Recommended tyres for W124 estate?

[juux]

I've just bought a lovely '93 300TD that had only a couple of minor niggles to sort out, one being new tyres. I've heard it said that these cars can be sensitive to the tyres used and so was wondering if anyone has any recommendations? The car will be used mostly on the motorway, with only occasional trips fully loaded.

 

[grober]

tyres

money no object Michelin or Continental.
Strapped for cash Vredestein or Nokian
see the review site http://www.tyretest.com/ or www.tirerack.com

 

[bolide]

W124 estate

I used to run my 250TD on Uniroyal Rallye 440s and liked them a lot. I used to get 2-3 years out of a set when averaging 15k / year. Since then I've been putting Continental Eco-Contacts on estates and they seem very good. There is a directional assymetric (handed) version - whch I'd recommend against as you can't move it from that spot on the car - and a symmetrical (non-handed) directional one that can be moved from the front to the rear, staying on the same side of the car, without taking the tyre off the rim

Firestones, Pirellis and Goodyears seem very noisy on these cars

I'd take what Tire Rack and other US sources say with a degree of caution - US tyres are frequently a different compound to ours so the results of their tests may not be applicable here

You can run a 205 tyre on these cars and it works well. The Sportline cars run 205s with 7" rims but they will fit 6.5" rims as well

Be sure to get the tracking set correctly when getting new tyres. It's not always easy to get a W124 to drive in a straight line but fresh tyres give you a chance to get it right. Once they start wearing into a conical shape (assymetric wear across the tyre width) the car will always tend to pull to one side


Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[juux]

Cheers, got the Continentals - just as well considering the bloody weather at the moment (in the north of the country anyway!)