Joel2b1

Dealer put a new tire put on the back right of my preowned 4matic before I took possession. I subsequently took it back in and asked that they rotate the tires because there was more tread on the back than the front, all around. After them having it all day I picked it up and the tires were in the same place. The mechanic told me they left them alone because "that car" wears the rear tires out first before the front tires. They were closing and they didn't charge me so I left scratching my head, but frustrated I didn't get what I wanted. Is this mechanic correct? Do my years of experience with front tire wear mean nothing on a 4matic?

relinuca

FWIW, 18 months ago I acquired my '09 E350 4Matic with 10K miles and the OEM tires. I immediately measured the tread depth on all tires. The only anomaly noted then was one of the front tires had a bit more wear on an inside shoulder than normal.

As a precaution, I had a front+rear alignment done at the dealership, who provided me with a "before+after" data sheet. I also talked with the Tech who advised that all 4Matics are very sensitive to any out of alignment issues.

I continued regularly measuring tread wear and having the tires rotated at 7-10K mileage increments. No unusual wear was ever noted. But I recently replaced the OEM Continentals at 33K miles as they were getting noisey and were nearly worn to the tread wear indicators.

(I replaced the C's with Michelin Pilot HX MXM4s, which so far I really like.)

relinuca

Joel2b1

I also aligned the car. But I am afraid now to move the good tread to the front if the mechanic is right that the rear tires wear first. Sounds bogus to me but I haven't ever owned an all wheel drive sedan.

sts15

Sounds bogus to me but I am also wondering about another related tire story. If you have a flat after say 20,000 or more miles and the tire is un-useable, the tire folks and MB tell you that you have to replace all four tires because you should not have one tire that has more tread than the others. This has happened to me twice. Am i just a sucker or what? It seems like this might be true our streets and highways were perfectly paved but since none of them are it is hard to tell how this would affect the drive-train...particularly of 4matic cars.

Does anyone really know the truth about this?

Joel2b1

Never heard of this. Dealer just put one new tire on my 4matic due to side wall damage. New tire has significantly more tread than the others. Can't tell any ride difference. And they mentioned no issues.

APL

Please do not use wheel in same axel that differs from other wheel radius!
Reason is 4matic transfer case lubricant turning into bubble bath and finally malfunction if ignored. Should be in owners manual too, note about equal wheel dimensions!
Rgds, pete

sts15

Thanks, I have wondered about this as twice I have bought 4 new tires to replace one...

APL

Yes, I went into double drain after turning in slow mo (garage at mall for example) and heard clicking sound from beneath my 2007 E320 cdi 4matic. Original stealer estimate, when transfer case replacement is unevitable, was close to 5k in euros. Double (flushing) fluid change did the trick and now after 50k miles no complains. Have to pay attention to tyre wear, since those Michelins were totally gone at the moment of my car purchase. All mentioned is up to mileage, though. Mine is annually more than 30k miles...
Rgds, pete

SAguirre

I have a 4-matic. I bought it new and now I have 78K miles on it. I DO notice that the rear tires DO seem to wear out slightly faster than the front, but this is barely noticeable. My tires wear perfectly even, but I can't get more than 25,000 miles out of a set. I have two sets of wheels and tires (one for winter), the odd thing is that my Blizzaks have outlasted all my summer tires as far as miles.

The only reason I noticed that the rear wears quicker is that two summers ago, when I put my summer wheels and tires on the car all 4 were at the same tread depth (but at the end of their life). After a summer trip and before the season was over... I had to buy new tires because the rear two tires actually wore past the TWI and were bald, but the fronts were at the TWI. Costco was very surprised at how evenly all the tires wore though (side to side).

I still have the original brakes on the car, so I am not a hard driver. However, I do drive at high speeds on the interstate 80++. My rear brakes will make it to 80K but not more! The fronts are at 50% now, so they will be lasting well past 100,000 miles. This is the first car I have ever had that wears the rear brakes faster than the front. and the first car that I have that has the brakes last so long. I have gotten to really like the SBC brakes.

Here is the real question though... You technically should NOT only be changing one tire or just one axle on a 4-matic. You are supposed to change all 4 and keep them rotated as best as possible.

Steve