Luke? - Max Performance Summer vs. Grand Touring All-Season - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

ksing44 · #1 11-20-2003, 02:38 AM

I know that you usually test tires within the same category, but I would love to see a comparison between the "Max Performance Summer" tires and the "Grand Touring All-Season" tires. In particular, I would love to see a comparison between the Bridgestone S-O3 Pole Position tires and the Bridgestone Turanza LS-H tires.

I would also love to see a comparison between H-rated and V-rated tires in the Grand Touring All-Season Category. Based on your website, it looks like there is no Bridgestone Turanza LS-V, so I suppose the test would have to compare the "second best" Michelin MXV4s in the H-rated and V-rated versions.

I am most interested in a Max Performance vs. Grand Touring comparison, but I think a test of H-rated vs V-rated tire would also be very interesting. Is there any chance that these tests could be done by Tirerack?

One of my important considerations is road noise and I wondered if Tirerack could include an actual decibel number when comparing "Road Noise" in their tests. You are good about comparing the exact same size tire on the exact same vehicle, so I think the decibels would be a fair comparison at any given speed. As they say, it would be an apples to apples comparison.

I just need all of the information to be sure to get the very best for my awesome E320. Sorry, I just couldn’t resist adding a picture.

Luke@tirerack · #2 11-20-2003, 10:05 AM

while we do not perform tests like you mention I can tell you that in general maximum performance tires are not as quiet as touring tires. The SZ50 EP from Firestone is the exception that proves the rule

ksing44 · #3 11-21-2003, 06:55 AM

I would value your personal opinion even if Tirerack did perform the test, so maybe you could tell me more about the comparisons I am interested in.

OK, so in general the Max Performance tires are noisier than the Grand Touring tires, but I suppose they handle MUCH better. Do you think you could assign a numerical value to the differences in some of the categories that you usually test? You know, kind of make-up the numbers based on your experience and then give your personal preference.

Example:
Max Performance (SO-3) vs. Grand Touring (Turanza LS-H) – higher number is better
Noise Comfort = 6 vs. 8
Ride Comfort = 8 vs. 10
Handling Response = 10 vs. 6
Max performance: 6 + 8 + 10 = 24 /3 = 8 vs. Grand Touring: 8 + 10 + 6 = 24/3 = 8
Overall Road Rating = 8 vs. 8

In this case it is a tie in overall road rating because the average of the numbers for the three categories is the same. You could go no to say that, in your opinion, the dramatic increase in performance of the SO-3 tires is worth sacrificing some of the ride comfort and noise comfort of the Turanza LS-H. On the other hand, you could say that performance of the Turanza LS-H is so good that it is foolish to give up the ride comfort and noise comfort of the Grand Touring tires.

What do you think? Even if you don’t assign numerical values, could you just give me your opinion? How do the Bridgestone Turanza LS-H tires compare to the Bridgstone SO-3 tires? What tires would you buy for your daily driver? Is the increase in handling performance worth it, or is the loss of ride quality and noise comfort too large of a sacrifice for a "daily driver"?