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There has been some good dialog here, we made it to 25k miles before the tires started to get too thin knowing the wife is driving it. My alignment like yours was "in the green" but the tires lasted less than I had hoped. FWIW when they last aligned it the front toe was set where I asked (0*) and the tires are only a couple 32nds less than new and no uneven wear. Unfortunately, they did not set my rear toe where I wanted it (.05*-.10*) and I got the wear I did. The next alignment will be done to my spec. Since there are few inexpensive means to adjust camber which isn't bad focus on getting the shop to set the toe to about half what MB calls for. My other car is a hot hatch with -2* or more of front camber for autocross depending on the surface and with zero toe I still have very even wear shoulder to shoulder on the DD tires. Bad toe will kill tires that otherwise have reasonable camber specs and these cars don't have excessive negative camber. This does not apply to the hella flush crap.
As far as the strange scalloping wear, that looks more like tire balance because of the spacing (frequency of bounce). Bad toe will evenly wear the inner shoulder around the circumference. Although we have the staggered 18's as well I rotate them side to side every 5k-6k miles and have them balanced every time which has helped keep wear very even.
Things to keep in mind:
Regularly balance your tires even if you don't rotate side to side (get road force balancing if available)
Less total toe front and rear (use half of the low end of MB's total toe as a start)
Keep in mind all alignment operators have to work with is front and rear basic Toe/directional adjustment.
No Camber or Caster to adjust tire contact angle. We saw the need therefore to design and re-instate from the early 90’s front and rear full/precise adjustment capability.
The K-MAC patented design is precise “single wrench” adjustment (accurately under load) direct on alignment rack. For the front (only) you can fit inaccurate “one only offset position” fluted bolts but they only supply 1/8” (3mm).
K-MAC front kit provides up to 3 times this adjustment range. Also replaces the 4 front highest wearing bushings at the same time and still provides 2 axis movement but without the OEM oil and air voids. Result is therefore significantly improved brake and steering response.
CAMBER – Allows to actually change the tire contact angle resolving costly, premature edge wear, improving traction/understeer/oversteer
CASTER – Correctly resolves steering pull, increases steering response. With better turn in and high speed directional control. Along with improved anti dive/lift under brake and acceleration
Essential for day to day commuting encountering high cambered roads, altered height through lowering, load carrying, suspension sag, having wide profile tires or curb knock damage. Track days capability to dial in extra negative front Camber (and track width) and fine tune rear for maximum traction!
REAR CAMBER KIT INCLUDES ‘extra’ Toe adjustment to compensate for the new Camber facility. Adjusts the lower control arm inwards (comes with bush extraction tool allowing to install on vehicle). We do not manufacture adjustable ‘arms’ – as difficult to install/adjust and to resolve premature inner edge wear need to reduce all important clearance top of tire to outer fender.
Front Camber and Caster kit P/N 502616K $480 Rear Camber (and extra Toe) Kit P/N 502226K $480
Also manufactured is set of ‘12’ bushings for the 6 ‘multi link rear arms’. Designed to significantly improve rear end stability, reduce twitch/flex, gain traction – especially when applying power lane changing/overtaking. P/N 502628K $480
Along with front replacement “top strut mounts” for coil spring models. For track days providing “extra” Camber and Caster adjustment positive or negative - up to 3 degrees extra negative to reduce understeer in the endeavour to hit those corner apexes every time and go deeper into the corners with improved traction and braking response in the pursuit of pole setting lap time. Manufactured from the very highest aircraft grade aluminum. Also feature H/Duty spherical bearings (PTFE lined) and separate radial thrust bearings for steering loads (also prevent spring drag/binding). Fit OEM diameter springs or all brands of coil overs.
The thing is German cars are very touchy when it comes to suspension. Mine was CPO and they did an alignment. I mean it drives really great but at high speeds (ah-hem) I get a slight vibration. I don't know how the roads are where you are in the winter but NY and NJ it sucks BIG TIME! My wife drives the car 90% of the time and well, lets say my wheel and tire coverage paid for it's self in one winter. I'm just hoping nothing expensive is damaged like front struts. I plan to get an alignment soon hopefully and that will help me figure out if things are bad. And the cupping was on my winter tires and they were driven on dry pavement for times between storms and abnormal wear developed on snows when that happens.
I just came from MB and roughly about 3 months ago and I had an alignment. mind you this was my first one since I owned my vehicle. Now I had been experiencing the cupping sound for about a year and a half. but I believe that was caused the car not being aligned. So bought 2 new tires and had MB mount and balance the tires, since I have owned the vehicle too. Now MB is telling me that I might need new shocks. I have 75k miles on it now it rides Great! I am trying to figure out do I need shocks because he said that they a little soft. But of course I cant feel it, they fell the same as when I bought the car do you know if my suspension troubles are over or are there any warning signs?
Last edited by craiger13; Aug 19, 2017 at 09:00 PM.
I just came from MB and roughly about 3 months ago and I had an alignment. mind you this was my first one since I owned my vehicle. Now I had been experiencing the cupping sound for about a year and a half. but I believe that was caused the car not being aligned. So bought 2 new tires and had MB mount and balance the tires, since I have owned the vehicle too. Now MB is telling me that I might need new shocks. I have 75k miles on it now it rides Great! I am trying to figure out do I need shocks because he said that they a little soft. But of course I cant feel it, they fell the same as when I bought the car do you know if my suspension troubles are over or are there any warning signs?
Well, first what kind of tires are on the car? I was talking to an old co-worker/friend who is a master BMW tech and we were talking about this, he said BMW's also have a tendency to cup but another thing that was interesting he said was he found that cars using tires other then Michelin or Contental had much worse cupping for some odd reason.
About the question then. Yes and no, a bad strut can cause cupping. But, that usually happens if it is bent, not if it's worn. Heres a little trick to see if it may be bent. with the wheel on the ground feel for the area between the inside wheel lip and the strut tube and get an idea of how much room there is, I use my fingers to feel the gap. Then do it to the other side, if if feels really different you could definitely have bent struts. Keep in mine your fingers on your left/right hands are different as far as size though. Another thing I read is if the rear trailing arm/link that connects to the knuckle has a bad bushing that can also cause cupping and steering vibration. Best thing is to give the whole suspension a look over, test the bushings and see if anything looks bent. A worn out strut would allow the wheel to "hop" over the ground, usually the type of wear from that is the tire feels uneven as you run your hand over the whole tread along the tread diameter.
My car stopped vibrating at high speeds as well because of wheel balance, but rotors are warped sadly.
Well, first what kind of tires are on the car? I was talking to an old co-worker/friend who is a master BMW tech and we were talking about this, he said BMW's also have a tendency to cup but another thing that was interesting he said was he found that cars using tires other then Michelin or Contental had much worse cupping for some odd reason.
About the question then. Yes and no, a bad strut can cause cupping. But, that usually happens if it is bent, not if it's worn. Heres a little trick to see if it may be bent. with the wheel on the ground feel for the area between the inside wheel lip and the strut tube and get an idea of how much room there is, I use my fingers to feel the gap. Then do it to the other side, if if feels really different you could definitely have bent struts. Keep in mine your fingers on your left/right hands are different as far as size though. Another thing I read is if the rear trailing arm/link that connects to the knuckle has a bad bushing that can also cause cupping and steering vibration. Best thing is to give the whole suspension a look over, test the bushings and see if anything looks bent. A worn out strut would allow the wheel to "hop" over the ground, usually the type of wear from that is the tire feels uneven as you run your hand over the whole tread along the tread diameter.
My car stopped vibrating at high speeds as well because of wheel balance, but rotors are warped sadly.
Well I have conti extreme contact dws06 now according to the Merc dealership that should be the end of my trouble but I asked them to do a visual inspection as well as drive it too. the noise is gone for now there is no vibration, but this is the second set of back tires I bought. On the first pair I could still hear the noise. but not this time that's why I had Merc do the install and drive to determine if there was something wrong back there. So I talked to a friend and He has an indy guy that will do the rear shocks if necessary. I will just play it by ear.
Hey guys, my 2013 C300 Sport just turned 26,000 miles. Rears we're close to needing replaced and the fronts weren't far behind. The whole staggered wheel deal not allowing rotation probably is part of the problem. Tech told me 30,000 miles is the average. Ugh. Anyway I replaced all 4 with the same Continentals since they now have a $70 visa gift card rebate. I guess we just deal with it. Love the car, I have 2 years left on the MB extended warranty then I'll try something else. Hopefully they will be back to the V6 then.
Hey guys, my 2013 C300 Sport just turned 26,000 miles. Rears we're close to needing replaced and the fronts weren't far behind. The whole staggered wheel deal not allowing rotation probably is part of the problem. Tech told me 30,000 miles is the average. Ugh. Anyway I replaced all 4 with the same Continentals since they now have a $70 visa gift card rebate. I guess we just deal with it. Love the car, I have 2 years left on the MB extended warranty then I'll try something else. Hopefully they will be back to the V6 then.
Unless you are willing to spend quite a bit more and get an "AMG" (in quotes since the turbo-4 and V6 AMGs aren't real AMG cars with hand built engines) like the C43, then you won't be seeing a V6 in a regular Mercedes. The "AMG" cars also have staggered wheels, so you'll have the same problem of being unable to rotate tires.
On a side note...the current C300 with base wheels have a square setup, but use skinny tires which seems to ruin the look IMO.
The rear tires on my 2013 C300 Sport w/ AMG package look identical to the picture you showed. The tires have always been quite noisy. My car had Hankook tires on it when I bought it used. I ordered Michelin tires which will be in this week. I was concerned about excessive rear inside tire wear and was asking about alignment. Not sure if that's the issue. Any tips or suggestions ? Thanks
Those of you with excessive wear, do you have the optional camber/caster bolts or whatever they are called? I had to get them installed in order to get all alignment values within factory recommended tolerances. Don't get me started with why that kit was optional. F***** Mercedes cost cutting Benz is what it is.
No camber bushings or special bolts here. You don't need to worry about the camber on these, there isn't that much that it would cause abnormal wear. Unless you spend $$ to purchase adjustable bushings or tinker with the special bolts there is no adjusting the OE camber or caster. The main thing you need concern yourself with is getting a good alignment from a reputable shop that's willing to work with you and your desire for better tire wear, not a dealer or some shop that says "only to the book spec".
The spec I give my shop for the wif's C350 is .15* - .18* toe in the front and .15* - .20* toe in the rear. (See pic for a recent alignment)
After chewing through the rear set of DWS06's in less than 1/3 of the tread life of the fronts I had the shop I deal with dial back the rear toe to under spec. So far a year and 12k+ miles later the wear has been much better, the last set lasted somewhere around 22k miles.
Along with regular tire balancing and side/side rotations, the fronts will be weather cracked to the point of needing replacement about the same time the rears are ready to be replaced due to wear. My personal goal with tires on the 350 is 2:1 rear changes to front.
No camber bushings or special bolts here. You don't need to worry about the camber on these, there isn't that much that it would cause abnormal wear. Unless you spend $$ to purchase adjustable bushings or tinker with the special bolts there is no adjusting the OE camber or caster. The main thing you need concern yourself with is getting a good alignment from a reputable shop that's willing to work with you and your desire for better tire wear, not a dealer or some shop that says "only to the book spec".
The spec I give my shop for the wif's C350 is .15* - .18* toe in the front and .15* - .20* toe in the rear. (See pic for a recent alignment)
After chewing through the rear set of DWS06's in less than 1/3 of the tread life of the fronts I had the shop I deal with dial back the rear toe to under spec. So far a year and 12k+ miles later the wear has been much better, the last set lasted somewhere around 22k miles.
Along with regular tire balancing and side/side rotations, the fronts will be weather cracked to the point of needing replacement about the same time the rears are ready to be replaced due to wear. My personal goal with tires on the 350 is 2:1 rear changes to front.
Not all of us are this lucky. MB sells an optional camber/caster bolt set that allows one to get all green alignments. Without that kit, most of us cannot get to this result.
Exact same issue as OP on my 2013 c250 sport plus. Front tires are fine but the rear tires are almost completely bald in the middle and making a roaring noise.
Exact same issue as OP on my 2013 c250 sport plus. Front tires are fine but the rear tires are almost completely bald in the middle and making a roaring noise.
If the tires are bald in the center it’s a sign you had the tires overinflated. When a tire starts getting low on tread they normally make more noise.
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. I'm just hoping nothing expensive is damaged like front struts. I plan to get an alignment soon hopefully and that will help me figure out if things are bad. And the cupping was on my winter tires and they were driven on dry pavement for times between storms and abnormal wear developed on snows when that happens.
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C300 Sport excessive rear tire wear
