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Comments
Bottom line -- I think we'll both be happy with the tires of our choice. And since we're both driving cars that cost $50,000+, I guess a few bucks difference for tire choice doesn't really matter. So enjoy!
The comments on Tirerack are difficult to sort out. For any given tire, you have any number of rants and raves. There seems to be very rare consensus about any of them.
Your Yoko is a much better value than these Michelin tires. But, these tires have great ratings from www.tirerack.com and a wear rating of 400. The 'Max' version has a wear rating of 220 so I decided to purchase the All-Season version so I can get 30,000 miles out of these suckers. The handling, ride, and noise are exceptional with the Michelin Pilot Sport tire.
Those of you who want the name in tires, Michelin, should consider the pilot Sport A/S. The A/S even has a decent snow rating. The only down side is a set of 4 tires is much more than the Yoko's cost. However, the wear rating is better 400 vs. 320 and you get a Michelin; perhaps, the best tire Michelin has ever made. If money is no object then purchase the Michelin Pilot Sport (not the All-season one) and expect 10,000-15,000 miles of tire life.
MB Driver, I appreciate your input as I never even considered an all-season tire until I read your posts. Yoko AVS DB- $144 per tire vs. Michelin Pilot Sport A/S- $216.00 Yes, I realize you can buy 6 Yoko's for the price of 4 Michelin's
but the Michelin should last a bit longer (leaving the net difference of maybe 1 Yoko).
I suspect that if you rotate your Pilot Sport A/S tires, you should easily get 40 to 50 thousand miles on your E-Class for the set of tires.
Best Regards,
Shipo
I located a replacement rim on www.aaarims.com
They have the stock sport rims for $275.00
This rim is exactly like mine except it has been "refurbished" to like new conditions.
My dealer wants $468 for a brand new one.
I am inclined to purchase the new one and send my old rim to the above mentioned company for re conditioning. Then, I will have an extra rim in case of damage.
Shipo, my 330 Convertible is due in two weeks.
Thanks for your input.
Shipo may be correct that you may be better off price-wise in the long run if you're able to get 40,000 to 50,000 miles on the Michelins. God luck.
Also has anyone tried the sport springs from Tire Rack? Do they stiffen the ride too much? I like a firm ride and really enjoy a flat handling car.
Thanks
As for rim styles I like my sport rims. Brabus makes an 18" rim which looks just like my 17" stock M-B rim. www.aaarims has my rim for $275.00 each. I found quite a few sites that have AMG rims 17"-18" for $350-$400 each.
Personally, I think AMG rims look good on a Mercedes. I recommend you do a search under AMG rims for some good web retailers.
The dealer has additional cartridges, and I've seen from some back discussions here that Circuit City also sometimes carries some that are compatible with the MB unit. So we just went for it.
---joe
Got a call from my wife just now. Seems one of our credit cards had two more yearly TeleAid charges. Recall I cancelled TeleAid, got a credit for the erroneous Year 2 charge of $258 and change, back in early January.
Now, they have charged me two additional times on the same card. I have been on hold for 10 minutes trying to get them to reverse these two charges like they did last time.
The whole TeleAid organization is an embarrassment to MBUSA, and MBUSA's relationship with these incompetent boobs should be terminated immediately.
I think you may have to dig further.
Best Regards,
Shipo
Thankyou very much.
Regards,
Victor
Several questions:
1. What are the standard services that should have been performed in the first $50K?
2. What does MB recommend for oil change intervals (5K ? $7.5K)? Given the car will probably be off lease I am sure the intervals would be no more frequent than the minimum required by the owners manual.
3. Can you give a basic idea of the cost of routine maintenance - just to prepare for the surprise down the road.
Thanks in advance.
Best Regards,
Shipo
Hope that this helps.
Wally
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PR Director
Edmunds.com
Thanks for the quick response, I thought that I was loosing it when this fuel problem occurred. I assume my E320 (2000 4-matic) fits the same criteria as yours and needs to make an appointment with the dealer. Glad to have such a wealth of knowledge at a moments notice.
Pat
thx.
That used to be a big issue in the US but I don't hear about it anymore.
You can check what standard services are performed during the first 50,000 miles on any specific car you're considering -- it will depend on the car's age and mileage. For example, I bought my 2000 E320 in late April of 2000, and until last month the computer kept saying "Service A in xxxx miles." Then, because I only had 9000+ miles on the car, it suddenly changed to "Service A in 30 days" and kept decreasing each day until the dealer performed the service several weeks ago.
Regarding oil changes, MB doesn't recommend a specific interval -- since they're paying during the warranty period! It's tied to the service schedule which is determined by the computer, based on driving style, conditions (dust, sand, etc.,) mileage or total time for limited use (like mine). I had my oil changed at 5,000 miles (at my cost) and switched to synthetic, which all MB dealers now use by factory direction.
Routine maintenance, therefore, is free during the basic warranty period (except for owner directed, i.e., early, oil changes). Bottom line -- you'll obviously pay more for a newer, low mileage E320, but in the long run it may be worth the trouble and extra cost.
Hope this helps.
This wheel was advertised as A-plus condition.
Well, in my opinion, my other three wheels are in better condition after 2 years of driving than their A+ wheel. The bottom line is that their wheel is B+,A- at best. I am going to send my scraped wheel for reconditioning to them.
The total cost for the "almost" new rim and reconditioning of my old rim is $500.00
I get the new Michelin tires installed tomorrow.
So much for NAFTA.
Overall, I am very happy with these tires but the price was $1011 installed compared to $650-675 for the Yoko's.
After 2 years with my E430 I still like the way the car looks and drives. I hope the '03 E500 maintains this level of quality and consumer satisfaction.
I just wanted to add that you shouldn't top-up or overfill the tank on your E. If you continue to do so, one of these times, the gas will come spurting out back at you under pretty high pressure. The tank must be plastic and under the right conditions (angle of the car or whatever) can expand when overfilled and then rebound (vomit) the fuel right back out. Pretty scary! Don't ask me how I know. I've seen this happen to another E-class owner, too (oops! did I just admit I once did something stupid). This can also cause the "Check Engine" light to come on.
Anyway, the dealer will be happen to replace your sending unit under warranty.
These tires were adequate but a bit noisy. I wanted a replacement tire that lasted at least 20,000 miles and provided outstanding wet traction
along with a comfortable ride. My OEM tires lasted 14,500 miles.
Based upon my research from www.tirerack.com and some input from MB Driver on this site I decided the only two tires which met all my needs were the YOKO AVSdb and Michelin Pilot Sport AS.
The wear rating was the eliminating factor as most 17" sport tires simply do not last more than 15,000 miles. The Michelin has a wear rating of 400 and the Yoko has a 320.
I printed out the cost of 4 tires delivered to my home and made my local tire store match it. They charged me $100.00 more than tirerack's price for tax, installation and lifetime rotation with balance. I took the deal and had the Michelin tires installed yesterday.
As a point of reference for you, I have Michelin MXV4 Plus tires on my current car, which have the same 400 tread wear rating as the Pilot Sport AS tires. With 36,000 miles on my car, my rear tires still have 3mm of tread depth and the fronts have 5mm (new is about 8mm). Assuming that I drive the tires until bald (I won't), I calculate that the rears are good to go for another 21,000 miles and the fronts for another 60,000 miles.
Given that BMW does not recommend tire rotation, it is not too surprising that one set has different wear than the other. I guess I like leaning on the go pedal more than the steering wheel, which is not too surprising given that most of my mileage has been in and around the NYC metro area.
Best Regards,
Shipo
Email me at 73061.213@compuserve.com if you're interested in the future.
I have a feeling MB Canada are just trying to be difficult with the bumper issue, try to get to the bottom of things and I bet they'll finally admit that the bumpers are the same.
1) In the US, cars are registered by the state, not the Federal government. If this is the same in Canada, maybe a smaller province may not be as hard nosed as a bigger one? e.g. maybe you can get your car accepted by the Inuit government first?
2) In the same vein, what are the requirement for Mexican registered cars? If Mexican specs are the same as Canadian ones, maybe a trip down to Mexico......?
The Goodyear Eagles that were on the car before were MUCH quieter and mostly adequate in all other functions. I'm going to have to start researching all over again. I thought I had bought the ultimate value tires..!! Hah !!
Anybody interested, this car(2001 E430) has all the options available: Command System, Voice Activation, Heated Seats, Ventilated Seats, Multi Contour seats, Rain Sensing Wiper, XENON HeadLights, PHONE, 6 Disc CD Changer, 17 inch wheels, low profile tires, Tele-Aid Navigation CD's for Western Canada, Western United States CD's, Alarm, Power Sunroof, Power Rear Sunshade, Chrome HeadLamp Rings, Illuminated Door Sills, etc... It has only 5600 miles mostly Highway driven. Always parked in the garage when not driving. 1-owner. This is a FULLY LOADED car bought in June 2001. I will sell this for $52,800. If interested please email me at sharma_vivek@email.msn.com
Regards,
Victor
DEALER 1: I go to one dealer in Queens, NYC: 2002, with 6500 miles or so, CD player, phone option: $47,250.
Went back a week later: New Car with E2/Seats: 47,158. Of course, the floor model has a deposit on it. (2nd one since I've been there).
DEALER 2:
I take a trip another dealer in Manhattan: New car price (E2 and Seats): 48,750. I look in the paper and the same dealer has an early 2002 with 9900 miles or so, CD player, phone option: 47,800.
DEALER 3:
A dealer 100 miles away: A new 2001, with the E2, but not in Silver/Black: $46,000
Same dealer: the 2002 Special Editions: $47,750.
DEALER 4(?):
The price via United Buying Service: 2002 with E2/Heated seats: 47,125. (Not grey market).
DEALER 5:
A dealer in upstate NY: 2001 with 5134 miles with E2 package: $46,500. Great deal except that the car was sold over 3 weeks ago and they still haven't updated their web-site. Ugh....
While I know I'm kind of late to jump on the E320 band wagon, purchasing this car seems more difficult than it should be.
Regards,
Ed
-RB
I have less than 5,000 miles on my Yoko 235/45ZR-17 AVS dBs. They are still very quiet, handle well, and the ride is superb. But now I'm concerned.
If your tires actually are AVS dBs, I recommend that you immediately contact the Yokohama honcho in your area, or even in the U.S. if necessary Supposedly, the AVS dBs were designed specifically to run quietly. If yours are as bad as you say, maybe you got a bad "lot." I'm fairly certain that Yokohama executives will be more than willing to listen and perhaps make some sort of adjustment. It seems to me that they just can't afford those kinds of bad reports.
I'm anxious to hear from you!
After all, you could save more money by purchasing a different sports sedan, right?
While I applaud M-B Driver's fiscal sense I could not bring myself to purchase the "lesser" tire (Japanese no less) for my German made Mercedes-Benz. Once the money is spent you will be glad you bought the Michelin Pilot Sport AS tires.
The Pilot's are great. My highway stability is improved (100MPH) and traction is fantastic. The tire is very quiet and smooth. Also, they look great on the car as well. I will buy them again especially if I get 25,000 or more miles out of them. Of course, the above statements are purely my opinion and not meant to offend anyone on this board.
My "fiscal sense" wasn't a factor when I bought the Yokos. I bought the tires that I thought best suited my car and my driving habits. Having spent well over $50,000 for an E320 with all the bells and whistles including COMAND, Xenons, heated seats, etc, I easily could have afforded Michelins or any other tire I wanted. To date, I couldn't be more pleased with the Yoko AVS dBs, and the reputation of that specific tire seems to be superb -- or should I say "Michelin-like." I just hope microrepair's experience and horror story about his own Yokos was either an abberation if it involved Yoko AVS dBs, or he bought other Yoko tires.
Keep us posted on your experience with the Michelins and I'll do the same with my Yokos. I hope neither of has any regrets.