Best Tyres for the Mercedes Benz GLE 350de

Have been mainly Pirelli or Continental tyres over the past 35 years of doing around 30,000 miles a year. Had Michelin Pilot Sport fitted to a 4x4 car (so supposed to be ideal for rough ground) and in less than 800 miles there appeared a small side wall bulge. Fitter thought probably faulty tyre as no other sign of damage to wheel but waste of time contacting Michelin as they would for sure just say road damage. Never had side wall damage in the past so lesson learnt, will stick to brands that never let me down in the past. These are £450 tyres and looking at the other reviews, side walls seem to be Michelins downfall. How hard can it be to make a decent tyre, I’ve had birthday candles that have lasted longer.

So, i have those tires installed on my GLC350. The rims came with 2 new all season tires and i have purchased additional 2. When i saw the texture of the rubber i thought that those tires will not be good for snow especially that the rims are big and car is very heavy,.over 2tones. My experience so far, tested on dry, wet and snow. On dry and wet the car handles wery well even at high speeds and surprisingly tires are silent. Tested them on the snow recently Poland and Slowakia. No issue to navigate trough snow 5-10 cm on road not a single time anti slippery system came on. One minus ive noticed, turning may be a little bit more tricky but holds well if you turn at low speed. Exiting from a parking lot full of snow without an issue ( 4x4 helps also) I do recommend those tires i believe they are a very good compromise. Are dedicated winter tires better, from top companies( Continental Pirelli Good Year) absolutely, are dedicated medium class winter tires better ( Fulda, Hankok) is questionable. When both me and my mechanik saw the steucture of tire we were sure it will not perform well in winter but it seems our impression was wrong.

Was originally going for Pilot Alpin 5 SUV, but there were some delays when ordering so got these instead in 275/45/21 and 315/40/21 on a 2850kg car. There has been ice, snow, slush, dry and wet weather since I put these on and I must say I am impressed over how these perform. For a heavy SUV these tyres feel very well, cant really compare it to anything else as this is the first winter with this car, but we have a EV SUV that weighs 2650kg with Nokian R3 and I feel the Vredesteins suit a heavier car better the Nokians. Braking and grip on snow felt pretty much the same, although I had an impression of more control with the Vredesteins when braking and trying to provoke sliding. They aren’t remarkable on ice, but rarely non studded tyres are. Consumption is a bit higher than the sportcontact 6 summer tires and road noise is pretty much the same. Will probably try the Pilot Alpin 5 due to lower rolling resistance next time.