JHouse

2004 CL55. Only about 8,500 miles on them. All new at the same time. I was warned they were a soft compound and I'd be lucky to get 10K miles out of them. The fronts look barely worn. The left rear looks 1/2 gone or a little more, the right rear is slick in the middle. I always leave the traction controls on, and I'm not that much of a ripper at all (at least it doesn't seem like it ) and I monitored the air very closely keeping it at 35 to 40 psi (cold) all the time. I do have a really fun curvy road I take for a few miles every day at some speed (no squealing of course, but some pushing now and then).

So why just one bald tire?

SLCL

Some goes bald at young age

Not sure why but my rear tires aren't even last 8K. Last time I tried, I hit 8K mark and it showed iron threads.

JHouse

Well, THAT'S gonna hurt.

radride

35-40psi of air pressure in your tire when its cold is too much. As you drive, your tires warm up and the air pressure rises. I've seen mine rise up to 4 psi. That is why you are buring up just the middle of the tire. Try lowering the tire pressure a couple psi on your new set and monitor them.

R.K.

JHouse

I thought the "maximum" on the sidewall was a cold measurement that took the increase from heat into account. Crap. I haven't had that trouble with other tires and I've been doing that for 40 years. OTOH, I wasn't all that religious about maintaining the pressure until I got this car with the monitoring. Now I'm OCD about it.

I guess I'll put 20 psi in that one and ride on the edges for a while! (JK)

Also, back to the original question, How come just one? Does the differential have a preference or something? Am I turning hard one way too often?

radride

Just one because of the rear diff. You will notice that even with your traction control on, usually one tire will lose traction and you car goes sideways a bit. That is why guys upgrade their rear diffs so that both wheels spin at the same time. No single tire fire anymore.

R.K.

JHouse

And because the are directional tires, you can't just rotate them. Sucks. Thanks.

radride

Some of them you can but it involves dismounting the tires, swapping them, and then remounting and balancing them. Some tires have "outside" and "inside" written on them. On those, you would be screwed.

R.K.

JHouse

I was referencing the dismounting/balancing issue complicating the rotation. Plus they are staggered so no front to back either. But I didn't know about the inside/outside thing. I'm pretty sure I'm screwed in either case. I guess I'll just buy a tire at a time. Phuque.

alx

open diffs will do that. you will also notice that due to the traction control the rear brake pads on that side are more worn out.

on tire pressure- what do the door label says? on the r230 sl65 it says 37/39 psi front/rear.

worn in the middle means overpressure... no question about it though...

JHouse

GREAT! Now I'll check the pads. I tried to reorder an exorbitantly price Michelin Pilot Sport and found they are discontinued. So I bought two Hankooks for the same price. Oh well.

After all this, I noticed that I drove rather gingerly to work today. Depressing. I'm sure I'll get over that.

clearpages

LMAO

cp

1995E320Cab

When I nail the gas I leave 2 long fat dark tire tracks, not sure why but it plane to see.

JHouse

I assume you turn the ESP off? I have yet to try that. I did all my damage with full "protection."

JHouse

Tried to order one direct replacement Michelin. They are out of production. So I have two of these coming for the same price and Y rated! The more I looked at the other rear tire the more I could see that it wasn't that far from bald too. So WTF, just get a pair.

http://www.onlinetires.com/products/...0+101y+bw.html

StarPower

My right rear always wore out fastest, too. I just figured it was due to the difference in the distance traveled between left and right turns. I kept my cold pressures at 33 front and 36 rear as stated on the sticker under the gas cap.

JHouse

I never would have seen that. Thanks for the tip.