Mercedes Benz E350 CDI Coupé 231hp Tires

I had the option to buy Laufenn I-Fit Plus or this tire due to premium winter tires being double the price, so I bought 4 new Vikings at a price of 110 Euros/tire with mounting included. Had some premium all-season options in the same price range also but with the car being RWD with 540Nm of torque I wanted to be sure that I get the best shot at snowy/icy roads, although in my region winters aren't usually that harsh anymore. Also, I saw that this is a newer tire without reviews, so the inner tire geek came out.

- Dry: Feels neutral, there isn't much feedback but you can just about feel where the wheels are pointing. Once you build up a bit of confidence it feels fine, it never felt dangerous even with sportier driving. Braking is solid.
- Wet: It felt decent, aquaplaning resistance was good, safe enough for motorway speeds. It felt a bit worse laterally, maybe a bit oversteery, but again, within safe limits at legal motorway speeds. Braking is solid as well, not extraordinary but safe and dependable.
- Snow: In light snow, it felt similar to wet conditions. Had the opportunity to drive on heavily snowing highway conditions (with light snow layers forming on lane 1 and about a 10cm layer on lane 2), I was very impressed with the grip. ESP never kicked in, changing lanes to overtake very slow cars was very safe, overall I was really happy with the performance in such challenging conditions. Also went for a ride towards a ski resort, and I am happy to report that grip on steep, snow-covered roads was good as well. Laterally it felt very safe, braking performance was great also, with ABS never kicking in when coming back down. In thicker snow it felt safe also, had 0 traction issues and the balance felt very neutral on both fresh and compacted snow. From a standstill and a blanket of 40cm of snow that fell overnight, I was, again, really happy with the tires, I got stuck only due to build-up under the car, and even then, I was able to reverse out easily and then get over a layer that passed the bumper easily.
- Ice: Didn't have much opportunity on proper ice, but on light glazed frost on national roads it was within safe limits once again. I will make sure to update if I encounter any serious icy conditions.
- Misc: Nothing out of the ordinary in terms of noise, maybe a bit less comfortable than my Firestone Roadhawk 2 summer tires, but there is not much in it to be honest. Rim protection exists, but is quite narrow. Fuel consumption is a bit higher than the summer tire but this is the case for all winter tires. I have driven in temps ranging from -12C to 10C on Eastern-European roads.

I highly recommend the tire for more budget-conscious motorists, more than mid-range in the snow and mid-range in dry-wet conditions. Not the best, obviously, but certainly doesn't feel like corners have been cut in any significant area to reduce the price. A massive step up from budget tires for sure.

After 2 years and ~25k km of running Goodyear Asy 6's, I decided to go for a more touring oriented tire for a bit more comfort. Generally speaking, the Firestone really surpassed my expectations. In normal, relaxed driving conditions, it definitely drove as well as the Asymmetric 6, dry and wet. In more demanding conditions, like very heavy rain on the highway, sporty driving, poor asphalt, etc. it naturally didn't feel as planted as the Asy6, but not too far off, certainly very safe in all cases. After 4000km, the tires look like new. The rim protection is very pronounced which is a huge plus. A drawback I would say is that at around 50-60km/h, they do get a bit noisy, but at usual cruising speeds it's alright.

Overall, looking at the tests, this tire behaves a lot like the Bridgestone T005 it esentially was based on. I could argue that it is a premium-feeling tire at a mid-range price, which honestly is all that anybody needs from a tire. Definitely recommend.

After few thousands kilometers and all kinds of weather i have the next impressions: dry handling is nothing special, not unsafe but could be better; dry braking is excellent; on wet weather its quite the opposite - wet handling is amazing (really strange) and wet braking is bad. On snowy conditions, it handles good but braking could be better. Comfort is good, road noise is also good. Rolling resistance (fuel efficiency) - good.

This is my second review of this tire, few thousand kilometers later. Everything that was good stayed that way. Grip, amazing, both dry and wet. Wet braking really great, dry braking does not even need mentioning. Now, handling, it can be better when compared to the previous continentals but, those were slightly wider with smaller sidewall. That being said, i don't drive aggressively to bother me that much, it is really decent, might actually be a good handling tire with proper dimensions. Comfort is 10/10, these are also XL tires, SL could be even better. To sum it up, i don't think this can be categorized as a UHP tire, it might be a touring tire with a hint of sportiness. Mine are made in Germany and compared to the Goodyears EF1A6 (made in Slovenia) on the other car are so much better with wear and the sidewall is a lot darker - better dust and dirt resiliency. If i can name some negative about this tire is that the sidewall design is a little cartoon-ish. Better design and these are world class. At this price, with this performance, i advice everybody to give them a try.

I went from 235/45 R17 Continental WinterContact TS 850 P to 225/50 R17 Intensa UHP2. The Sava is comfortable, silent and the grip (dry) is amazing. The main reason for changing the dimensions is comfort and getting more sidewall. I can't comment on the wet grip since I haven't yet tried the tire on a wet road but the dry grip as previously said is great. The first thing I noticed was that when going into a corner, the initial feedback is a little understeery but then it follows really nicely. At first, the breaking was odd to get used to but when i had to do an emergency break it hooked immediately, stationary in a second. I drive a rwd car that losses traction on the rear wheels with half a throttle but with these tires i have not lost traction yet (have not launched it with full throttle though). The sava gives me more confidence of going into a corner with higher speed than the Continental (winter tire). I can't say anything about the wear yet, we'll see how it goes. For me it was between the Goodyear EF1 AS6 and this one, and considering I wanted an experimental dimension i went with the cheaper tire, which was 60% less than the Goodyear and they are made in the same factory. It was a no brainer and as of now, I'd buy it again.

Well, the tires are INCREDIBLE. Grip like hell, have a very easy to predict behaviour at the limit. But that's the usual with these tires. There are things about them that people do not talk about:

0. Very important! These tires are incredibly sticky and collect a lot of debris, especially on dry dirt roads. They will chip off some paint on the lower back bumper because of this. Get some PPF on that part and it will be fine. This is the only negative I could find.

1. Rim protection!! My god it is a saviour. I had to mount a kerb due to an oversized truck coming the opposite way and the wheel came down at an almost parallel angle. The protection did its job wonderfully.
2. There is some noticeable tire noise at around 80kph on rough roads, but on fresh tarmac they are very quiet at all speeds.
3. Speaking of rough roads, I live in Romania and they are commonplace here. Moon craters in the middle of the road as well. I can say that the tires are in great shape, there is no abnormal rubber abrasion.
4. Now I don't know where Jonathan gets his tires from, but mine have a different sidewall which looks pretty sexy. The tire pattern looks very premium as well, unlike the PS5's in my opinion.

Get this tire. It is worth every penny.