I've had Bridgestone Turanza Serenitys on my 91 300D since 2009. Put 40k miles on them. PLENTY of tread left but I'm seeing the beginnings of dry rot. Not horrible, but definitely there.

I doubt I'll put more than 4,000 miles a year on the car going forward. Getting new Turanzas may still be my best bet. But, as they are $369 for a set of four, I'm wondering if there's a less expensive alternative worth considering. Tire Rack has sets starting at $181. Read some reviews of the Riken Raptors and the Fuzions...look like good bang for the buck.

These days the 91 is more of an around town putterer...for anything of any distance, I drive the CDI, which will always have Michelins.

Thanks.

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14 E250 Bluetec "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 153k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 171k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver, 142k mi, wastegate conversion

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

I'm in potentially same situation with my '95 E300. I have Michelins that will be 6 years old next spring and are down to 4/32 and 5/32. I think 6 years is industry recommended time limit.

I was considering Michelin Defenders but will not be driving a lot of miles either. They are rated to 90k miles but the catch is, you have to do that in 6 years!

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-- Chris

'95 E300, 216k miles, Silver Surfer
'05 E320 CDI, 138k miles
'07 S550 4matic, 69k miles

Gone but not forgotten:

'76 300D, 350k miles?, SOLD in 1995
'75 240D, 300k miles, SOLD in 1991

A month or so ago I dealt with new tires for the wifes car. I have no ideal of what to suggest as I found it a tire jungle out there. Even worse than the last time we brought tires. Maybe that was just me.

I found some relabled coopers on sale with a decent tread wear rating. I did notice that a lot of tires today have a low tread life wear rating.

She too just drives around locally. Still I would not want her hurt because of a tire issue. Tires are a little more expensive in Canada so I cannot comment on American prices.

The tires for her car where 130 each normally here but were 89.00 on sale. That is about the bottom end for anything half decent I suspect here. Lucky for Americans your tires are cheaper pricewise. I was thinking probably about 60.00 each for similar quality in America. On legitimate sale.

There are a lot of tires out there with soft sidewalls. They may give you a better ride but I never buy them because of some past problems with them.

My take on the situation is price today does not mean you are getting better. These relabled coopers for a massive Canadian tire chain. Are a staple for their business. We are not driving racing cars either. I do not want a Chinese built tire.

Cheap and value based are two different considerations.

There is dry rot where the rubber is deteriorating ( flaking off ) and there is light cracking / checking ( usually at the base of tread grooves. )

I'm less concerned about light checking in the tread base as rubber is thick and there are lots of fabric plies. Cracking / flaking off of rubber on the sidewalls is a major issue because only one fabric ply generally exists here. (RE there is less reserve strength. )

No knowing what the tires look like, I'd probably run them as is being it is an around town car rather than running a China set of tires.

Check out discounttiredirect.com the week BEFORE 4th of july. They usually have a sale 1 week before every major holiday. Its hard to beat the prices even if you have to go get them installed. Tirerack is over priced.

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CENSORED due to not family friendly words

I don't know what your definition of "inexpensive" is. I'm kind of a tire snob, but I found the Continental PureContacts to strike a good balance between performance & economy. YMMV.

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+1


I shop all my tires at either Tire Rack or Discount Tire Direct. I buy a fair amount of tires: I have two sets of wheels for my BMW, one for street tires and one for autocross (those get replaced at least annually), plus a trailer, a 4Runner, and of course the Mercedes. I typically find DTD has the best deals. In fact, the only time I remember using Tire Rack recently was if DTD didn't have the tire or size I wanted (Tire Rack definitely has better selection). DTD also has a store on eBay - I got a crazy good deal on trailer tires there once.

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I also like the PureContacts. Great tire for foul weather. Handles well, too.

Conti's budget line, General, has a great tire in the Altimax RT43. Tire Rack testers concluded it was a better performer than Pirelli's Cinturato P7 at about half the price.

Agreed...keep an eye on Discount Tire/America's Tire.

As to your tire question, I have Yokohama Avid Touring S tires and feel they are pretty good for the price. I would not buy any Chinese tires (and I'm Chinese!) or anything named Achilles. Kumhos are OK (I used Victoracers on the track) and Hankooks are OK also (they are OEM on my Nissan Frontier).

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2014 Jetta Sportwagen TDI
1982 733i
2016 Frontier Crew Cab 6 spd.

I have about 10,000 miles on the Altimax RT43 and they're great.
Ran Michelin the prior 430,000 miles, and it took a crowbar to get me to switch brand. The Altimax rides nice, smooth, and very quiet. Softer in the side I'm sure than the Michelins but I don't road rally.

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1986 300SDL 440,xxx

+1 for the Generals. Have them on my SDL now, had the old model on my w124 twice. Very good in rain and snow too.

I currently run Fuzion Touring on my Mazda. Put those on about 2 months ago. Bought them on Amazon, free shipping with Prime, cost me 240 dollars for the set (R16", 195/55). They are only rated for 40.000 miles, but that is 5 years for me, and so I figured that would be more than fine.

They are not noisier than the Goodyear's I had before - at least not that I can tell - but the Mazda is not a very quiet car to begin with, so engine/wind noise might be masking it.
Both dry and wet performance is really good, and I'd say on-par with what my previous set of tires did when those were new.

From my experience they are indeed good bang for the buck and something to consider.

These are only my summer tires though (May-October), as I run studs in winter.

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"The MB W123 is so bulletproof, you can drive them forever. Which is a good thing as it takes that long to get anywhere."
Betsie: 1984 W123 300D (hobby, 280k miles)
Myrla: 2001 Mazda Protege 2.0 ES 5spd (daily driver, 130k miles)
The Turd: 2007 Toyota Camry (wife's car, 118k miles)

FYI, Amazon is now selling tires, so price check there as well. I just bought Kuhmo Solus TA71 tires, which have the correct weight rating (91) and a higher speed rating (V) than MB calls for in a 124, roughly $60 each plus shipping. Tread rating is 600 AA.

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Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned Kumho. I have been using them for years on my W123 and my Dodge pickup. Good wearing, grippy and quiet and half the cost of Michs or Pir.

I have had good results with my non primary cars with both Kuhmo and Hancook.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.