New E

Hi,

I thought I'd post this here just in case the cause/remedy is specific to the E Class. I have an 02 E430 4Matic with 18" Pilot Sports.

At close to 14,000 miles the tread on the outside edge of both front tires is nearly gone. The remaining surface of the front tires, and the entire surface of the rear tires looks normal with quite a bit of tread left. The uneven wear was brought to my attention at around 12,000 miles, and at that point I took it to the dealer for my second 4-wheel alignment (the first was at 6,000).

I believe I read somewhere that 4Matics go through tires pretty quickly, but I don't know if that means they should wear unevenly. Does this sound normal? In the next few days I'm going to go ahead and replace them (once I find a good local place) and have another alignment done, but if this is normal then I'll just have to plan to replace them every 12,000 miles or so.

Thanks for the suggestions/comments/insight if anybody has any!

bigtire

Outside edge wear on the front tires can be caused by frequent hard cornering. If you are an aggressive driver that likes to take corners hard and fast it can cause this kind of wear. The W210 is a heavy car and agressive cornering takes it's toll on the tires.

New E

Bigtire,

Thank you for the reply. A friend of mine mentioned that as well, but I actually thought he was kidding! I don't think I corner that aggressively, but I'll certainly be more conscious of it now and adjust my habits (I guess slow down) if necessary.

Thanks!

phungpho

New E,

I guess your tire pressure is too low for the front tires. Mercedes recommends 32 PSI for the front tires (E430, under 100 MPH) and 36 PSI over 100 MPH. I set mine at 35 PSI.
By the way, 14K is not too bad. Performance tires do not last over 20K miles.

Good luck

New E

Phungpho,

I've actually been using 35 PSI in the front and 36 PSI in the rear. I wanted to stick with 36 in the rear, so I looked at the differential in the owner's manual and since it was like 1lb I figured I'd just reduce the front by that amount. At least I know my 35 PSI was in the ballpark (like yours!).

Thanks!

livetodrive

I have 23,000 + miles on my 2001 E-430 4Matic with Pirelli P7000s. They are wearing evenly and just passed inspection. I'm hoping they'll make it to 30,000 mi. I also like to keep the tire pressure up to 35 psi. Besides saving wear and tear on the tires, it should improve gas mileage, if only slightly. I don't mind the somewhat harder ride.

New E

livetodrive,

Thanks for the post. I called the dealer and they suspect there might be something else wrong with the suspension. I had the two new tires installed, and the dealer doesn't think it will harm anything if I go another couple of hundred miles before I bring the car in. Hopefully it's something relatively easy to diagnose, and once fixed I'll be able to go 23K miles like you on a single set of tires!

Thanks again for the reply.

Polar

My family's 97 E420 had simular problem, the dealer had replaced the camber kit twice (different location), and they told me the camber problem was pretty common on the E class, I'm not sure if that apply on your 02'. Prehaps you should ask them when you go in for service next time.

300sdl

I'm running the Turanza LS-V 225/55-16 on my E 300TD. They currently have excellent tread remaining with about 18k miles on them. I run 36 psi all around, rotate regularly and balance them with Equal. I don't run hillclimbs, but I do run at high highway speeds in high heat. Traction, noise and wear are all good.

If your speeds are always below 151 mph, I would suggest you try a set.

Sounds somewhat like a commercial!

tj99e320

I purchased my 99 e320 used and I suspect the car may have been in a fender-bender before. I do have more wear on the outside part of the all four tires.

One related question: at 35 PSI, I hear the tires thud when I go over small bumps...I'm having a hard time putting it into words, but the sound resonates into the cabin. It doesn't really sound normal. Does anyone else hear and get bothered by this sound?

TJ

bigtire

I talked to my MB mechanic the other day and he explained to me the problem with some types of tires wearing poorly on MBs. He said Goodyear Aquatreads (or any tire with a very squared off shoulder) were probably the worst tires you could put on a Benz. It has to do with the higher caster setting on the Benz than on american cars. American cars typically have 3 degrees of caster where a Benz may have 10. It creates greater rolling resistance but helps keep the nose from diving when braking hard. MBs also have a smaller turning radius that can scrub the tires more. Turn your wheels sharply in the driveway and look at them and you can see the funny caster angle compared with an american car. He suggested using European tires like Continental, Perelli, or Michelin that have a shoulder construction more compatable with the greater caster angle.

ML320AMG

I currently have RE730 (225/50/R16) on my mother's E420.
The shoulder wear is very common. I also find that running 35PSI all around seems to slow it down a bit. Remeber to rotate them at every oil change to get the most miles out of a set of tires. So far I have put 22K miles on this set and hoping to run another 10K before replacing again.

About the thump sound in the previous post above. Could this be the stiffer sidewall of your tire giving you the discomfort. This is kinda the trade off with performance tire vs stock MXV4s

Just my 2 cents

gstigler

If your car has 14k miles it should be coming up on it's third tire rotation. Every 5-6k is recommended. If your tires have not been rotated this could compound the wear problem.

New E

Hi,

I hadn't checked the posts for a while and noticed people were still contributing to this thread (thanks!). Since I have the staggered set-up I can't rotate the tires, but now at 19,000 the original rear tires still look pretty good, and the new front tires with 5,000 are okay. I wondered about the type of tread construction, so perhaps next time I'll replace these Michelin Pilot Sports with something else.

Thanks!

New E

Hello,

One more thing... I didn't want to start a new topic, so perhaps if any of you who are looking at this one have any suggestions that would be great.

I replaced two of my AMG Monoblocks, one 18x8" and one 18x9". I'm considering using the thinner one as my spare, but is there any upside or downside to keeping the OEM spare? I purchased the car so I'm not concerned about any issues related to returning a leased car, but I really don't want to keep around any extra wheels. The spare is a 17" with a P7000 tire (I think). It's whatever came with the SE model.

Thanks!

gstigler

Will The 18"x 8" fit in the trunk space for your spare? WHatever you do I would try and match the outer diamerter of the spare with the rest of the wheels on the car. The 17" may do that depending on the profile.

Whitey

No real reason why you can't. Like gstigler says, as long as the wheel diameter remains the same i.e. tire height + wheel diameter and fits in the compartment, that'll be great (since you won't be driving around with an odd wheel!). Another important factor about spares is making sure you have the right set of lug bolts for the spare since different wheels may use different lug bolts - of course, you won't have a problem since you'll have all AMG's.

stemags

You almost made me run out and check Whitey.But now I remember the tool kit has the spare lugs in it..And the AT's are way different than the OEM 5 spokes,lug wise.

I got Remus-ized today,,,a real nice mellow tone,quiet but not too.Dont worry,pic is coming bro.

Whitey

thanks for the confirmation cuz!

now i want a video of ya new pipes good job! What about the fogs?

dlau88

Did you mentioned you have a 4matic wth staggered setup? I thought its suggested you should have the same size wheels with 4matics!

Whitey

Who said anything about different sized wheels? By doing so, his spare will be exactly the same as what he normally uses - as opposed to a different (17") spare

New E

Hi,

I do have the staggered setup, and so far there haven't been any problems. Before I bought the car I did the "build your own" feature on MB's website, and it provided it as an option. When I went to the dealer to get the car he said it wouldn't have been provided as an option if MB thought it would cause problems. The car has had other problems, but none seem to be related to the wheels.

Thanks!

dlau88

I too had the staggered setup with my 4matic ala CLK, but was suggested to go with 1 size for 4 wheels by the Stealership mechanics! I end up purchasing another set of CLK wheels on ebay to match same size wheels at all corners! I would really like to know the facts about having staggered setup for 4matics.

New E

Hi,

From what I've picked up from other people who submitted posts, the concern is whether or not the staggered setup will trigger the ESP. That and the thought that there's no advantage to the staggered wheels since I don't have the increased horsepower of the AMG engine. The only benefit if any is cosmetic. Of course I didn't know any of this until after I bought the car... So far I've been happy, except I think the wheels look like they're a little "stuffed" into the chassis.

Whitey

The benefit is not just cosmetic. I only have a 2.4 and staggered vs non-staggered made a whole world of difference. Even the same width wheels with wider tires in the back ("staggered tires"), with a wider spacing in the rears gives a very noticeable handling benefit besides a very noticeable cosmetic, even with a very small engine. I've actually tried it all. MY $0.02