Tire Upgrade!

[E55 KEV]

OK, so the OEM tire is just too skinny for the size of this car and perhaps you want better traction and a wider tire. You also want to keep you OEM wheels for a while and not change your rims. Here's the ticket - these Ultra High Performance All Season tires:

BF GoodRich g-Force T/A KDWS in size 245/55WR18




This is the perfect upgrade using the OEM 18x7.5 rims. This is the only tire I could find in that size. The OEM tire of 225/60/18 (28.6") and the 245/55/18 (28.5") are the same height. This car is very difficult to upgrade due to the tall tire OEM tire used. The OEM Continental Tire is a Touring Tire.

Only $104 each at TireRack.com .

[E55 KEV]

specs from BFG:

http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/asset...ce_ta_kdws.pdf

[MightyMax]

Not a bad price per tire either.... Thanks for the info.

[TexasDriver]

Thanks! I have been researching all morning for the right tire. Do you know how does this tire rate interms of road noise?

[TexasDriver]

Also...is this a ZR speed rated or WR speed rated Tire....on the spec sheet it only shows a 245/55ZR18. Thanks

[E55 KEV]

Tire Rack list some numbers for every tire and road noise is included. Tire Rack lists the WR spec.

[Sting2114]

If ya'll want, I'll go to consumer reports site (I got a subscription) and will get their rating on that tire (if it's listed)...Give me a few minutes...

[Sting2114]

Aight, I really don't care to write this out, so I hope this copy/paste job works out okay:

Brand &
model Price Overall score Braking Emergency
handling Hydro-
planing Snow
traction Comfort Noise,
coarse
surface Recommendations
& notes
Dry Wet Ice

PREMIUM TIRES Tread-wear warranties range from 80,000 to 100,000 miles.
Michelin
X-One
Note: Discontinued. $75 Top all-around performer. Excellent dry and wet cornering. T speed rating.
Kelly
Navigator
Platinum TE 55 Excellent dry cornering, fair wet cornering. T speed rating.
Yokohama
Avid Touring 50 A very good tire. Very good dry cornering, good wet cornering. S speed rating.
Pirelli
P3000
Cinturato 77 A very good sporty tire for mild winters. Excellent dry cornering, very good wet cornering. T speed rating.
Goodyear
Aquatred 3 60 A fine choice where winters are mild, though wet cornering is poor. Very good dry cornering. T speed rating.
Hankook
Mileage
Plus 845 50 Very good dry cornering, fair wet cornering. Stiff ride. S speed rating.
Kumho
Power Prima
II 792 42 A very good all-weather choice. Very good dry cornering, fair wet cornering. S speed rating.
Cooper
Lifeliner STE 50 Very good. Excellent dry and good wet cornering. Poor in snow. T speed rating.
Uniroyal
Tiger Paw AWP 45 Good overall, with good dry cornering, but only fair wet cornering. S speed rating.
Bridgestone
Turanza T QL20
Note: Discontinued. 60 Good overall, with very good dry cornering, fair wet cornering. T speed rating.


Eh, turned out not so good...The site for ConsumerReports used to have ratings for all brands/styles, for some reason I'm having trouble finding it. I got some Dunlop A2 Sports thanks to their review for my old Firebird (handles awsome now). If you have never owned a RWD car, then let me give you some advice...DON'T GO CHEAP ON TIRES EVER. I don't care what idoit tries to tell you that tires are tires...They must own a FWD or AWD car, because I should know. I've lived in Buffalo, NY (home of 90 inches snow in only a matter of hours), Louisville, KY and St.Louis, MO. My experience, you buy cheap tires and don't pay attention to the tread styling on a RWD, your gonna find your car losing control easily and possibly spinning out doing a simple left hand turn (it happened to me 3 times and I was going 10 MPH or lower) in rain, yes RAIN. Yes I realize that cars now have all these traction control helpers, but that doesn't matter as much as you think. Tires are extremely important, so be smart. Pick something that has a tread styling that pushes water away from the car, and that has lines that meet up together, not working against each other like some models. I can not stress the importance of good tires enough, do you really want screw up your nice new ride because you wanted to save a few bucks? I didn't think so.

P.S.The tire pic for the above mentioned tire, looks good as far as tread, so keep that kind of tread pattern in mind when looking for new tires.

[E55 KEV]

Remember, the BFG is rated as an "Ultra-High Performance All Season" and the Continental is a "Touring" Tire. That Continental is higly 'un-loved' in the Mercedes community. I had a set of them on my 98 E430 which I promptly removed on delivery day.

Ratings at TireRack:

BFG - http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....rce+T%2FA+KDWS

Continental - http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....ngContact+CH95

The BFG gets a better rating. Don't be fooled by its low Tire Rack price of $104 - same tire is $186.99 at **************.

[Sting2114]

I know this sounds dumb, but worry less about dry traction/ride, more about wet/snow traction/ride. By the way, I understand the next model 300C is going to have All Wheel Drive, is this correct?