Self Sealing tires rough ride

[300crocks]

Hello. I have a 300c with the protection group. This group has the Continental Self Sealing tires, as opposed to regular continentals. I have noticed that the ride is VERY stiff, you can feel every bump on the road and there is a lot of tug on the steering wheel from bumps. The car has 18K miles on it now and i love it.

I want to know if switching from self sealing tires to regular tires will eliminate the stiff ride. Anyone have any experience?
Thanks.

[joey]

I am still riding on the self sealers, so I can't tell you if switching tires will improve the ride. But since I lowered the pressure to 29lbs the ride is much better. I agree the C ride is overly jolting.

[II kings 9:20]

I posted a vexing problem with steering wheel kick on bumps and several said "it's the self seals", it's either better or less vexing with 5700 miles so I have not changed the tires. I plan to go to new rubber later this year

[300C_AWD]

Originally Posted by 300crocks

Hello. I have a 300c with the protection group. This group has the Continental Self Sealing tires, as opposed to regular continentals. I have noticed that the ride is VERY stiff, you can feel every bump on the road and there is a lot of tug on the steering wheel from bumps. The car has 18K miles on it now and i love it.

I want to know if switching from self sealing tires to regular tires will eliminate the stiff ride. Anyone have any experience?
Thanks.

I've driven a few 300c RWD's with Cont Self Seal and they are somewhat rougher ride then my AWD with self seal The AWD is really a smooth ride. Might be the extra inch of travel.

[Cdnhemi]

Originally Posted by 300crocks

Hello. I have a 300c with the protection group. This group has the Continental Self Sealing tires, as opposed to regular continentals. I have noticed that the ride is VERY stiff, you can feel every bump on the road and there is a lot of tug on the steering wheel from bumps. The car has 18K miles on it now and i love it.

I want to know if switching from self sealing tires to regular tires will eliminate the stiff ride. Anyone have any experience?
Thanks.

If you wanted to change, apparently BF Goodrich put out a G Force KDWS 245/55/18 tire. This is the first tire that I have found that is similar to our Conti's. They are sold by Tirerack in the US for 112 a tire. We do not have Tirerack here in Canada and I haven't tried pricing them at one of our stores.

The writeup is fairly good on them.

[Northern Rider]

Originally Posted by II kings 9:20

I posted a vexing problem with steering wheel kick on bumps and several said "it's the self seals", it's either better or less vexing with 5700 miles so I have not changed the tires. I plan to go to new rubber later this year

The steering kick you speak about is the result of the very tight tolerances on the Mercedes rack and pinion steering system on the car. After a few thousand miles it "loosens up" enough so as to be no longer noticable.

[II kings 9:20]

Originally Posted by Northern Rider

The steering kick you speak about is the result of the very tight tolerances on the Mercedes rack and pinion steering system on the car. After a few thousand miles it "loosens up" enough so as to be no longer noticable.

Makes sense NR, mine is much better now re:kickback, I was convinced it was the self seals but this is much more plausible.

[arnoldw]

Originally Posted by II kings 9:20

Makes sense NR, mine is much better now re:kickback, I was convinced it was the self seals but this is much more plausible.

Kings, this is in the service manual, steering diagnosis p. 19-10 *note: Steering shudder can be expected(bump steer?)in new vehicles and vehicles with recent steering system repairs. Shudder should dissipate after the vehicle has been driven several weeks.
I also noticed this early on but has since dissipated

[DESIREE]

Originally Posted by 300crocks

Hello. I have a 300c with the protection group. This group has the Continental Self Sealing tires, as opposed to regular continentals. I have noticed that the ride is VERY stiff, you can feel every bump on the road and there is a lot of tug on the steering wheel from bumps. The car has 18K miles on it now and i love it.

I want to know if switching from self sealing tires to regular tires will eliminate the stiff ride. Anyone have any experience?
Thanks.

I changed oil and filter for the first time over last weekend. While I was at it I checked the tire pressures because I too thought the ride was overly rough.
All four tires were at 34 psi, 4 psi over that indicated in the B-pillar sticker.
The ride is much, much better.

[300crocks]

So judging from what i have read here, is it safe to say that the self sealers are NOT any worse then regular tires in terms of ride stifness. I am expecting to keep the car for a long time and i would really like to knw if the ride stifness is a result of the tire, versus anything else.

Thanks