What are the best tires for a 2003 Mercedes Benz E320?

Question

best tires all season or sports. Best handling and road noise reduction.

Answer 1

There is no such thing as "best tires".  There may be best tires for you but much of what determines best in this case is subjective.

Do you want a tire that offers:  longevity, performance ( and if you want performance, do you want dry, wet, or snow ), economy, quiet, comfort, etc., etc., etc.  Also, what type of roads will you be driving on?  Concrete?  Asphalt?  Gravel?  Is price a factor? Are you an aggressive driver?  Is most of your driving city or highway?

Since many of these variables are at odds with each other, you have to choose which priorities are the most important to you and begin your research after you've narrowed down what you would like your tires to be able to do for you.

BTW, "all season" tires are anything but that.  An all season tire is a manufacturers attempt to design tire characteristics into one tire that will handle all of the various seasonal demands.  However, many of those seasonal demands are at odds with one another.  For example, in the winter time, it is better to have a narrow tire that can cut through the snow while in the summer time, a wider tire offers better grip and traction.  Also, in the winter, you want a tire with a high percentage of silica compounds in the rubber in order for the tire to remain flexible and able to grip the road during colder temperatures.  In the summer however, silica compounds burn off very quickly ( leading to quick tire wear ) so manufacturers want to minimize its use.  Because of these ( and other ) reasons, it is much better to have two separate tires for your Benz ( mounted on separate rims is also preferable ), one summer/performance and one winter set.

Answer 2

You want Michelin or Continentals. Yokohama is now being used on a lot of heavy high end cars as well.  

Answer 3

usually the round rubber ones that you fill with air

Answer 4

The E320 handles very poorly on ice (my suspension has never been the same since a ridiculous slide into a curb).  I think the best option is separate summer tires and winter tires.  You will need to buy wheels for the winter tires.  

Winter tires: Dunlop Winter Sport 3D are the best and I love mine.  Blizzaks are good, but are not supposed to be driven when above 50 degrees.

Summer: I just ordered Bridgestone Turanza Serenity.  Expensive but I believe they are the "cadillac" and are highest rated at tirerack.com for the e320.

www.tirerack.com  is a huge supplier and is known to have the best prices and will ship anywhere.  They can mail the wheels with the winter tires already installed.  Their website provides extensive customer reviews, rankings, and survey results for all the popular tires. (I have no connection to tirerack except have been their customer several times and they were recommended by my MB service rep)

Answer 5

michelin MXV4, my father owns a mercedes shop and recommends them to all his customers. He says there the best tires he owned.

Answer 6

If you want less road noise get tires with the "H" speed rating. High performance tires (V, Z, X or Y speed rating) will be noisier because they're heavier and have stiffer belts and sidewalls. An all-season Michelin 225/50R16 92H (91H, 93H, whatever) would be a good choice.

Answer 7

The only true all season tire is Nokian WR:

http://www.nokiantires.com/en/tire_wr.as...

It's not an especially quiet tire, but it handles well in all weather

conditions.

I like Continental Touring Contact for a three season tire, but you will still need a good set of snows in the winter:

http://www.conti-online.com/generator/ww...

For snows, Bridgestone or Nokian are the best choices. I like Dunlop snows, as well.

These cars can be deadly on ice, not because of any fault of the car, but because of the false sense of security the driver gets from antilock braking and stability control. When they let go, they really let go. There's no correction left for the driver to make.