N_Jay

Looks like the right rear tire is almost worn on in 7 months (guessing about 7000 to 8000 miles).
The car tracks fairly well with a tad of bump steer especially when the rear goes over a bump.

Anything typical on these cars?

ptkacik

How did the tire wear? If there is a lot of camber and you accelerate hard, you will bias the the wear to the inside edge. Since these tend towards a lot of negative camber, this is common. As toe-in gets greater, it will wear more evenly but still fast.

In, summary, if it is inner shoulder wear, stop accelerating hard so often. If it is more even wear, check your toe values. Although camber may not be adjustable, rear toe is always adjustable (as is front toe).

There are adjustable camber kits out there but to get the adjustment, smaller diameter bolts are used and I'm not that convinced they are completely safe.

Good luck,
Peter

N_Jay

It is fairly even, so guessing toe is off.

Kind of surprised at tire killing wear and still driving/riding well.

Darn, time to buy 2 new tires.

ptkacik

Toe in kills tires faster than anything but hard driving. When you say two tires, is that the two rear tires?

A lot of toe will affect fuel mileage; however, it typically is not bad on driving ability.

Peter

N_Jay

Yep, two rears. One is just about worn out, the other is just well worn.

Fronts look OK.

K-Mac

Fact is that OEM a “full wheel alignment” the reality is only adjustment available is front and rear Toe!

Gone are the days of full, precise front Camber and Caster and rear Camber adjustment.

Ok if vehicle is always at showroom height – but day to day commuting, high cambered roads, load carrying, altering height, fitting wide profile tires, suspension sag through high mileage or just curb knock damage, it is essential to have the “ongoing” capability of adjustment front and rear “Camber” – allowing to alter the “tire contact angle” along with front Caster to correctly resolve steering pull and improve brake and steering response.

K-MAC front kits Camber and Caster adjustable. Rear kits Camber (and extra Toe) adjustable.

K-MAC is the longest established, most experienced manufacturer of front and rear adjuster kits – World’s largest range Audi to Volvo and kits to suit virtually every model Mercedes 1968 to 2017 – including Sedans, Wagons, SUV’s and Commercials.

The unique patented design replacement bushes (that replace the highest wearing suspension bushings at the same time) provide precise single wrench adjustment accurately on car – under load on alignment rack. Currently available (for the front only) are “fluted bolts” – but they are inaccurate/one only position bolts offering only 1/8” (3mm) which equals to .3 of one degree while the K-MAC adjuster provides up to 4 times this adjustment range using full size bolts. Are precisely adjustable. Kits come with extraction/insertion tubes.

W211
Front Camber & Caster #502216K $480
Rear Camber (and extra Toe) #502526K $480

Delivery $40 one kit or $50 front and rear. We accept PayPal, Visa or MasterCard.

bbirdwell

How many miles on your car? On my car, by 95,000 miles the outer and inner bushings in the rear were shot and allowed the tire to move in and out of alignment and chewed through tires.

Also consider replacing the stock toe arms with a set of UPD toe arms from Shardul. Much easier to adjust and set the proper toe.

N_Jay

It has 135K, but I am guessing an E55 (and an E55 driver) puts a lot more stress on the suspension.

How big a job are the bushings?

bbirdwell

Out of curiosity I wonder if both the inside and outside of your tires are wearing out or "chunking" pieces of rubber. How stable is the car in the rain when there is a layer of water on the road? In my case, tires were worn out at 9000 miles and were losing small pieces of rubber on both the inside and outside shoulders (3 of the 4 tires) and I couldn't drive the car over 50 mph in the rain without instability so bad it would literally cause my heart rate to leap!

Assuming you have breaker bars and ball joint tools, the new-style front upper ball joints are easy, front support (lower) ball joints are a major PITA, and it is easier to just replace the front thrust and control arms with new ones (fresh bushings and new ball joint already in them).
-Control and thrust arms (4 total) ~$390
-Upper ball joints ~~$84
-Lower support ball joints ~$40
-Tie rod ends ~$70

Rear control arms are pricey and cannot be rebuilt. You'll need a 10mm allen-head wrench to unbolt from the hub and you'll need a bushing press/pull kit to replace the inner bushings.
-Rear alloy control arms (2 total) ~$510
-Rear inner bushings ~$55

Bushing press/pull kit from Amazon ~$120
Ball joint service tool and separator from Amazon ~$100
FWIW, I also installed a set of UPD rear toe arms from Shardul. Not cheap but makes setting the rear toe an easy job compared to the stock adjusters.

STAR or Xentry diagnostic system allows you to collapse the air springs and disable the SBC braking system so you can disassemble the suspension and replace components.

If you pay someone to do the work, plan on a couple of days of labor. FWIW, I spent a weekend doing the rear suspension on mine and paid an indie to do some of the front. Two front bushings and three front ball joints were in poor shape with slack in them. Both rear outer bushings were shot, one inner was in marginal condition.

The difference in handling and tire wear is phenomenal. On the old suspension I would be starting on my third set of tires since the above rebuild so the cost savings in tires alone has more than paid for the parts above. I'm estimating I can get as much as 30,000 miles out of this current set of tires installed at the time of the above rebuild. And the car tracks straight and true at 70 mph in the rain.

N_Jay

Unfortunately I don't have the time to put in right now, so the car is going to the (indi) shop.

I don't see much/any chunking, just wear across the tread, so I am hoping just a toe problem.
I first noticed the instability in snow and slush, then after noticing it there, picked up on it over bumps.
It is the wife's DD, so it is not driven hard.

homeofstone

With higher hp cars the right rear tires wear faster than the left rear. On my wife's 385 hp Genesis when we rotate tires it is done in an X pattern and also do the same on my E500. On my E63 I switch tires from side to side.

pinebaron

I'll vouch for that. My signature says it all.

bbirdwell

I'm very happy with the KMac adjustable bushings on the front end of my car and highly recommend them. Allowed me to set the alignment to exactly what I wanted.