I was quoted a $190 shipping charge to get tires to Alaska, so am pretty much limited to what I can get locally. Tires that I can source here at a price I am willing to pay are: Michelin XGT H4 (am concerned re: road noise and harshness spoke of in earlier post); Michelin X-Radial Plus; Bridgestone RE92. Any experience with the relative merits of these three tires?
Also, I have 15x7" wheels on the way and am contemplating using 205/65 or 215/65 or 215/60 size. Current tires are 195/70/14's. Any thoughts as to size?
I have a 300sd (without air bags or computers) and do not do much rally racing, and will use other tires for winter. So ride and noise are probably as important to me as handling. Mileage would be a secondary consideration. Thanks for any recommendations.

Just wanted to update my post after reading the recent one on 245 wide tire on a 15x7 rim. I see Luke saying 225 would be ok on this rim. I assume it would also be OK with the 126 chassis? So considering the 225 size also, what would I see in difference in ride between the 205,215 and 225 in either the 60 or 65 aspect ratio? Is it the ratio or the actual height in inches of sidewall that will determine ride softness/hardness? Am I right in assuming that tread width itself would have no difference?
BTW I found a neat site at www.powerdog.com that will calculate tire sidewall, radius, and percentage differences etc. for you.

The w126 had different size tires as stock tires for different year and models. If you post back what year, model (i.e. 89 560SEL) then we should be able to help you out better.

195/70/14 sounds right because the 15" OE size here for the 350SD, 300SDL was 205/60/15. The V8 I know were 205/65/15 as stock. So that is why the 225/60/15 would fit on the V8. As for 15" on the non-V8, I would go 205/60/15.

Post back what you are looking for in a tire, and I will give you my recommendations.

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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)

I have a 300sd. Ride and noise are at least as important to me as handling. There really isnt much 2-line highspeed driving to be had up here, I do mostly surface street (with lots of ruts and chuckholes) and a little highway driving.

Why would you stay with the 205 size, is there a disadvantage to a wider tire other than cost and rolling resistance? I would think the added rolling resistance would be almost unnoticable?

Well, First, I think I am going to need Luke's expert advice here. At MB's Web Page, the w126 came with 2 tire sizes as OEM, 205/60/15 and 205/65/15. TireRack's page shows the w163 in only 205/65/15, however. And you 195/70/14 would make sense if you your model was designed for that in 14" and 205/60/15 in 15" as OEM.

I would go as wide as possible on a tire size without sacrificing speedo errors, etc. You want to keep the same overall size of the tire the same. You can change the width and aspect ratio though to get a wider tire and keep the same diameter. That is why a 205/65/15 can go to a 225/60/15. A 205/60/15 can go to a 225/55/15, but their are very limited options, and expensive ones at that.

The eaisest way to tell, is to go check your label (either on the glove compartment, driver's or passenger's side door, gas tank lid, etc.) that lists the OEM tire Size. If it is the 195/70/14, then I would recommend 205/60/15. If it says 205/65/15, I would switch to 225/60/15 in a heartbeat. If it says something else, let me know.

As for recommendation in 205/60/H15:
A nice quiet riding tire (but thats about it) and decent performance at a great price (from TireRack) I would suggest Continental ContiTouring Contact CH95 ($45) as they are close to OEM tires due to quiet and smooth ride.

A Nice Perfect tire (in praticality) are the Firestone Firehawk SH30. They wear incredible (50,000 - 65,000 is likely) and are great in wet weather and as well as dry. These are more performance oriented, so the ride quality will be about the same but there will be a little more noise. However, I doubt you would notice the difference if I didn't say anything. The reason being is that these tire are more geared to touring then real performance with wet traction in mind. These are H-rated for decent performance and handling, and are nicely priced at $58 each. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/firestone/fs_sh30.jsp

The next step up are the Michelin Pilot XGT H4, which are just as good as the Firehawk SH30 (The SH30 do a little better in the rain) but these will give you the michelin quality, ride, and smoothness at a little sacrifice of mostly money and maybe wet handling. Priced at $78, which is real good for a michelin.

The best tire and longest lasting I would recommend are the Toyo 800 Ultra All-Season Tires. They have a 100,000 mile warranty. That is scary, which lasts longer your car or your tires. It will probably be the car, but I was considering these becuae of their price and quality. The only reason I went with Michelin X-One (almost half more) is becuase we needed something with a road hazard plan (and BJ's wholesale club had them at a good price and had a special promotion) If my tire wear in 3 year, then give me a free set. I have put about 85k+ miles on the van in the last 2 years almost, and I have 4/10 left. (It is a shuttle van for the family business - a hotel) So the miles racked up quick, but the wear was good. They don't offer this plan anymore, so when I get my tires replaced, no more replacements after that.

Good Luck, and post back if you find something different.

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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)

Thanks, Charlie for a most informative post. Based on your input and my own rummaging around, I have decided to go with the Michelin XGT H4. A lot of things are hard to get up here, but Sears has these on sale and even in stock for $82 per tire. Being a diesel, my OEM size is 195/70/14 so I decided to go with either 205 or 215/65 on the new 15x7 wheels(60's werent available). Was interesting in comparing 205, 215 and 225. The 225's were VERY wide compared to the 205's and probably too wide for the car and the rims. Meanwhile, the 215's looked to be virtually the same width as the 205's! So, we took the 205's and 215's out to look at them next to the car and it became obvious that the 215/65's were HUGE in height where the 205's were just about perfect.

So did you go with 205/60/15 or 205/65/15? Here is the math:

195/70/14 = 24.75
205/60/15 = 24.69
205/65/15 = 25.49

If you went with 205/65/15, then you will have a couple of errors in mileage, speedometer, (and other Computer related things like ABS, ASR, ESP, etc.) The speedometer error is about 3% or 3mph if you are going 100, 2mph if you are going 65. If you have ABS, it will lock up sooner then normal and if you have ESP or ASR, it will kick in a little later then normal. However, since it is an older car, I doubt many of those features were avialable in your model, so you should be able to get away with. I woul have ideally waited for the 205/60/15, but you should be fine.

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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)