02Impressor

Hello all -
It's been a long time since I've posted here but I felt the need to bring this up. I am on my 3rd lease of a Mercedes vehicle since 2001. My newest ride is an E350 4-Matic with stock Sports package. The car has less then 4,000 miles on it and ALREADY 3 of the 4 tires have bubbles in them. This is a scandal in my opinion. I know New York City streets are bad but this car has seldom been used over the past 4 months, and I'd have to constantly run over potholes to get this type of damage. Furthermore, even doing some Googling on the issue of tire bubbles on mercedes vehicles with low profile tires produces an alarming amount of stories. To top that off, my neighbor has the same exact 2008 E-350 sports package/low profile tires and he too has a tire bubble on his front wheel. The man barely drives 20 miles out of the way. What can I possibly do to resolve this without shelling out hundreds of dollars per tire (my dealership quoted me $299 per tire!).

Any help would be appreciated.

BobbyT

What brand are the tires? Have you check the tire manufacturer's warranty?

vb26

where are the bubbles located? if they are on the side of the tire then dealer will claim that this is due to an impact and not tire defect. having said that, under no circumstances I would buy tires from dealer. Check out tire rack.com . or maybe contact some of the sponsors here on the board.

Timeless

He speaks the truth...any good dealership should honor the tire warranty.

AMGTTV8

unfortunately for you its hard to prove that the tire itself was defective and not a result of an impact with a pothole...

furthermore, the probability of 3 of your 4 tires being defective from the factory is near 0 - i would argue that you had to hit something..

With 18" rims it does not take too deep of an abnormality in the road to cause it to bubble, especially with reduced tire pressure as a result of the cold..has happened to me several times, just be happy that you don't have to replace all your rims because i just went through that

i guess they sell tire and rim insurance for a reason...

AMGTTV8

I agree - as long as the tire was defective from the factory and not from use

02Impressor

I appreciate the replies. The main point I forgot to mention which makes this fishy is that none of the rims have any damage on them. If I were to hit a pothole with such impact to destroy 2 or 3 tires, shouldn't there be damage to the rim as well? I will go home to look at what brands the tires are, but I know they are 18" low profile as you guys are already aware.

I never had this issue with my other E350, so how bad are these low profile tires?

Barry45RPM

What brand are the tires?

LaicepsYdobon

My dealer offered me rim and tire protection. I paid $800 and for the entire life time of the car I will get tires and rims replaced for free. See if they offer this at your place.

KYBENZ

Just because you can't see damage to the wheels does not mean there is no damage.
It does not take much of an impact for these low profiles to develop a "bubble".
I have had this happen on my own demo and although I am extremely careful I have hit the occasional pothole and there she goes.
I agree with a previous poster, this is when the wheel and tire policy pays off.
Living in my area that is pothole prone I would never be without this insurance.
It might not hurt to call the dealer and see if you could add the wheel and tire package since the car is so new.
Hope it works out for you.

220S

I wouldn't consider it a scandal. Common on our 3rd world condition urban roads. Bubbles will happen on any tire. It's not a Mercedes issue.

As everybody suggests, go show the dealer. Then buy new tires from TireRack or a discount tire shop. And then get tire/rim insurance if you feel so inclined. And always keep the psi where it should be.

Barry45RPM

Out of curiosity.... Is the Wheel and Tire replacement policy administered by an "insurance company" or other 3rd Party Replacement Plan issuer? Or is it simply an agreement between the Corporation that owns the Dealership and the car's Owner? Is the dealership simply "playing the odds" and self insuring the wheels and tires?

Can you replace a wheel or tire at another MB Dealership if you are out of town and ruin either? Who decides whether to repair or replace the rim or tire? Does it cover normal wear? I've never seen this type of policy.

sosh

This is one of the main reasons I do not like low profile tires. They are certainly not as durable as the std tires and they do not deliver the ride quality. They also do not run as long as the std ones. From what people I know have experienced you only get about half the miles on a low profile that a std tire delivers. Its a major compromise in most all areas just for the look. They are not practical nor are they as safe.

LaicepsYdobon

I've never had to replace a tire or rim yet but from what I understand this insurance is from the dealership. When I got a car from MB of Manhattan they didn't offer this to me but my current dealership in Jersey does. You need to check with your dealership to see if they offer this or not. If I'm on a road trip and I need to replace a tire and/or rim I take it to an authorized MB shop and get it replaced and pay for it out of my own pocket. When I return from said road trip I submit the receipt to my dealership and they reimburse me. In theory anyway

KYBENZ

The policy at our dealership is a 3rd party insurer where you buy the coverage that suits your particular wheel/tire combo.
The limitations and conditions are stated in our policy that we provide the customer.
As far has who makes the determination of repair or replace, I am not sure of that.

MB211

The MB Wheel and Tire Protection warranty is administered by Safe-Gard.

NCE500

I had a Michelin HXMXM4 245-40-18 V rated blow out last month going through a small pothole at about 15 mph on a 45 degree day. Unlike the northeast, the roads are generally good in the south, we don't get the salt etc. in the Winters and infrastructure is newer.

Both car and rim were fine, but the tire had a 2-3 inch long slit in the outer sidewall and was toast. I was beyond surprised that this would cause a blowout, I did however find the jack and spare to work quite well. These tires are delicate.

Good luck with getting replacements, I was disappointed with Michelin in this case.

pmb600

Did the OP post the tire brand yet? I'm guessing more than likely they are Continental ProContacts. On the E-Class MB uses either Michelin Pilot MXM4s, Conti ProContact, or Pirelli P6 Four Seasons. The Continentals are NOTORIOUS for having bubbles. They are the ****tiest tires. I have the Pirellis on my 09 with 11,000 miles since August and *knock on wood* no problems yet.

LaicepsYdobon

I've had Michelins on all of my Benzes and I never had a bubble or a problem with tires (besides a flat once). I can see that you live in Jersey also and I don't have to tell you how bad the roads are we have here. A buddy of mine has some low profile tires on his M3 and he has tire problems all the time. I'm not sure who makes it for his BMW but those tires are not meant for roads like what we have here.

pmb600

Agreed, any low profile tires will be prone to damage. But I have read and heard far too many stories to assume that all the problems with Continentals are coincidence. I had Michelins on my first Benz and replaced them with the newer Michelins. I have never had better tires. My Pirellis handle well and were good in the snow, but they are loud as hell and very uncomfortable.

By the way, is it just me or have you noticed since that first major storm in late December there are MASSIVE potholes everywhere in NJ that no one has bothered to fill in. I know we will get more snow, but some of them are really really bad, definately tire/wheel damaging potholes.

dvmak

Yep .. you want potholes ... try the Pulaski Skyway! I used to take that home at night since it's quicker then the turnpike extension but no more ... 78 for the most part is good though.

silberrosa

I have noticed the same as it seems they are worse than ever this year. Another reason to go with downsized snow tires. I switched to 17" on my 211 for the winter and get good traction in the snow while getting a bit more sidewall to work with when the potholes come around.

220S

The first thing I did, before the car even had 200 miles on it, was to dump those Contis and put on PS2s. Big difference in handling, too. Stiffer sidewall.

I run Pilot Sport Ribs on the P-car.

(of course, we can run performance summers here all year around)

BavarianPride

Don,t get me started on potholes here in the city of Worcester, Mass. We got holes the size of craters on every road. You could think we just survived a hit from the Luftwaffe.
T.

GABMAN

I hear you, end of last winter I hit a pothole , damage my rim and ruined the tire, which were brand new Pirelli winter tires.So I have the rim fixed and decide to put my all season back on as it was the end of the winter. 1 week later I hit another pothole
on same rim and the same thing happens. I ran my Conti's this past summer and threw them out when I put my winters on, the conti's were so noisy.

Just bought some 18" wheels for this coming summer and will leave my 17" dedicated to winter set up. I am now looking for a decent set of 18" summers. Tire rack is the way to go from a price perspective, so much to choose from but no idea what will be the best, any ideas?