560SL New Tires

[Litton]

I finally got a set of new tires on my 560SL. I took the recommendation of most forum users and got the Kumho's from tire rack. In addition, I moved up from the 205/65R15 to the 225/60/R15'....again after input from the folks here.

The old tires were Cooper with about 10,000 miles on them but about 10 years old. One tire had a thread seperation so I opted to replace all four tires. If nothing else, they were just getting old.

So far this has been a wise choice. The ride has smoothed out, road noise is non-existant, and handling has improved remarkably. Most notable is the dry traction. With the old tires, acceration from a standing srop was limited by wheel spin. Now there is virtaully no wheel-spin unless floored.

With this much traction, Kumho must use a fairly soft compound which suggests that wear life may not be that long. But SL's are typically not driven that much and the tires die from old age anyway.

Thanks to all that helped me make the tire and size decision.

[dougmcp]

You may notice as I did that the car will tend to wander because of the wider tire. This is normal as it is oversized. Do a wheel alignment and enjoy.

Photo of mine with 225/50X16's here:
a 225/60/14 on 14" 450SL Please Help

[Litton]

I haven't noticed any "wander". So far it's seems steady as a rock on the freeway at any speed. Probably a bit more so then with the previous tires. But thanks for the tip, I'll check it out more carefully.

[Steve Gutman]

The "wander" is called tramlining. It occurs on uneven roads and can pull the car suddenly. With the 205/70/14's (Winter tires) I have none. With my 225/50/16's (summer tires) it happens. I hope you do not experience this. It usually happens on asphalt roads where the tires have worn grooves in the pavement, kind of a W shape with the center and edges higher than the middle of the tread path. It feels very odd.

[el Miguel]

I too have this wander on my 225/50/16s. The tires are Summer Performance AvonTech. I didn't notice this as much on the previous set of Contis of the same size. Strange.
Mike
1985 380 SE
1984 Euro 500SL

[Roncallo]

I have Kumho's on my 1988 560SL. It killed me to put a non-European name on the car, but my wife was already upset about the 12 Michelens I purchased last year for the rest of the fleat so I had to cut the cost. The Kumho's performance is very good if you can stand the name. I told my sister to get them for her Satern.

John Roncallo