THANKS FOR YOUR PREVIOUS HELP,I HAVE A E320 WHICH I JUST PURCHASED AMG MONOBLOCKS FROM TIRERACK,YOU TALKED ME INTO THE 235/45/17 TIRE,HOWEVER THE TIRES ARE GENERAL,DONT KNOW WHICH TYPE OFF HAND,BUT I SEE YOU DONT LIST ANY GENERALS ON YOUR SITE,I AM AFRAID OF USING THESE,IN CASE I HAVE TO REPLACE ONE,CAN I, OR SHOULD I SEEKNEW TIRES,WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST,THEY WILL JUST BE FOR SUMMER USE, WHAT WINTER TIRES DO YOU SUGGEST?

THANKS JIM

When it comes to tires for your Benz, the first thing I would consider is ride quality, followed by performance and wear. For your car I really like the combination that the Dunlop SP Sport 9000's offer. Very good ride characteristics and performance. The wear rating is 280 which is very good for a maximum performance tire.



I hope this helps,
Luke

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Luke Pavlick
Performance Specialist (ASE Certified Master Tech)
The Tire Rack
(click banner at top of the page
to visit Tire Rack)

Personally, I like the Pilot Sport in that size, but I am a Michelin freak. If you don't want to have to change between winter and summer tires, the Michelin Pilot XGT Z4 is a very reasonable compromise between the two. For winter, maybe the Pilot Alpin?

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1997 Mercedes-Benz E420
Michelin Pilot XGT Z4
P225/55ZR16

1997 Mercedes-Benz C280
Michelin Pilot SX-GT
205/60VR15

1988 Mercedes-Benz 260E
Michelin Pilot HX MXV3-A
195/65HR15

I wouldn't recommend the Pilot Z4 for CT Winters. They are rated All-season, but are not meant for anything more than slush. For wear, I like the Yokohama Avid H4, for a nice balance, The Dunlop SP Sport 5000 Asymmetrical, For a Nice Ultra High Performance Tire, The Bridgestone Potenza RE730, and for the Best value in Max Performance, I agree, The Dunlop SP 9000 wear decently to and are great in wet weather. The Best tire period are the Bridgestone Potenza S02 PP. If you want Michelin, go Pilot. They are great. (Just be ready to pay for them.)

As for the CT Winters, I would suggest the Bridgestone Blizzak MZ-01. If you want a winter tire that is more sportier then the standard winter tires (they can be pretty bad on dry weather) then the Dunlop Winter Sport M2 or Pirelli Winter 210 Asimmetrico are nice. The stock size on your old rims should work fine, 215/55/16

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Chirag (Charlie) Patel

- 99 Mercedes-Benx ML 430 V8 w/custom TV, Video, UHF, speaker system
- 93 190E 2.6 (4-sale) w/ an amp, equalizer, and CD-changer, integrated w. stock stereo for integrated cellular phone speaker system
- had a 93 190E m103 3.2, 5-speed trans,
- had a 88 300E 2.6
- had a 84 300TD w/275k+ miles
- 2001 C-Class - Maybe (if 190E sells)

Just wondering, how far away are you from BridgePort, CT? I was born there, so I was just wondering.

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Chirag (Charlie) Patel

- 99 Mercedes-Benx ML 430 V8 w/custom TV, Video, UHF, speaker system
- 93 190E 2.6 (4-sale) w/ an amp, equalizer, and CD-changer, integrated w. stock stereo for integrated cellular phone speaker system
- had a 93 190E m103 3.2, 5-speed trans,
- had a 88 300E 2.6
- had a 84 300TD w/275k+ miles
- 2001 C-Class - Maybe (if 190E sells)

Best Tires: Only an educated opinion ...

Ultra High Performance All-Season
SP Sport 5000



Best Maximum Performance / Competition or aggressive driving
Potenza S0-2 Pole Position



Best Maximum Perfromance / Ride quality
Sp Sport 9000 Hydro-max



Best Maximum Performance / Combination
Pilot Sport



Best Snow
Blizzak MZ-01



Best High Performance Value
Potenza RE730



Just my $0.02 worth

Luke

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Luke Pavlick
Performance Specialist (ASE Certified Master Tech)
The Tire Rack
(click banner at top of the page
to visit Tire Rack)

Luke,
How does the BFG K/D compare to the S-02 PP? P-Zero Asm? I have a set of S-02's on the C36 that look like they are going to give me 15K-20K out of the non-rotateable set. (is that about normal?) At present they are about 10-12K old. I like them quite well but am curious as to what else is out there. What happened to the 225/45/17 and 245/40/17 sizes of the MXX3? At least with that model tire I can rotate on a staggered setup (95 C36) BTW, in doing some random math I noticed that 255/40/17 is actually a closer match to the front tire's (225/45/17) rolling radius at only .2% taller vs about 1% shorter 245/40/17. I know 255 will fit with specific offset tires but will the 255/40/17's fit on the stock rims without any problems?

Thanks...Lee

Well Lee, I do know that you need atleast an 17x8.5 to fit a 255/40/17 and I am sure that is the size of your rear wheels. As for the fit and offset, not sure so I guess Luke would have to answer that one.

P.S. Hey Luke, any luck with the RennTech E60. Is that the one in Dupont Registry, the 94 w/92k on black and 386 hp wearing the Evo II and doing 0-60 in 5 secs and a 155mph top speed!! Hope you enjoy it.

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Chirag (Charlie) Patel

- 99 Mercedes-Benx ML 430 V8 w/custom TV, Video, UHF, speaker system
- 93 190E 2.6 (4-sale) w/ an amp, equalizer, and CD-changer, integrated w. stock stereo for integrated cellular phone speaker system
- had a 93 190E m103 3.2, 5-speed trans,
- had a 88 300E 2.6
- had a 84 300TD w/275k+ miles
- 2001 C-Class - Maybe (if 190E sells)

Lee,
Although the G-Force T/A KD is a wonderful performing tire in the dry, "KD" stands for Key Perfomance Dry. In the wet at high to moderate speed (above 40 mph) it is a handful to say the least. I actually feel it performs a little better than the S0-2 PP in certain circumstances but has absolutely no versatility.
The Pilot SX MXX3 is slowly being discontinued.
Thanks, Luke

------------------
Luke Pavlick
Performance Specialist (ASE Certified Master Tech)
The Tire Rack
(click banner at top of the page
to visit Tire Rack)