tyres - for that reason alone I would say buy some more Bridgestone Potenza's! That's amazing.

I have the same set up on my car, 245 40 17 on rear and 225 45 17 on front. I had the Continentals on it when new, more recently I changed to the Michelin Pilots. I have to say the Michelins are far superior to the Conti's in my experience, they are much much quieter on road noise and have been lasting better with more even wear.

That said my car is on 52k and on it's third set of tyres. My original Conti's managed 2 years and about 19k, the Michelins (2nd set of tyres) lasted what (until now!) I considered to be a good 22k+, I'm now mid way through the third set - more Michelins.

I'm still staggered you got 34k from your tyres! The words 'Driving Miss Daisy' spring to mind lol :eek::eek::eek:
I just had 34,973 miles out of the Goodyear NTC 5's on my E320CDi, the OE Michelins lasted for 27,945 miles.
 
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ADP

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Had tyres fitted

Hi all,

I had my tyres fitted today very happy with the tyres (Michelin Pilot Sport 2), much quiter on the road and I found the braking was also improved. But the garage recommeded I have the wheels tracked. I was shown the read out which didn't mean much to me , three wheels were coming up as red and not green but the changes made were minimal 0.03 degrees on the one and 0.20 on the the other two. Was this appropriate I did have more wear on the outer shoulders of the front tyres than the centre of the old tyres. Also I spotted on the readout that the car type was a standard suspension c class. I pointed this out to the technician as my car has the optional lower suspension with 17" AMG's he said they are all the same apart from the C32. So I took his word for it, the only problem I have is the steering wheel has moved very slightly off centre. I would just take the steering wheel off and move it slightly but the last time I did that it was on a 1992 VW Polo, no airbag, no computer controls, volume etc.

Any ideas?
ADP
 

rf065

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If you got 34,000 miles from your last set of tyres I'm inclined to think your tracking was spot on.

The steering wheel should have been clamped in the straight ahead position before the tracking was adjusted, but I can only worry that it is now out if it was OK before?

Russ
 

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