Tires

[Michael D.....]

Hello,

I have been researching which tires to place on my 230 sl.  I have read the technical manual information.  I'm not sure how old the info is in that article, but when I contacted the Michelin dealership the sales manager was unfamiliar with the tire models listed in the article.  He also said that they may be no longer available in the U.S. or are discontinued.  Has anyone recently replaced their tires and are happy with them.  I would like to stay as close to original tires as possible and maintain an accurate speedometer and good performance.

Thanks

[hauser]

Tires will always be an ongoing discussion since tire manufacturers are constantly changing tire and tread design.  The second problem is that there aren't many cars that use a 14" tire and I don't know of any new cars with a standard 14" tire wheel package.

Coker offers a tire in the original size and rub strip with a 3/4" WW.  There is also a Michelin MXV-P available from Coker for about $300 each.  The less expensive route is the Classic Vredestein, no WW available.

Lots more tire info here.  Use the search button for more on tires.

[Michael D.....]

Thanks for the contact site to find the tires.

Do you think it is worth it to spend the extra money on higher end tires?

I don't feel the need to impress anyone with the name brand but if the performance and ride are significantly better I would pay the extra money for the Michelins over the Vredesteins or the Phoenix.

I would like to have the white walls.  The only tires that they offer in the white walls is the Phoenix a Firestone tire that is being manufactured for Coker by a tire company called Denman.  The technical Manuel review of this tire was not favorable.  What are your thoughts?

[Jordan]

Michael,

I believe the 195 75R14 is the closest size to the original 185HR14 tires where tires are still available in limited quantities.  Uniroyal makes a Tigerpaw (AWP II I believe) in this size in a whitewall (not as wide as the Coker tires) and more reasonabley priced at less than $100 per tire installed.  I am looking to put these on my car in the spring so I can't tell you how they ride just yet.  If you find something else please post it so others can see.  Good luck.
Marcus

[thelews]

205/70-14 on mine.  Wouldn't have any other size.

Will be putting Vredesteins on from www.blackforestllc.com come spring.  Tires in the picture are now 12 years old, Michelin's, look great, drive great, plenty of tread, but, I'm not comfortable driving over 90 mph on 12 year old tires.

[IXLR8]

Check out db tires.

http://www.dbtires.com/2009_catalog/09catalog_lo.pdf

Intresting catalog.

Joe

[graphic66]

I wonder how the W113 would look with a set of "Gangsta" whitewalls. DB tires has some interesting tires, those redlines were what I had on my old Triumph TR250, they looked great on that, not so much for the Pagoda though. I have always thought of the narrow whitewall as a little "limp Wristed" if you know what I mean, they do look good on the SL though, just not quite manly enough for me. And yes, I vote 100% for the 205's, blackwall of course, now that is a manly tire.

[glenn]

Re:Wall Street Journal today-   The Mass. lawyer on the Toyota case story went after 'six year old' tires in the Goodyear/Ford case.  Means I get 600(a thousand if I go to two shows a year) miles on a tire before renewal??

[Mike Hughes]

Yes, if you are prudent.  A guy was killed a few years ago driving his Sunbeam Alpine home from a car show when one of his tires that were eight years old and only had a total of 4k miles on them came apart.  When I read that I replaced the 14 year old Michelins that had only been driven 6300 miles on my 230SL.

[Travis71280]

I just bought some Bridgestone Insignia SE200 195/70R14 for mine last year to replace the dry-rotted 185R14 that were on it. I am really happy with them and have no complaints.

[mdsalemi]

I wonder how the W113 would look with a set of "Gangsta" whitewalls. DB tires has some interesting tires, those redlines were what I had on my old Triumph TR250, they looked great on that, not so much for the Pagoda though. I have always thought of the narrow whitewall as a little "limp Wristed" if you know what I mean, they do look good on the SL though, just not quite manly enough for me. And yes, I vote 100% for the 205's, blackwall of course, now that is a manly tire.

A good deal of the early photos of the W113 from MB had Gangsta white walls.  Look in any of the books and the SL's and you are bound to see them.  The early renderings by Paul Bracq also featured Gangsta WW.  That's just the way it was.