Evasiveone

I have noticed since owning this car for exactly one year now, that the front tires were wearing unusually quick. Now with 11,000 miles on the car the front tires are on the wear indicators. It is not an alignment problem because the wear is even all the way across the tire. The tire pressure has always been good.


To make matters worse, last night the front right tire inner sidewall completely gave way with a few pieces even coming off. The back tires have over 75% tread left.


So has anyone else had this happen to them? Is this the nature of owning a C450 all wheel drive where you can expect to replace some really expensive tires every year? And what good are run flat tires when they fail making the run flat ability useless.


I have a call into the dealer, waiting on a call back. Thoughts?

Mike5215

You've pretty much summed up the problem with run flats. They cost more, wear faster, ride harder and are very prone to sidewall rupture (the most common complaint). I swapped them out for Michelin Pilot Supersports right away and saved the run flats for lease turn in.

Evasiveone

Any idea or thoughts as to why it wears the front tires so much more than the rears? With 60% of the power going to the rear there should not be that much wear on the front and cornering shouldn't attribute this drastic of a difference.

Reading several tire reviews on different sites I came across numerous comments from people with C class Mercedes commenting about the extreme short life of their front tires.

Bill Barnett

Just did the same. My wife (it's her car) was ready to get rid of the car. Run flats were making the whole car rattle like a $18k econo box. Only challenge is storing the OEM tires for 4 years till lease return. Went with Pirelli PZero all season plus. Huge improvement in ride and NHV in general. Much less money as well.

Mr. J

Just swapped the stock Contis for Michelin Pilot AS 3+. The ride is slightly softer and they actually have a little grip on snow and ice.

When the weather improves I'll run them harder and see if they truly perform like a summer tire as claimed.

Mike5215

More weight over them plus the AWD.

Evasiveone

More weight and all wheel drive should not wear out the front tires at such an accelerated rate. Otherwise every 4 wheel drive SUV and pickup would be flying through front tires and that is not the case. There are a lot of all wheel drive sports cars that do not have this problem dating clear back to the Mitsubishi 3000 GT VR4.

Mike5215

The OEM spec tires for the C450/43 have terrible numbers for treadlife. A UTQG of 220 plus a speed rating of AA and a temperature rating of A results in a compound that is soft and wears quickly. Switching to a conventional tire with the same speed rating but a better wear number (a 440 will wear at half the rate of a 220)

If the fronts are wearing out evenly that pretty much rules out a suspension/mechanical issue. My 220s and 221, three non AMG RWD cars incapable of a burnout, chewed through $800 rears at twice the rate of the fronts. Heavy car, soft compounds. Welcome to Mercedes.

sean1.8t

I haven't noticed this but I hope it's just an isolated incident on your end. I'm putting on some Blizzak WS80s on Monday. Definitely going to be keeping an eye on them.

C450 Owner

Got my 2016 C450 with 19" Conti and now am at 10K miles. The front tires are down to 5 32nds and the rear are at 10 32nds (interesting). Had the alignment checked by dealer and all is OK. My service advisor said this is normal but clearly did not want to talk about it.

Found local performance alignment shop and visited. Guy there told me that it is a common problem with the newer high-end performance cars. I theorized that negative camber could be a big part of the problem. Asked him if he could reduce the negative camber by say 50% so maybe I could get 20K miles on the $300 tire which I will have to buy soon. He told me that MB was now making the cars so that it was near impossible to adjust the camber. Does that sound reasonable to anyone ?

By the way - went to tirerack.com to check out my Conti's. Lots of pissed off MB owners with the same Conti's and most getting 9500-11000 miles on a tire.

Mr. J

The stock Contis are very grippy but they are also soft. The solution is to replace the tires. Mucking with the camber is cutting of your nose to spite your face.

C450 Owner

Mr. J: According to tirerack.com there are only 3 runflat tires that come in the sizes I will need for the front and back tires. The Pirelli P7's look good in terms of tread wear rating but are not available until early April. The other tire is the Pirelli P-Zero but its tread wear rating is 220 - worse than the Conti. I estimate I will be down to 3 32nds before April. So I can't see anyway out of replacing the fronts with the Conti's.

And without doing anything else it would mean I will be back replacing them in another 11k miles or so. I doubt that the tread wear I am experiencing is 100% due to having a soft tire and not to some extent due to the negative camber. I will continue to research this problem to see what I can find out.

Thanks for the reply.

K-Mac

Do point out that OEM there is only ‘Toe’ adjustment front (and rear)!

OK if vehicle maintained and driven at showroom height, but day to day commuting with high cambered roads, altering height, load carrying, suspension sag, fitting wide profile tires or curb knock damage – the feature of having “Camber” adjustment to change tire “contact angle” is essential. Along with front “Caster” to correctly resolve steering pull and improve brake and steering response.

For the front (only) you can purchase fluted bolts – but they are inaccurate having ONE ONLY OFFSET POSITION, providing 3mm (1/8”) which is a minimal 0.3 degree change.

We saw the need therefore to design, manufacture and reinstate from the early ‘90’s front kits that provide up to “5 times” this adjustment range and are precise/accurate – on car under load direct on alignment rack. Fixing it right.... the 1st time!

Along with similar rear – also providing Camber (and additional rear Toe adjustment to compensate for the new Camber facility). Advantage of the K-MAC rear bush design compared to adjustable “Camber Arms” is that to resolve premature inner edge tire wear Camber arms need to move “top of tire” outwards, diminishing all important clearance to outer fender – K-MAC moves bottom arms inwards and easier access allowing to be adjusted accurately (on car under load).

These unique patented design kits are “single wrench” adjustable. Not only providing “full/precise” adjustment but at the same time replace the ‘4’ front and ‘4’ rear highest wearing suspension bushings and with twice the load bearing area!

The front bushings are 2 axis/self aligning but without the oil and air voids of OEM. Result is noticeably improved brake and steering response. No modifications to fit - come with instructions and extraction/insertion tubes (Rear Camber can be fitted on vehicle).

W205
C400/C450/C43 incl. 4matic
Front Camber and Caster #503216K $480
Rear Camber and extra Toe #502226K $480

Delivery $40 one kit or $50 front and rear kits. We accept PayPal, Visa or MasterCard.

Mr. J

If you are worried about cost just swap the runflats for Michelin Pilot SS or Pilot AS3+ and add a sealant kit.

C450 Owner

Mr. J - after doing more digging and research it looks like in about another 700 miles I will do exactly what you suggested. The AS3 + are highly rated on tirerack.com and it made no sense to me to replace with the OEM Conti's. So I will take a chance here and hope for improved tire wear. Plus of course the sealant kit for the trunk.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Cosworth2000

Just my 2 cents. The C450/C43 are designed with negative camber and it noted that this feature will in fact reduce tire life in exchange for more dynamic driving and handling.

To solve the problem; purchase non AMG modified vehicles since all the non AMG vehicle do not have the enhances driving dynamics but or more used for comfort.

C450 Owner

I knew that the C450 came with negative camber and understood that would mean quicker tire wear. However I never thought it would mean replace at 11K miles. The tires on my previous car (Infiniti M35x) - Bridgestone Potenza - routinely got 45K miles before I needed to replace. Admittedly they were not runflats. But the M35x was a little over 4,000 pounds while the C450 is about 3,800.

In doing my research on this issue, I looked at www.tirerack.com for reviews on the Conti's. The vast majority of the reviews are complaining about the same sort of tire wear that I am experiencing. And the reviews are spread over both MB and BMW (3 series models). Several from the C300 4-matic. So it is not just an AMG model problem.

The C450 is a fantastic car and I will most definitely keep this car for a long time. If by switching to the Michelin AS3+ I can improve to say 20K miles before replacing, I will consider that to be a success. If I get the same 11K I have gotten on my OEM Conti's - then I am no worse off than I would have been staying with the Conti's. And frankly it will not break my heart to get rid of the amazingly harsh ride I am getting from the Conti runflats. All in all, this will be an interesting experiment.

Waveform2

Cosworth: agreed, performace car eats tyres and other bits and bobs thats life, dont like it get a std merc.

tivoboy

I had the same issue.. Fronts are down to about half of what the rears are at.. Not really sure WHY the front would wear so much faster.. yes, Engine is more weight and deceleration puts more weight to the front, but not having really driven hard that often and having the gf drive it more on the highway than do I, wondering what would wear the fronts that much differently.

Front outer (side of car but not sidewall) edge is lower than center by a noticeable amount. outer thread is almost flush.

I'm thinking of the conti DW or the michelin SS. Want to maintain something with solid performance rating for speed.

Xtrema

My front hit 3mm and rear hit 4mm after 7500km (I guess I drive hard)

Switched to Michelin PSS (discount since discontinued as PS4S is out). Ride so much better.

tivoboy

do you still like the Michelin PSS? What about road noise and grip?

raihak

I'd like to ask about the road noise with the Michelins too, i've read reviews that its a noisy tire. Any comments on that?

tivoboy

Well, the OEM run flat Pirelli p zero' from my 2016 C450 have reached their end of life. 11K really which is pretty poor showing. They were crap anyway, loud and didn't have anywhere near the grip and confidence that I would expect a tire.

What is the best choice for mostly dry CA conditions? Seems a lot of people liked the Michelin Super Sports, but they seem to be replaced now with the Super Sport 4S ? has anyone put these on their C450 or C43?

Also, has anyone done any spirited track driving with these Michelin SS 4S or SS tires? I'm going to do a couple track days, probably not going to go crazy with my daily driver and have read a couple of review on tirerack that say their side walls of these SS 4S peeled off after 3-4 hours on the track. Sort of doesn't really make any sense as the tire is recommended for porsche 911 and ferrari 4xx so I can't imagine they are road only.

Any reports of quality and performance, ride, noise and stick would be MOST appreciated.

disclaimer: I'm going to cross post in the main C450/43 thread too.

tivoboy

Just in case there was any doubt about how bad the pirelli p zero run flats are, here is my front left tire.

I was JUST about to order new Michelin Super Sport 4s for these, but on the way home from lunch the TPMS went off and I figured it was temperature or a nail. When I went to check, look at what I found.

the bottom of the picture is the INNER side wall. Total delamination.

imj0257

How many miles did you get on them before they did that?