RJC

Well my 8,000 mile 2004 CLK 500 has excessive wear on the outer edges of front tires, the backs have excessive wear on the centers. I followed MB recommendations of 30 front and 32 rear cold pressures. I'm now forced to have more pressure in the front vs less in the back totally against what is recommended by MB. I do not corner hard or spin the rears, ever.

I was on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach Fl today for lunch and there was 5 CLK's, w208's and 9's. Every car had excessive outer edge wear on the front tires! From what I could see the backs had excessive center wear too. What's going on here. I know about the alignment issue which I had corrected but something is wrong here.

I also saw a Dodge Viper GTS coupe with about 7000 miles on it and it had Michelin Pilot's too but the tires were worn evenly even in the front! I have a collegue that has an 04 SL500 sport with Pilots and his tires are wearing perfectly even with 9500 miles, he did return his car back to the dealer when brand new for alignment 3 times until he was satisfied with the pulling issues. Since I've had mine done at 3000 miles the wear has continued to get worse in the front and I convinced the backs are worn in the center from too damn much air, thanks MB!!

I was amazed to see all the CLKs today that have the same issue. Tires for these cars are not cheap and it seems MB's recommendations are not appropriate for even tire wear.

Suggestions, experiences and comments are most welcome.

SmokinV10

My CLK does the same thing. Funny thing but the tires on my Viper outlast the CLK's....and that thing has 900 crank HP.

RJC

The GTS I saw yesterday had perfect tire wear!!

Something is not right with the CLK's I think they have too much toe-in for the fronts??? I wonder if MBUSA is aware of this issue?

AndyAMG

I have the same problem guys- my clk55 has lots of uneven tire wear
and I took it to the dealer to get it replaced but seems like its happening over and over again...

Im gonna contact MBUSA and see what they say.

RJC

I'm doing the same, and it will be by phone and email.

BTW a client/friend called me today asking if my front tires are worn on the edges!! He has an 03 500. Guy's there is a problem with the alignment of our cars, hence the pulling to the right and now uneven tire wear. Lets all contact MBUSA.

echo200

The CLK measures 1493mm between the front tyres and 1474mm between the rear tyres. This seems odd for a rear-wheel drive automobile, especially when I looked at the same measurements for a couple of other brands.

BMW 3 Series (rear-wheel drive): 1471mm (front) and 1483mm (rear).
Saab 9-3 (front-wheel drive): 1524mm (front) and 1506mm (rear).

Not being an engineer, I have to rely on logic to suggest that the reason for the greater distance between the drive wheels is to provide maximum traction during, for example, accelerating and cornering.

So why is the rear-wheel drive CLK designed like a front-wheel drive car?

Figures are taken from European brochures.

974AGK

I to had problems with my rear tires 235 x 18" ,First set lasted 6000mls wore in the centre ,2nd set changed at 16500mls [These were Pirelli Zeros ,To soft!] Have now changed the rear & front to Bridgestone ,this tire is excellent for tight twisty roads the rear of the car does not move ,not even in the rain. Will keep forum posted on Bridgestones wear.

CLK 270 CDI 03/03 245Bhp Obsidian metallic black , full factory fit amg kit , 18" Amg factory fit alloys , Full Command/ Sat nav + [Tv Courtesy of Steve from N/L ]
Linguatronic , Auto climate control , Full memory seats /Steering , Automatic/Tiptronic , Full leather napa/two tone , Brabus Twin chrome tail pipe , Tinted Windows , Bi xenon , Rain Sensitive Wiper's , Keyless go , Tuning Chip , Other toy Mv Agusta F4 Fully Tuned .