lsbrodsky

The tire wear on this E350 is horrible! At 32,000 I have to put the third set of tires on this car and my wife is not a spirited driver. The last set was Michelin PS Plus A/S because I thought those would last longer than the OEM Michelins...nope.
Larry

vettdvr

You have a serious alignment or driving issue. I easily could get 30,000+ on michelins on my E500.

otto6457

Describe the wear pattern. Is it inside, outside of the tires? Front, rear, or both?

Tire wear on an E350 is no different than any other sedan unless the tires are over, or under inflated. The car is overloaded. Or your alignment is out of specification.

SethP

Yep, these guys have nailed it.

It sounds like it's a maintenance problem.

It doesn't make sense to say that a "car" has inherently bad tread wear. I mean sure, you can say that because of the fitments you aren't able to get great wear (not going to get great tread life on a ferrari, because they're more concerned about performance than longevity), but for an E350 especially I can't really see what could be going on here...

Do you have the AMG sport package? If so, you will have staggered fitment and are unable to rotate... This to me goes back to people not understanding what they're buying both in the car, and the tires they place onto them. The tread wear for staggered fitments don't follow the same rules as standard fitment. With that being said, as a staggered fitment owner, I'm not really going to be surprised by the timing of my next tire purchase, it's quite mathematical in fact with proper maintenance (alignment, pressure and driving style in the case of a staggered fitment)

If you don't have the AMG package with staggered fitment, then everything points to alignment, rotation, pressure, etc.

AMGAffalterbach

From what I know Mercedes vehicles typically use a little more aggressive alignment as one technician told me due to Autobahn use, so their toe angles are generally higher. But it shouldn't create a tire wear problem. As everyone has said above you have bad alignment, so you should take it in to a dealer or independent that has an approved machine.

Just to add a little but, when I took my car in to get it done, as it didn't have an alignment in 4 years, the numbers were off a considerable amount. Even then I wasn't seeing super bad tire wear but it was a little bit uneven. I really suggest doing that ASAP the whole car will feel better, and probably quieter too.

lsbrodsky

Thank you for the replies. This is just a plain E350 with a supposed first class alignment 500 miles after installing the new tires. The tires were rotated twice a year, about every 3500 miles. As I look at the wear pattern, there is too much wear on the outside edges, as if my wife was doing high speed corners...she does not. But, even more to the point, all four tires are evenly worn below 2/32 across the center tread. I check inflation once per week and keep them inflated to the spec on the door post, 28 and 33. It points to overinflation, but I always follow manufacturer specs. The tires are installed properly for rotation. I do not doubt that the alignment is wrong and the wear is uneven, but the overall wear is also too much for the mileage. I will watch the wear more closely next time. I did not think I had to with this "first class" shop. Maybe I also need to underflate from the spec.
Larry

lsbrodsky

Just talked with my installer and he reported that they have had significant problems with the Michelin Pilot Sport Plus A/S on the foreign cars they service. It has been called chunking and I did a web search. Lots of reported problems with Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Acura. Apparently, the edges are soft and those cars, among others, have a camber that is somewhat incompatible with the Michelin design. I cannot afford the time to hassle with Michelin over this as I need to get new tires so I am installing Conti's. I will fight with Michelin after I have some pics. One web posting indicated that Costco is replacing all of these tires at Michelin expense on certain foreign cars.
Larry

vettdvr

Check the toe in settings. IF you have the toe in set in to much you will see the same problem. I have had cupping on serveral brands of tires but NEVER michelin's. MB uses a pressure tool to exert pressure on the tires to toe out while setting as a preload. This is great if you drive 150 mph. However if you drive 70 on normal interstates you can reduce the toe in setting and save tires'

Or you can just go with the guy who sells you tires and buy more tires. He need the $$.

lsbrodsky

Nah, I have gravitated to Tire Rack. I used to get my Michelins locally but the prices are always better at Tire Rack, even when installed by their recommended installer. Their installer is a foreign car indy with a good reputation here.
I did talk with Michelin and if I had the time I probably could get the installer to tell Michelin to give me warranty treatment, which would give me some money towards Michelins. But I need new tires on this car before Friday and I cannot get that done unless I deal with a retailer with tires in stock. Not possible and I do not want to go Michelins again on this car, after two sets I just do not like how they wear. My first alignment was done by a MB dealer, my next one was done by this indy specialist. I cannot accept that the alignment is bad, at this point. I will have it redone with the new tires, though.
Larry

AMGAffalterbach

I've heard of the 'extreme' toe angles these Autobahn cars use, but I've had two sets of Michelins thus far and none of the problems that you described - even with the heavier E550. I still think it might be alignment or old suspension parts like camber bolts that might not be in proper spec due to wear. Toe angle would affect the problem you describe, though, as vettdvr describes. Let us know what the solution is or if you have any different experiences with Contis.

Flash Gordon

Show us the printout before and after the alignment so we can have a better look at the situation. Each time you have an alignment, you should get the before and after printout to show you what has been adjusted.

loudbmw

I have the '09 E350 Sport Package with the staggered tire set-up. I'm obsessive and keep the tires inflated to 28 front and 31 rear (2 psi low on rear), drive mostly highway and now that I'm older, drive a little less aggressively. I hate that the staggered setup can't be rotated.

E350 Rear Tires - Original Continental Sport Contact tires lasted 31,000 miles and were replaced with Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus (Costco). I have 28,000 miles on them and they look good for another 10,000 miles or so.

E350 Front Tires - Original Continental Sport Contact still had life but at 42,000 miles, they were so noisy I couldn't stand them anymore. They we replaced with Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus and have 16,000 miles on them and look hardly worn. I did a wheel alignment at 53,000 miles (4 years) as a precaution although it wasn't out by much.

I really like the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus. 45,000 mile warranty and I have them on my '02 BMW 530i, son's '05 Mercedes C320 and wife's '09 Mazda 6 Sport and they wear great. Only issue was when the son's C320 had an alignment issue and tore up a front pair in only 18,000 miles. Their wet traction is great which save my butt when I had to make a panic stop in a driving rain in the E350.

I think my tire mileage is above average due to monthly tire pressure checks, good roads where I live helping with the alignment issue. Not to many jackrabbit starts either. As they say - your mileage will vary. But long tire life is possible even with a staggered tire set-up.

Lou

grane

Make sure you have your alignment checked and then adjusted as soon as you have new tires mounted. Don't wait 500 miles!

I've seen new tires ruined before 500 miles if the alignment was off when mounted.

btv94

I replaced all four tires at 23000 miles with Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus (Costco). 24 months later at 51000 mile I took my car to Costco for balancing as I did every 7000 miles and was told the rear need to be replaced. The front still can go for another 10k to 15k miles, but getting very noisy. I will replace all four in couple weeks with Michelin Super Sport because of the noise.

vettdvr

About 30,000 miles is all you get on a set of these tires. From your numbers you had 26,000 on the rear when you were told they need replacing. Very close to the life of the tire.

Sgooter

IIRC, on a staggered tire set up the Michelin 45K mile warranty fully covers the front tires, but the rears are only covered for half of the warranty mileage (22.5K). Does the Costco warranty fully cover all the tires to 45K?

btv94

I was told by Costco that for all staggered tires, your warranty is only half. It does not matter what brand.
Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus is 45k warranty base on 5k-7k rotation. I’m happy with 28k mile for the rear tires accepts the noise that’s why I’m going with Michelin Super Sport all four tires in couple weeks. They need to be special order from Costco.

2.7Tallroader

When I had my car aligned, I watched the Tech (Tire Shop not Dealer) actually place all the adjustments to specifications, then print out the results, after which he proceeded to tighten up the suspension pieces.

After he tightened all the suspension pieces, I asked him to print out a new alignment sheet. He first refused, knowing fully well, the figures would be different from the first printout. I spoke to the manager, got a second printout, and sure enough, it was off from specifications. I asked them to redo it and it took them more than 1-1/2 hours to get it all in spec.

Unfortunately, shortcuts are made. If I didn't wait and watch, would have never seen that and would always wonder why I have bad tire wear even after an alignment.

SethP

This is terrible considering alignment jobs aren't cheap!

How awful to pay for an alignment only to get an out of alignment vehicle.

My other vehicle was serviced at Tire Kingdom for rotations and balancing, and recently they had a series of management changes. After they had my wife wait for 3hrs for a rotation I paid them a visit. The new manager so unprofessionally aired their laundry, and explained how she was trying to clean house but it was taking some time... She shared some rather disturbing stories -- like the techs not actually rotating, and that a customer discovered this by some chalk marks. Quite the business to charge people for a service never rendered.... She also told a story of them installing tires onto a car that they didn't even sale in the shop -- obviously they got something cheaper installed, and charged the higher price.

lsbrodsky

The new Conti DWS tires are on, much quieter and better riding. The wear on the Michelins was amazing. The edges and center worn to below 2 while the area between the center and edge at 5. The cord was even showing on one edge. Not overinflation, not underinflation or bad alignment. I may have to rethink my loyalty to Michelin.
Larry

lsbrodsky

Michelin talked to the installer and honored the warranty by giving me credit, even though I put Conti's on the MB. The first time I talked with them they blew me off, but a follow up fully satisfied me. They did say that I should have run softer tires but admitted to problems with the Pilot Sport Plus AS tires.
Larry

dothetime

I have a E350 2007, with the sports package(staggered rims)
I am fastidious about inflation and got about 30K on the fronts and 20K on the rears. Michelins Sport Pilot A/S were the tires.
As far as alignment goes, I found that the tire shop I went to only did the toe in, and neglected to tell me before I had the alignment done. They said that the caster/camber are adjusted with new bolts and that is a dealer issue. I'm sure that there are indys out there that do a proper alignment as well.
So I had the alignment done properly at the dealer with three bolts being changed, and installed Continental DWS.
So far they are wearing well and ride better than the Michelins.
The dealer also informed me that they are having very poor results with the Michelins. I have always preferred the Michelins in the past.
Dave

dtrentr

I have the Michelin Pilot Exalto a/s on my Bluetec with almost 53k miles on them and just a bit to go to hit the treadwear bars. I'll be shopping for another set in the next couple of months, but couldn't be happier with that kind of mileage from a $150 tire.

AMGAffalterbach

Any resolution to this issue?

N_Jay

Our E350 Sport 4-Matic (non-staggered rims, I believe) came with new tires (CPO) at 42K and now has 84K and I expect to get the rest of the summer out of them. (About 50K to 55K total)