Given
78%
while driving a
Mercedes Benz E350
(/40 R18)
on
a combination of roads
for 40,000
spirited miles
Do yourself a favor, buy a tire pressure gauge with a tread depth meter combined. Also buying these means you'll watch most other drivers struggle.
40k miles or 65 Km
245/40 97Y 18in Square on a staggered wheel setup. My rear wheels do accept 245/40 (8.5 to 9in width) but stock rears are 265/35 18 fyi.
Initial impression was a lot better than the Continental ContiProContact MO stock tires. I've used the ContiProContacts on a FWD Passat and they were great, but wide sizes, they just float and wiggle in the rain. The difference is night and day on a RWD car. I think the Passat had 225 or skinnier.
The stock Conti only win in wear, noise and comfort. The Nokian WRG4, I specifically bought for wintery mix driving. I drive ride share and I do roughly 250 to 500 miles per day, 7 days a week and I don't drive slow. These tires are TEMP sensitive and TIRE Pressure sensitive.
Dry Temps: under 90° f you're fine as long as you're not speeding over 80mph otherwise jelly effect until you get down to around 6mm wear depth. Temps under 45° f these tires are amazing. Anything above 95° f they turn to jelly if you're doing over 70mph. Otherwise they're normal. Omg and they save you gas.
Wet Temps: Warm wet temps you can feel the tread blocks moving. The car isn't, is not hydroplaning or anything, but it's just an unnerving feeling. At the same time I've gotten used to it and I can feel what the car is doing. I'm assuming FWD would be more stable at higher speeds.
This might just be my car suspension setup but I could take a 30mph tight U shape ramp at 50mph with no tire screeching and only minimal understeer while in SPORT. Only car that's kept up was a C7 Vette and a Porsche Cayman.
Tire pressure, since I drive so much, I keep track of tire pressure everyday. Also I didn't rotate these tires. The front were amazing and literally only have a variance between 7mm outside, 6mm middle and inner on the front. Very normal wear and could easily go another 40k or more.
The rears were the issue. I'd say more on Mercedes alignment, the inner wore bad, meaning more toe in angle. I'm going to replace the rear suspension soon to see if that fixes that but I read a WRG3 review with the same problem but on a FWD car.
My DWS06 265/35 18 rears (20k miles 4.5mm inner, 5mm middle and outside), it's wearing evenly. I think I'm going to buy a set of DWS06 Plus for the front and keep these other tires as spares. Once the rears wear down to 2mm I'll swap them for 245/40 18.
Durability: they did well until I hit a skinny deep pot hole. Both passenger sides needed to be replaced (after 40k and a full winter)
Noise/Comfort: they have a howl similar to going through a tunnel. They were comfortable, like a touring tire.
Great alternative to snow tires. You can run them all year round. My biggest complaint is warm wet weather driving. You really can't go over 60mph in heavy rain while they're new. Once they wore down to 5mm warm wet weather was less of an issue. I drove someone 2hrs towards the Eastern Shore in a torrential downpour with heavy cross winds and it did very well in 55° f.
I'd still carry a small shovel in the winter if your car is low.
