Does anyone have any experience with these tires?

I am currently using Michelin Pilot Sports on my C43 AMG, but the Sumitomos have very similar Tirerack customer survey ratings and UTOG ratings (traction, treadwear and temperature) for less than half the cost.

I had a set of the same tyres sized 205/40/17 on AMG wheels and loved 'em...quiet enough, nice enough ride and aggressive looks, great dry traction, wet traction was fine (on a 190E 2.6, I never bothered to push it real hard though in the wet), and a great price...I'd do them again. They do look rather rubberband thin on the rims I had as the sidewall is very sloped and there's a fat lip of a rim protector. A taller series tire would help. Check 'em out.

Have decided to get the Sumitomos -- they're going on today. While I have had a good experience with the Michelin Pilot Sports and got 21,000 miles out of them, I really don't use the last 5-10% of the performance envelope, so hopefully the Sumitomos will be fine for my applications. Will report once I've had them for a while. At half the price of the Michelins, I think they're worth a try.

Initial report on the Sumitomo HTR-ZII tires on my C43 AMG: good appearance (central gatorback, with a rim protector). Ride comfort and road noise much better than the Michelin Pilot Sport (really excellent), but difference in cornering bite is noticeable tho still good. Wet performance is perfectly fine (70MPH through hard rainstorm without any noticeable effect).

For my driving (mostly interstate commuting and in town driving without track or autocrossing), these tires seem fine and a bargain at half the price of the Michelins, tho they are Ultimate Performance rather than Max Performance -- don't think I'll really miss the (at most) 10% performance edge. Would definitely do again, and would recommend for someone with similar usage for a high performance car.

Price all-in was $680 for four tires mounted, balanced and aligned (with disposal of old tires) by independent who does all the tire work for local Mercedes and Porsche dealers -- I let them make a bit of profit on the tires for goodwill -- they have subsequently mounted a set of Yokohama AVS Db from Tire Rack on my daughter's '88 420SEL for less than the local Tire Rack installer.

If you were looking for performance tires on the cheap, should've went w/ the Kumho Ecsta 712s. The local autocrossers on street tires are doing really well on them.

While I appreciate Tony C's suggestion, my needs are more for street/highway use rather than autocross/performance driving. The Tirerack testing on the Kumhos vs. the Sumitomo HTR-Z (the predecessor of the HTR-ZII) was about equal:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testResultsModel.jsp?tireModel=Ecsta+Supra+712&tireMake=Kumho

and the Tirerack customer surveys indicate that the HTR-ZII is significantly superior to the prior HTR-Z, and slightly above the Kunhos, except for tire wear:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Compare2.jsp?compare=true&partNumber=&make=&model=&price=&width=225%2F&ratio=45&diameter=17&sortCode =&speedRating=&qty=&stockMessage=&type=T&URL=&newCompare=true&AddToUser=true&manufacturer=Kumho&manu facturer=Sumitomo&startIndex=0&sortValue=1&compareList=0&qty_245WR7ES712_=4&compareList=1&qty_245WR7 HTRZ_=4&compareList=2&qty_245WR7HTRZ2_=4&qty_245ZR7V700_=4&qty_245ZR7V700HC_=4&qty_245ZR7V700432_=4