Nitrocarbon

I have a 2010 GLK 350 and it seems to eat rear tires like crazy. It almost balds the rear tires through 1 season (April to November).

I had an alignment done at the dealership and they said it was pretty much bang on. Are these cars known for eating tires?

Any thoughts on how to solve this?

LiftOff

No, that's not normal.
I've had my car for over a year and have done a road trip from Alberta to Los Angeles and back, and my tires still have lots of tread left.

What tires are you running and how many miles are you putting on? And are you just doing street driving?

formerjeepguy

Are you running soft summer sport tires?

I did not notice abnormal or fast wear on in the 18K miles I put on the 2014 or the 14K miles on my 2015. The 2014 had the factory Dunlop run flats and the 2015 has the Continentals. I don't much care for the factory tires, but they seem to be lasting ok so far.

david1201

No issues like this with my 2011 RWD GLK350, about 40k miles on my 1st set (with minimal rotation).

Cwdawson

that does seem abnormal. we just changed out tires on ours , the stock tires were good to 45.000 km...

super7pilot

Driving habits? What UTQG ratings do your tires have?

Mmr1

Do you have a tire gauge, you need to measure wear exactly to know how it compares to what it's rated at. Is the wear even across the tire? What brand tire? What do you have them filled to? A tire gauge is about 3$ at your auto parts store. Your tires have a guarantee. The rear tires will last longer than the fronts, and should wear evenly if inflated right. The only reason I could think of it not wearing right is damage to the suspension that wasn't fixed right. Is the seller of the vehicle the one that states the alignment is correct? If so, take it somewhere else to see if it's aligned properly.

Nitrocarbon

It is the rear tires that are getting eaten and it happened on bot my summers (Yokohama Prada Spec-x) and my winters (Continental Contact).

The wear seems even across the tire, although the passenger tire wears a bit faster that the driver side. But both wear considerably faster than the fronts.

I have checked the pressure in the tires and they are up to the spec listed inside the door. They are filled with Nitrogen.

Mmr1

Inflation specs are 33 ( or 34 ) normal load, 38 full load, at 38 you might wear the center more, are the Yokohama a soft summer compound ? That could be the reason for the wear, I took of the factory continentals and put on Michelin Premier. the continentals don't wear well from what I've read. I would think the front should wear faster, maybe a tire shop could answer your questions.

super7pilot

I would take it to another alignment shop just to verify that all was done properly.

Secondly, Have your bushings checked out. when bushings start to fail they might not manifest in a static alignment check. Because when the car is simply sitting with no load or torque from the engine/brakes being applied the bad bushing might not cause an out of spec alignment reading. But can go out of spec when a load deflects a squishy failing suspension bushing.

And nitrogen is a waste of your money. unless the tire is mounted and the bead seated and then it is filled in an oxygen free nitrogen filled chamber there is no way to purge all the O2 by simply adding Nitrogen to a tire that already has Oxygen in it.

Mmr1

They say nitrogen is a waist of money, but it's free at all Costco . That's all they use at Costco . It's not totally a waste either , I drained my tires to 15 , and got the free nitrogen, the first drain, water vapor shot out, excessive water in the tire has to affect the bead over the long term. I did this twice , lowering pressure to 15lb then getting a fill to 40, then setting it to 34. Interesting thing is, I did this in November and the Michelin tires haven't lost any pressure. From 32f to 90f at 70 mph, I only vary 4 lb, 34-38. I think nitrogen does several things. It leaks less, it's more stable to expansion contraction, and it has no excessive moisture you get from air.

super7pilot

And for non competitive road use it's all moot. My motor home sat all winter and all six semi truck sized tires had lost maybe two-three pounds. They are at 95 psi, so lost only 3% sitting for 5 months. Tires have been doing fine (even in racing applications) for over 100 years using good ole atmospheric air and a quality pressure gauge.

Mmr1

I don't know, I've just gone 9 months not loosing a lb of pressure. I've never had this happen, normally I need some air after 6 months.