SLK 200 wiggling rear end in wet-poor quality tyres?

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Candy

Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2008
Messages
47
Location
South Staffs
Car
SLK 200
Hi
I would appreciate a little advice from the experience of other SLK drivers please.

About 6 months ago I had economy tyres fitted to the back of my SLK - I've only just realised by chatting to others how important tyres are...I just thought as long as they were legal and the right size they would be ok........ok, go for it, let the sniggling begin.....I am only a mere woman!....NOT!

But seriously - I've not driven the car for the last month because it was having body work repairs done after a lorry's trailer cut me up on a roundabout and scraped all down the left side of my car - it wasn't a collission - just a scrape (rubber marks left on left side of car/ripped wheel trim off/ripped wing mirror off).

Anyway, having now driven my car for the last 3 days in wet conditions - I'm not sure whether it's because I'm currently alert to any diffence in driving because of recent bump....but it appears that when I now go over a manhole cover/similar inconsistency in the road that my back end wiggles when it goes over.

Also, when I was pulling away from lights today - the traction light came on - I didn't feel it skid but the light came on.

The garage who did the repairs had the car back and have checked all the balancing etc again, confirmed there's no damage to chassis, springs, other "wheely/suspension" things - but did point out that they'd noticed the tyres were of an economy range - and could have an affect on the performance of this sort of car.

I'm now fully prepared to go and get Pirelli's/Bridgestones fitted on the rear but not being experienced in this area - am concerned if I go to the expense of this that the issue won't go away.

Any advise from you's out there would be gratefully received - from a lady who loves zooming around in my SLK.......
xxx:bannana:
 
Hi
I would appreciate a little advice from the experience of other SLK drivers please.

About 6 months ago I had economy tyres fitted to the back of my SLK - I've only just realised by chatting to others how important tyres are...I just thought as long as they were legal and the right size they would be ok........ok, go for it, let the sniggling begin.....I am only a mere woman!....NOT!

But seriously - I've not driven the car for the last month because it was having body work repairs done after a lorry's trailer cut me up on a roundabout and scraped all down the left side of my car - it wasn't a collission - just a scrape (rubber marks left on left side of car/ripped wheel trim off/ripped wing mirror off).

Anyway, having now driven my car for the last 3 days in wet conditions - I'm not sure whether it's because I'm currently alert to any diffence in driving because of recent bump....but it appears that when I now go over a manhole cover/similar inconsistency in the road that my back end wiggles when it goes over.

Also, when I was pulling away from lights today - the traction light came on - I didn't feel it skid but the light came on.

The garage who did the repairs had the car back and have checked all the balancing etc again, confirmed there's no damage to chassis, springs, other "wheely/suspension" things - but did point out that they'd noticed the tyres were of an economy range - and could have an affect on the performance of this sort of car.

I'm now fully prepared to go and get Pirelli's/Bridgestones fitted on the rear but not being experienced in this area - am concerned if I go to the expense of this that the issue won't go away.

Any advise from you's out there would be gratefully received - from a lady who loves zooming around in my SLK.......
xxx:bannana:

I'm not an SLK owner, but I would definitely recommend you get some good quality tyres on the car. I strongly recommend the same make of tyres front and back. What you are feeling can be dangerous in certain situations. Cheap tyres may be OK on certain multi-purpose type vehicles, but an MB deserves the best IMO :thumb:

P.S. I see you had a Boxster.... I doubt you had cheapo tyres on that kind of car
 
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If you had an SLK as a courtesy car, or any courtesy car for that matter, it would have had premium Tyres on. Which by the sounds of it you have become used to and now you've got back into yours, the cheepo Tyres feel strange.
 
We use the continental sport contact 3 on ours. Very good.
 
As above, safest to avoid budget tyres as many don't have great grip ... particularly in the wet. Continental are M-B factory fit on many (most?) of their models.
 
Budget tyres aren't worth it. As i've said before on here, my Dad always used to say to me in my GTI days "It doesn't matter if you drive a £500 car or one with aa prancing horse on the front, it's still only kept on the road by 4 bags of wind, one in each corner". Fit the best you can they literally save your life its not worth gambling with budgets IMO.:thumb:

I've just fitted Michelins to the back of mine in place of the Continentals fitted as standard. Not quite as grippy in the dry, quieter & better in the wet which suits my driving style which isn't chucking it about. Cost me about £500 for the pair, worth every penny in my eyes.:)
 
Any of the well-known brands should be ok, we've used Avon ZV5s on our Audi for about 4 years now and they've been excellent all-round tyres. Got Dunlop SP Sports on the SL, and Continentals on the Vito.
 
My choice goes for Michelin PS2, PS3 or Primacy HP now. I've had Goodyears which I considered like running with "wooden shoes". Contis are good. Pirellis good also, but I find they have a tendency to tramline seriously when wearing out.
 
Probably just the tyres as has been said--- would be useful to know the exact make/model/size of tyres on the rear tho. Despite the garages re-assurance that the rear suspension is OK the alignment may have been knocked off especially if you say the wheel trim was damaged. Without the proper alignment jig the rear track cannot be checked accurately - the rear suspension would have been routinely inspected for damage - and I am sure it's fine in that respect---but did they do a proper 4 wheel alignment? :confused: The reason I bring this up is because if I were you I would get a proper alignment check before putting on an expensive set of new rears. :dk:
 
Another vote for Continental Sport Contact 3's here. Recently replaced all 4 variously worn & mismatched tyres on our 230 SLK with these and the difference was unbelievable, especially in the wet.
 
Hi,
I've just been outside and this is what is says on my tyres.

Back are: Infinity 225/50R16 96W
One of the front are: Infinity 205/55R16 94W INF-05
Other front is: Hifly 205/55R16 94W

I think it's a good idea to ring the garage and gain assurance that they definately did a 4 wheel alignment - I'm sure they did but worth checking - they said they'd checked everything they could and showed me print outs to show everthing was balanced.

I drove it home tonight and over 'manhole covers' it was still wiggling/jumping it's back end - has anyone else heard of this manouver?

thanks
Candy...........won't be about tomorrow as it's my Birthday....ha...have great weekends everybody
Love Candy
xx
 
I've just been outside and this is what is says on my tyres.

Back are: Infinity 225/50R16 96W
One of the front are: Infinity 205/55R16 94W INF-05
Other front is: Hifly 205/55R16 94W

These sound like what are known as "Ditchfinders". I'd throw the whole set in the bin and buy some Continentals or other good make

Nick Froome
 
We recently replaced all the tyres on our Z4 because the previous ones were runflats and horrid.

In the end we decided the most imprtant criteria was quality followed by wet weather performance - and wafting with the roof down listening to the birds instead of tyre roar would be nice.

Looking around we found a European standards test for noise levels. Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetrics in particular outperformed everything by quite a lot on noise. They
were 1/4 or 6db below the maximum required noisiness level, twice as quiet as the premium brand competition which was 2-4db below standard (or twice as noisy as the F1s)

As a bonus tyre review said that the F1s were very good performers in the dry and excellent in the wet.

Anyway, once fitted our car was transformed, I have failed to get the traction control light to even flicker and they are noticeably quieter than the previous bridgestone and pirellis.

So although the Sport Contact 3 get excellent performance reviews I would choose the Goodyears over them for the consistency and quiet every time.
 
Infinity tyres are made in China http://www.infinity-tyres.com/inftyres3/news/infinity_newsletter_may2010.pdf and although they may have been quite cheap to buy are a false economy on a Mercedes sports car IMHO sorry.

ps if the finances won't stretch to Michelin or Continental then there are mid market tyres which still offer better wet weather performance such as Vredestein, Kumho or Falken
 
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