Rear tires worn out only from outside
Thread Starter
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Joined: Mar 2014
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2002 C240
Rear tires worn out only from outside
I have a 2002 C240 with 108K miles. Around one year back at 98K miles, the car was pulling to the right and the tires were worn out. I got new set of Michelins from Costco. When they put the new tires, they advised I get alignment done on the car. So I went to a Goodyear shop as soon as the new tires were installed and got the alignment done. Yesterday, I took the car to Costco for tire rotation and they said they cannot rotate the tires because the rear tires had no tread left on the outside. Yes, on the outside and not on the inside. The front tires had 9/32" tread remaining and are like new. Both the rear tires had around 8/32" tread remaining in the center but on the outside it is 2/32" tread! The Costco guy indicated it is either a problem with alignment or suspension. The suspension has never been a problem, there is no noticeable noise over the bumps. I will take the car to Goodyear to check with them. But wanted to understand from this forum where the real problem could be. Any advice would be very useful for me. Thanks.
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Mar 2014
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2002 C240
No suspension modifications but there have been issues
Apologies for the delay in getting back. Reason being I recalled that I have had some issues with suspension in the past. So I dug through the service records and found the following work done on the car at different Benz dealserships:
74K miles: Perform road test to verify customer complaint. Found clunk type noise when going over bumps. Inspect for loose nut at front suspension. Found sway bar linkage is loose and causing noise. R/R both front wheel and replace both front sway bar linkage. Recheck for noise. Now OK.
86K miles: Found excessive vibration from engine at idle when in gear. Non 0.6 performed tension free adjustment on all engine mounts. Found all engine mounts worn and sagging causing the excessive vibration. Replaced all engine mounts Non 0.5 performed sensor/rotor and ring gear adaptations after repair.
93K miles: Client states suspension squeaks. Test drove vehicle for squeak noise. Verified client complaint. Inspected suspension components. Found the stabilizer bar bushings worn and dry causing noise. Client declined repairs at this time.
99K miles: Test drive noted clunking from front suspension. Inspection found engine and transmission mounts worn causing vibration in chassis.
Until 86K miles, the car was covered under extended warranty, so I never looked carefully at the records. But now that I did, I am wondering how come the new engine mounts installed at 86K miles were reportedly worn off again at 99K miles! Not sure if the rear tire wear problem is due to the worn mounts OR the worn stabilizer bar bushings.
Please advise on what work is really needed on the car. I am going to talk to the dealership about the life of engine mounts though.
74K miles: Perform road test to verify customer complaint. Found clunk type noise when going over bumps. Inspect for loose nut at front suspension. Found sway bar linkage is loose and causing noise. R/R both front wheel and replace both front sway bar linkage. Recheck for noise. Now OK.
86K miles: Found excessive vibration from engine at idle when in gear. Non 0.6 performed tension free adjustment on all engine mounts. Found all engine mounts worn and sagging causing the excessive vibration. Replaced all engine mounts Non 0.5 performed sensor/rotor and ring gear adaptations after repair.
93K miles: Client states suspension squeaks. Test drove vehicle for squeak noise. Verified client complaint. Inspected suspension components. Found the stabilizer bar bushings worn and dry causing noise. Client declined repairs at this time.
99K miles: Test drive noted clunking from front suspension. Inspection found engine and transmission mounts worn causing vibration in chassis.
Until 86K miles, the car was covered under extended warranty, so I never looked carefully at the records. But now that I did, I am wondering how come the new engine mounts installed at 86K miles were reportedly worn off again at 99K miles! Not sure if the rear tire wear problem is due to the worn mounts OR the worn stabilizer bar bushings.
Please advise on what work is really needed on the car. I am going to talk to the dealership about the life of engine mounts though.
Thread Starter
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Joined: Mar 2014
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2002 C240
Can you please take a look
Samaritrey/others,
Can you please help with this. Any pointers would be useful. I will be at dealer's mercy if I were to go to them without any clues on what is possibly wrong. Thanks.
Can you please help with this. Any pointers would be useful. I will be at dealer's mercy if I were to go to them without any clues on what is possibly wrong. Thanks.
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 5,295
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From: VA
THE C350
Can you post a picture of the tire wear?
To be honest many shops don't know how to align Mercedes or any car for that matter and this can cause stupid issues like this. My w203 had a frozen adjustment on the rear end and wasn't caught until i had a rear tire go bald and i had two alignments done one when new tires were put on and a second about half way through. So when the tire went i had a third alignment done and thats when i realized that looking back at the old alignment sheets they had never mentioned to me that one of the rear wheels was out of spec because of the frozen adjustment.
To be honest many shops don't know how to align Mercedes or any car for that matter and this can cause stupid issues like this. My w203 had a frozen adjustment on the rear end and wasn't caught until i had a rear tire go bald and i had two alignments done one when new tires were put on and a second about half way through. So when the tire went i had a third alignment done and thats when i realized that looking back at the old alignment sheets they had never mentioned to me that one of the rear wheels was out of spec because of the frozen adjustment.
