Hello, I'm soon replacing the summer tires with winter ones, and I need to get some brand new tires for my C250d 4MATIC C-Class for the rear wheels as the old ones were worn out. The problem is that I don't find the exact specs (255/35/R19) for the same manufacturer and model of the front wheels, and I'm wondering if is it any problem if I'll buy tires of a different manufacturer, since the car is all wheel drive and there could be any risk of breaking any components of the drivetrain. Please let me know if it's safe to buy just the rear tires or I should replace all four of them. Thanks.

All my Benzes over years have been equipped with 4Matic. I have never had the need to use different tires for the fronts and rears. It would seem that using different tread designs and/or manufacturers could cause handling problems and also non-uniform wear. My guess is that using different tires might cause premature wear on internal drive clutches. If there is a noticable wear difference between the fronts and rear tires just reposition them.

My understanding based on reading other threads here is that these thoughts are OWT. It is okay to use different tires on each axle, yes your handling may be different than if all four were the same. It is ok to have tires of varying tread depth within reason, won't hurt anything, but I would not do more then 4 or 5 mm difference within one axle, just because I don't know any better.

So what is on the fronts and rears now?

I do not see issue getting a different set of rear.

How do you drive car - casual to and from work normal city/highway driving?

High speed autobahn?

For the summer I'm using the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S both on front and rear. Front is 225/40/R19 and rear 255/35/R19, just like the manufacturer recommends. I like to drive a bit fast and this summer tires have very good grip on curvy roads where I can take corners a bit faster than using average tires. However most of the drive is casual to and from work inside city.

For the winter however, I had a set of worn Pirellis, but I replaced the front ones by the end of the winter with a set of average Barum Polaris 5 tires as one of the front tires got cut and I needed something quick. I threw out the back ones as they were too worn out, and that's why I came here to ask as I wanted to get some Michelin Pilot Alpin 5 on the back and keep the Barum tires on the front since they are almost brand new.