Tires recommendations..

It really depends on what you are lookiing for... The purist like me swears by two sets of tires... three seasons and winter.

If you want to go all season route and really do need a decent snow traction, I suggest you go with Nokian All season tire. The reason is Finnish people really do know what they need and they based the all season tires from winter tires.

If you feel Nokian is too hard to get and want something more common, then I suggest you stick with Bridgestone all season tires... Particularly the RE9XX series.

Michelin tyres (or tires).

mcbrue welltiredly under the bridge in the trailer down by the river

McBrue... you may like Michelin... but the rest of us have a problem giving Michelin more of our hard earned money for mediocre performance.

For regular size 14" tires, you really don't have any choices... I suggest you look at TireRack.com's people's survey responses to get the best value/performance tire.

Tyres!

Wot? You guys in the trailer can spell!!!!

DAS Colour, neighbour, tyres

Given McBrue's location he has a good reason for having an affection for Michelins. I must say that I liked the Michelins that were once on my wife's E320 as they had good handling and were very quiet. But one broke a belt and the rest only lasted only about 30K miles. Right now I've got Continentals on my car and Goodyears on her car (I mentioned a long time ago that the tire/tyre store gave me those for free after the cruddy Dunlops failed with less than 10K on them). Not thrilled with the Continentals and when they wear out I'm going to try the Bridgestone RE9's that everyone keeps mentioning. And oddly enough the Goodyears are doing OK (but hey, it's just my wife's car...).

Yes, there is a large Michelin presence in the plants and US headquarters here in Greenville, SC. But I have been driving Michelins for over over 35 years since I found out that you didn't need snow tires in Mn when you put on the Michelin Steel Belt radials. And I have never gotten a bad tyre from them! Quite amazing, really. Never had a blowout (where is some wood to knock on ...) and never had bad performance. So I like them from the viewpoint of long term user.

mcbrue welltyredly under the bridge in the trailer down by the river

Michelins are well regarded in the UK. Merc dealers, at least in the past, preferred to fit them in aftermarket, whatever came factory-fitted.

My own experience with them was pretty good, I think.

I have them onmy 93 190E.

On my 2001 CLK 320 Cab I have the factory-fitted Pirrelli 6000s. When I queried this with Merc (may have been the dealership from I bought the car) I was told that Merc matches the tyres with the car, i.e. ride performance.

Question is, does DC buy job lots of tyres from all major manufacturers to maintain good relations?

DAS

I was just about to get a full set of Continentals on my 300SDL to replace its current Toyo's. What do you not like about the Continentals? I am looking for something that will handle as well as these Toyos but be quiet as well. Someone suggested Bridgestone Potenza's.

I had a set of Continental... the only thing about them is that their traction response seems so muted... straight line just feels like it is floating but is actually tracking straight...

Turning response is just too sensitive and short... We usually wants a bit of leeway and some understeering but with Continental, the response is too narrow.

Quietness, I give Continental a plus here... but otherwise, nothing special.

I just had Goodrich Traction T/A H 195 65 14's put on my 300SD. They were highly rated in all areas. So far, I like them. Handle well, not too noisy, nice firm resonsive feel. Haven't tried them in the rain yet, though they are well rated for that too. They are very reasonably priced, about half of what a Michelin would cost. I had Michelin MXVs, and they sucked for wet traction. Then went with Pirelli P4000's, which were much better, but they don't make them in

Congrats... Like I said, Michelin is nothing spectacular for passenger tires... maybe those high performance tires, they might be great... but then again alot of people swears by Bridgestone S-03 high performance tire and cheaper by 1/3.