Consensus on best/quietest tire?

[murray8144]

Is there any general consensus on which is the cushiest/quietest tire for the ML-350?

[sosh]

I have had Continental 4X4's on my 02 ML500, My 06 ML500 and now my 2010 ML550. They have given excellent service, good in snow and are very quiet. Never had to replace on. Smooth riding tire.

[lkchris]

Cushiest/quietest tire is a new tire.

By 15-20K miles, ML tires aren't new.

[Smooth 1]

ikchris is right. Alot of people make the mistake of thinking that the 60k mile life of the tire is also a term of performance length. When in fact, most tires perform to a 100% of thier ability for about the first quarter of it's life, after that, the performance aspect of tires drops off really quickly, although the tread will last for that 60k mile warrentee. As tires heat up and cool down, expand and contract over and over they get harder and brittle, so they really lose their ability to absorb impacts and isolate road noise pretty quickly. Even thought the tread life is still plentiful. That's why they are starting to use more and more silica in the rubber compounds these days.

[roadrutz]

Originally Posted by Smooth 1

ikchris is right. Alot of people make the mistake of thinking that the 60k mile life of the tire is also a term of performance length. When in fact, most tires perform to a 100% of thier ability for about the first quarter of it's life, after that, the performance aspect of tires drops off really quickly, although the tread will last for that 60k mile warrentee. As tires heat up and cool down, expand and contract over and over they get harder and brittle, so they really lose their ability to absorb impacts and isolate road noise pretty quickly. Even thought the tread life is still plentiful. That's why they are starting to use more and more silica in the rubber compounds these days.

I could make an argument that a tire actually improves some aspects of its performance as it ages, on the grounds that as the tread wears down there is more rubber to make contact with the road. This would improve dry road grip, although it would obviously degrade wet grip. I won't disagree with you about tires becoming harder and more brittle as they get older, although the actual amount by which this happens is very small; I can't imagine it making any noticeable difference to the tire's performance. My personal experience is that tires generally become noisier as they age, but I have always attributed this to the greater contact area.

[MB-SV]

Originally Posted by roadrutz;3824097[COLOR="Navy"

]I could make an argument that a tire actually improves some aspects of its performance as it ages, on the grounds that as the tread wears down there is more rubber to make contact with the road. [/color] This would improve dry road grip, although it would obviously degrade wet grip. I won't disagree with you about tires becoming harder and more brittle as they get older, although the actual amount by which this happens is very small; I can't imagine it making any noticeable difference to the tire's performance. My personal experience is that tires generally become noisier as they age, but I have always attributed this to the greater contact area.

Yes, the key is to differentiate the effect of aging versus wear. Racers are well aware of impact of less tread depth on traction.

[zak]

I think we all agree that there is nothing like a driving on a brand new set of tires.