Tires for E320 2001 - Continetal ConitExtreme Contact ?

I have the Contis, but I'm not thrilled with them as they seem a good bit noisier (at least to me) than the Michelins. I have heard (in previous postings) folks rave about Bridgestone RE950s and I plan to look at those when I replace the tires on my E320.

I am surpised that you find them noisy however I will look into the Bridgstones. Here is a quote from a Porche owner on ContiExtreme Contact (not Sport or Touring Contact or CH95??):

'I like my Continentals

I have a set of Continental ContiExtreme Contacts on my Porsche 968 and I continue to be very impressed. They are huge tires (especially in the back) but ended up costing me around $110 apiece at The Tire Rack. I have found them to be smooth, quiet and sticky, including in the rain. After 5k miles, I still have LOTS of tread. Believe it or not, the treadwear rating is 400, I think. They are supposed to be particularly good in the snow, but I would never drive this car in the snow.

I highly recommend both the Continental ContiExtreme Contact tires and The Tire Rack as a dealer. But I guess it's a little late for you!

Incidentally, my review of the Continental ContiExtreme Contacts is one of my best-earning reviews, and my review of The Tire Rack is not far behind. I recommend that you at least review the tires... I don't need the competition on my Tire Rack review!'

It is now 2 days later and I did decide to buy the ContiExtreme Contacts. After driving about 100 miles in mostly rainy weather, here are some subjective evaluations compared the the Michlin MXV4+ (? not sure the exact model):

1. They are quieter. I can hear the engine/transmission soft whine above the road noise which only occured before when there were downshifts for downhill roads. Because of the lower noise I find that I am driving at higher speeds probably because of trying to get to the accustomed db level, I have to ease off when I notice that I am overtaking eveyone. (It also seems that it accelerates faster but that might be the effect of the lower noise and me unconsciously pushing the pedal harder). Also not good for gas milage.
2. They are softer riding. The roads seem less bumpy.
3. They are very sticky. I deliberately accelerated hard into a right angle turn from a stop sign in the rain and it did not spin tires of flash ESP as the other tires would have done. Have yet to experience any slippage at high speeds in the rain.
4. The steering is much ligher feeling. This is not good since I am not yet accustomed to this lighter feel and tend now to oversteer. Feels a bit like too much power steering.

Have yet to drive it on grooved roads for that comparison.

If this keeps up for another 25K miles I will be happy and repeat the purchase. It seems that the tire compounds may be softer and may not last as long as 33K miles on the MXV4+.

My 1998 C230 had them (Conti's) on when I bought the car from an off-lease dealer (I assume they were original). I liked them so much that I put another set on when I re-shod the car. Good ride, handling, seem to wear well. They used to be OEM on Lincolns.

Davehd

Well I have now had the COntiExtreme Contacts on for over 400 miles. I drove them over the bridge with a deeply-coarsely gooved metal span (Alameda bridge for those in CA who want to test) and the squirmy feeling is almost 100% gone. There appeared to be some residual squirm that I can imagine being felt. (Note there is a slippery road sign before the bridge, and the car was always okay with normally grooved concrete road surfaces and only had problems with this particular bridge surface with the Michelin tires) So the purchase of these tires has been an excellent experience for comfort, road noises, stickiness in dry and wet and also being high speed rated. I cannot imagine why MBUSA decided to put on Michelins over here. The Contis seem to work much better with the MB suspension.