JimPap

I just turned 20,000 miles on my 08 C300 and was wondering if I should have already had the tires balanced.

I don't feel a lot of vibration, but its kind of hard to tell.

Any suggestions?

Glock Guru

just me but, I would check air pressure every 3rd fill up rotate them every 5k,check balance every 10K, chassis alignment every 15k for maximum mileage and performance.

Azn_C300

Yeah, I'd get it rebalanced.

As as for checking tire pressure that often, don't think it's really that needed with the TPMS and nitrogen fill, but doesn't hurt. Rotating? His is a C300 sport so staggered, thus no rotating. The rest, sure.

JimPap

I do check the air (nitrogen) pressure about every 3 weeks.

Regardless what they say about nitrogen not leaking out, I find that I have to add some each time. Have my own nitrogen cylinder in the garage.

So I should go get my wheel balanced.

MBTex

I'd get them balanced every 5K or so...3K if you drive aggressively or on bad roads.

Good advice on the rotation though...that would be very bad and any tire shop that actually did it on that car should be shut down immediately.

jrct9454

Please, people....there is absolutely no need to rebalance tires that are not shaking! All you do is waste money, and take the risk that your friendly tech make take your perfectly balanced tires and make them unbalanced.

If it isn't broken, don't fix it.

When we traded our '02 C240, the original tires had 28k miles on them, and were as smooth as the day we took delivery of the car. Absent an "event" [hitting a curb or bending a wheel], or excessive wear, tires / wheels don't become "unbalanced" on their own.

I have never had to rebalance an OEM tire on any of our new cars in the past 20 years, until wear exceeds 30k miles, and not even then in some cases.

If you actually feel shaking, then of course, get it fixed. If not, don't tempt fate - leave them alone!

MBTex

So do you not change the oil until the engine starts overheating as well?

I'm kidding of course....

numero uno

If it's hard to tell then it should be unneccessary to correct it IMO. Tires can be a pain to figure out sometimes. Here's my experience over many years and many tires on the 35+ cars I've owned. 1. Some tires can actually experience uneven wear on the compound to the point of a slight imbalance UNLESS you have them rotated every 5,000 miles. 2. Your Benz should have top Q tires. However, certain brands of lesser expensive tires especially many Goodyear brands and a few others will shimmy right from new no matter what. I believe the method of manufacturing these tires is too blame and am suspicious that the steel belt configuration is to blame but I have no proof. 3. For many years, the compounds used in tires are made to do 2 things far bewtter than in times past. Superior adhesion to the road surfaces and also extended wear. For those of you who are 50 some years of age, I'm sure you remember the nice soft rides of the old days. That is because softer compounds were the norm and rides were softer although tires didn't last as long as today. Roads surfaces were smoother as well. 4. Newer tires grip the road very well and one must expect to feel some vibration for the road especially since the roads these days are deliberately made rougher to provide better resistance to skids and quick maneuvers. So, a driver is going to "feel the road" more these days. I swear at times I can feel nearly every stone on the road on some of these rougher surfaces. Unfortunately safety is winning out over comfort.

jrct9454

Tire balancing is NOT preventative maintenance. Do you change your radiator when you change the coolant?

Just kidding, of course....

Look, do what you want, spend your money however you want. I started my career as a car nut in the tire business 47 years ago....in those days, balancers were primitive and tires even more so. These days, if the car is smooth, rebalancing is not going to make it smoother. If it shakes, then get the tires to a professional to find out why - most often, it isn't balance per se, but rather runout - not round enough or straight enough - but a good road force balancer should find these problems.

My very extensive experience is this comes from the fact that I am hyper-sensitive about the shakes - I cannot abide a car that vibrates. In fact, I've swapped OEM tires on a number of our cars because the originals were simply too far out of spec to meet my standards. So when I say leave it alone, I mean leave it alone unless you feel a problem.

Our last three MBs came with Michelins [once] and Contis [twice] - all have been as smooth as possible, and none were rebalanced in at least 30k miles. Our Prius came with Goodyear Integritys, that were so awful I had them replaced with Costco Michelins within the first 3 months....and then left alone.

I should add that I rotate our tires at 3k-4k intervals, at home using cheap floor jacks at each corner, so it takes me generally less than 30 minutes to do a 4-wheel rotation. That contributes to the lack of attention needed on our tires. Since so many of you have opted for the Sport package, and thus staggered sizes that can't be rotated, you're likely to need more tire work than I ever see in the usual life of our cars.

MBTex

I don't change the radiator, but I do check it for leaks and put fresh fluid in according the manufacturer's recommendations. Your radiator analogy is equivalent to buying new tires each time you would rotate or balance them...which clearly is not the equivalent to balancing your tires. And I'm sure most manufacturers would disagree with what is preventative maintenance on their product.

Your vast experience definately has given you the skill and ability to sense even the smallest vibration and you then take what action you deem appropriate. I dare say most of us, including me, are not nearly so skilled as you.

For me, I paid $150 for lifetime balancing and road hazard repair on my tires the week after I picked up the car. Given the fact the the tires are the only thing keeping you on the road and uneven wear is a regular cause of blowouts, I think it was money well spent.

Good to see we are just kidding though.

jrct9454

We can agree to disagree....

I have had the unfortunate experience of having to intervene after a friend took a car in for "preventative" balancing, and of course what HAD BEEN a butter-smooth ride was ruined by a balancer that hadn't been calibrated in too long - this is the risk you take. Via con Dios...

MBTex

Fair enough. The OP wanted opinions and we've definately given ours!!

I really was just kidding before....didn't intend for it to turn into something.

jrct9454

JimP:

I note you have the Sport package - if you have 20k miles, I'm kind of curious as to the state of the tread on your tires, especially the rears?

Rebalancing certainly can become necessary if the tread is starting to wear unevenly, which is possible if they haven't been rotated in that amount of time [20k].

I've found all recent MBs to be very sensitive to tire/wheel irregularities [though still less so than BMWs in this regard] - by all means have the balance checked if you feel something isn't right - I just think this is a waste in the absence of any real symptoms.

I do respect the idea that some might want the extra security of a "wheel/tire guarantee" - sometimes, the luck of the draw results in a bad set of tires on a car, though my experience is that this is usually evident right from the get-go, well within the normal adjustment period from all of the reputable OEM tire makers.

As a final aside, I never take delivery of a new car without a thorough "acceptance drive" - I make it clear when I sign a purchase order that the car is subject to my final approval, without exception and without recourse. No dealer has ever given me a hard time about this - and it insures the car is right [especially a smooth set of tires] before money ever changes hands. (This also comes from bitter experience....I have had a total of 55 cars since 1962, and have seen just about everything at least once.)

JimPap

Jr,

Just saw your post and its already getting a little dark here.

I'll check it in the morning.


Back to the question about tire balance, I got a $50 free service coupon from the local MB dealer. I have no idea what they charge for balancing, but at least I would save a few bucks.

My curiosity has about gotton to the point that I'm willing to do it to see if their's any difference.

On the C300 the front tires aren't the same size as the rear ones, so rotating is a no go.

jrct9454

JP:

It isn't the C300, it's the Sports package that has the different sizes. My C300 Lux has the same size tires all around, so I can do 4-way tire rotations. In fact, the presence of the staggered tire sizes is just ONE of the reasons I passed on the Sport.

MBUSA has this image in their minds that staggered setups equal good write-ups in the car magazines - I consider the whole idea a pain in the backside.

Anyway, let us know how it turns out....

JR