patrick39

What is the optium tire pressure for CLK 320 with original 16" wheels and 205/55 R16 Michelin Energy MXV4 tires? I have read many posts and it seems the recommended pressure (32 fr & 33 rr) is too low for 17" ultra low profile tires (225/45 R17 and 245/40 R17) because there are excessive wear on the edges and people are running 38 fr and 39 rr on 17" tires. So, I am not sure if the recommended pressure is also too low for 16" tires. Does anyone experience abnormal wear on their 16" tires? What pressure are you guys running on? Right now, I have 34 fr and 35 rr and is that too high for the Michelin?

patrick39

sorry guys! wrong spelling....... should be optimum tire pressure, not optium....... also many typos when i was at work today

mmgrad

the problem with CLKs w/ low pressure on 17s is due to the excess weight of the engine up front.

for the 16s, since i don't have experience with 16s, i can't confidently comment on them. however, my best advice is to monitor your wheels tread ware, and adjust them as needed.

I say, give the tires approx 7-8,000 miles... if you observe under inflation premature wear, then, bump up the psi... otherwise, leave it at the recommended psi...

theine

I use 33 psi on the front and 31 psi on the rear on Michelin Pilot Sports 225/45-17F and 255/40-17R

mmgrad

theine, you'll realize that after a few thousand miles at that psi, you gonna get lots of premature tire wear due to underinflation.... just watch, you'll see... i guarentee it!!!

theine

My front ones are toasted on the shoulders already, with 10,000 miles on them, I still have a couple 1000 miles to go.

mmgrad

if its your 'shoulders' that are toasted, where the rest of the central tread pattern is good, thats premature wear due to under inflation... 33/31 psi is way too low bro... bump it up on ur new tires...

theine

I know, what happend was that I didn't check my tire pressure until I noticed the shoulders wornout, they where at 19, that's why they got toasted. The factory recomends 32/33, more than that it's going to make the ride really rough.
What psi are you running now?

mmgrad

i'm running like 40/39 or 39/38... but i'm running 19s...

when i had 17s, i think i ran like 37/38 up front & like 36 in back... the ride, no change at all really

theine

hmmm, gotta check with Luke@tirerack for the correct tire pressure for 18's, I will have 235/40-18F and 265/35-18R

mmgrad

luke will always play it by the books, which may not always be the best answer...

if you ask him what the psi should be for 17s, he'll tell you 33/32...

and every V8 CLK owner here will laugh and tell you he is wrong... so, you better off sometimes asking people who actually own and use 18s on their CLK....

just my opinion

theine

The problem is that if I overinflate the tires, they run the chance of wearing out on the center, which is even worst than just the shoulders, in where the whole tread is still fine.

Mach430

If you are running 33 in the front, and wearing the shoulders on your tires, adding 2-3 more psi will not cause you to wear only the centers. I would recommend 35-36 on your fronts and at least 34 on the rears.

karl k

I had same experience with underinflation on the original Pilot Sport Michelins..

That's why I changed to:

40/front & 35/rear.

Check pressure once a month.

theine

That's the trick, I didn't for almost a year and did it when I noticed the front tires worn out, they where at 19 psi.

clknewbie

i have a 225/45/17 (front) and 245/40/17 (back) michelin pilot sports. and my car is a clk 320. what should be my tire pressure?

karl k

again:

40/front & 35/rear, and

check presure once a month!

mmgrad

starting off from new tires front & rear, 40 up front would be too high in my opinion. I think, 36/37 up front would be good for even tire wear.

I would only use 40 psi up front to recover from underinflation wear... if you started with new tires and used 40 psi, you are going to get over inflation tire wear....

thats my opinion...

karl k

This is my experience, NOT opinion, - accounting for a 2-4psi monthly drop in tire pressure.

mmgrad

fair enough....

I know you roll with higher PSI than whats stated on the fuel door...

Perhaps u require a little more pressure cause u have a 55 AMG, although, i would think it doesn't make too much difference between the 430 engine

karl k

Considering the 2-4psi monthly drop, you are right on target.

I got 26k miles on the first set of pilot sports, after I increased the pressure as stated above.



This action was prompted, because after running the initial 5-8k miles, I noticed excessive side-wall-wear, - particularly on the front tires.

PS:

MB service advisor:

"This excessive side-wall-wear is normal, -- we replace a lot of tires @ 12k miles."

:o