Originally Posted by Kong9999  Greetings, tire fans. I'm new to Benzworld, but not to Benzes (recently replaced my charming-to-the-end 1976 450 SEL). I see in this thread elements of something that's driving me a bit nuts regarding my recently-acquired 2003 S500 4Matic.
I am a big fan (and competent user) of what The Tire Rack calls Max Performance Summer tires, having gone through many sets on my 1987 Porsche 928 S4, which is currently on its 1.5th (the rears wear twice as fast as the fronts) set of the awesome Michelin Pilot Sport PS2s (a huge improvement over the Pilot Sport, and a nice evolution of the useless-in-the-rain MXX3s I otherwise loved for their surgical precision and absence of bad manners) on GTS-spec 17" rims.
On the Benz, I have the staggered 18" AMG wheels from the factory Sport package for the RWD cars; these came with the forgettable Dunlop SP Sport 9000s. I am now trying to decide what to put in their place.
In my neck of the woods (near Albany, NY), it gets cold enough to upset the tread rubber in the PS2 after Hallowe'en, and we get rare light snow and occasional frost from then through the first of the year (in between bursts of 50+ F high temps). January through mid-April sees occasional heavy snow, and for that I'm looking at the Nokian Hakkapeliitta RSi studless snows on the OE rims. However, the Hakkas, while good by extreme snow tire standards (compared to nerf-ball Blizzaks), are not anyone's idea of a crisp-handling tire on clear roads, so I'm loath to put them on until absolutely needed.
This raises the issue associated with this thread, and specifically with Jayhawk's comment: "any tire--or anything--that tries to be all things for all conditions will not do very well in any of them". While I agree, it's also the case that in climates like mine, conditions vary widely and often rapidly. It's also the case that, while I'm addicted to the control crispness of the Max Perf tires, this car is a long-haul tourer and needs to be quiet and smooth. It also needs to go out in any weather (the 928 gets to stay in the garage when it's nasty).
This is leading me to look seriously at what TR calls Ultra High Performance All-Season tires, both to permit me to keep the wide boots on for another two months or so each year and to get better ride, lower noise, and perhaps better dealing with heavy rain (which we have here in the summer) than the Max Perf Summer tires.
If I can't bring myself to compromise handling during May-September, I'm thinking of using a Performance Winter tire, such as the Michelin PA3 or the Nokian WRG2, to get real handling in cold, clear circumstances and some degree of snow and ice coping, and then either tiptoeing in the heavy snow or (here's where obsession creeps in) getting a third set of rims to carry the RSis for really bad times.
OK, this is already much too long, but it's only a snapshot of my decision process. Anyone have any suggestions? thanks! |