JP465NY

Just got my 2011 E550 6 days ago. Leaving Newark Airport on 1-9 I hit a series of potholes and one big one. Lost my right front tire at only 359 miles. Rim is OK, had roadside put donut on and got tire replaced in Union (Ray Catena). I purchased tire and wheel insurance so there was not cost involved. Still it bothers me. Car has been christened LOL.

park423

I had my car for 4 weeks and blew out 2 tires after hitting a pothole, had to get towed to the dealer, so many tire blowouts

Arrie

And the rim size is?

K-A

You guys all running Conti's in this Thread? Or any Pirelli's?

hyperion667

DAMNIT!! sorry to hear it.........what did you think of that doughnut?
I found it to be very funny looking, although functional......had to use mine once too.......

happy trials

hyperion667

cont's are what came on mine........figured I'd wear them out

hanjaya1

The doughnut rim was actually awesome. I had to use it for 2 days this week and I received lots of "compliment" from my friends than my regular 18" rim. They loved it.

I told them that this rim is so expensive (MB Original) and I can only afford to buy it one rim per year.

Now on serious note, I drove this car at 70mph (and peak at 8o mph at one time)... and it was pretty solid. I just could't stand to drive it at max 55 mph in the highway. Very funny looking but functional as you said.

golfster

This poses an interesting question. Both brands may be effected equally, or one brand may be experiencing more failures. It does appear there are quite a few tire failures posted, and it seems that many were Conti's.

This might make a good poll thread sticky...

ImInPA

I do not think that all of the complaints from this site on either brand would be statistically significant. I have found that no matter what brand, the combination of lower profile sidewalls and big bumps cause this. It does suck, but, it is one of the prices one pays for vanity. They do look great, but, a bad pothole is your worst enemy. If tires were blowing out going over railroad tracks (anyone remember the Firestone 500 of the 70's?), or simply blowing out from tread separation, then I would be concerned.

park423

Stock 6 spoke AMG wheels on conti's

samkimg

I'm running on the stock 18" rim s with Pirelli's ... and I've blown one tire (so far)

golfster

True, it would only be a small sampling, just as this forum membership is a small sampling of M-B enthusiasts, and an even smaller sampling of M-B ownership, yet it serves as a resource when issues occur.

I have low profile, summer high performance tires on two other cars now (18" and 19") as I've had on my last several cars, and haven't read in comparable forums (to those brands) the number of tire failures in such a short time sampling as I've read here in the last few months, and from varying regions of the country.

It may just be normal, but I'd be curious if the failures reported from this small sampling are more common to one brand than another.

K-A

What sucks about the pot holes, aside from the wheels (which can be replaced/repaired relatively simply, though not cheaply), is what damage might be happening, or slowly happening to the chassis/frame/structural integrity/SUSPENSION of the car when hitting these strong pot holes.

I've said it before, but the Sport Suspension in the E handles rough pavement so poorly that I feel like my cars suspension and structure are being compromised far more than when I hit rough roads on my Malibu with 16's and a "floatier" suspension.

I've hit surfaces that make my car feel like it should have blown out a tire, and it didn't (thankfully), but I can imagine HOW hard it must have hit for you guys who actually did, and bent a rim (or 3) with it to boot. Hopefully our Suspensions aren't having their properly-working lives cut drastically by these roads (i.e, hopefully they're designed to handle them).

Too bad we can't get the best of both worlds: Vanity and confidence over all roads.

Bruin2

3 tires blown with less than 2500 miles. OEM Conti on 18" AMG rim.
(Everytime I hit even a small pavement crack or hole now, I cringe and stare at the dash for fear of the warning that my tire is losing air)

sosh

Issue is NOT the brand of the tire but the fact that they are low profile tires.
The compromise made for what some think has better appearance is not worth it. I for one would not have a low profile on any of my vehicles and as far as appearances are concerned I feel they are ugly and give the vehicle a very unbalanced look. So you guys who opted for them will continue to suffer and complain.

bobbert9449

2 blown tires with pirelli's... No fun at all Sorry to hear it happened so soon

ImInPA

Go to Swedespeed. Almost all of their forums (I am familiar with the S80 forums) talk about it. Especially the P Zero Neros. I have seen some wicked potholes this year and several co-workers have had blow outs.

WEBSRFR

I agree completely. When I bought my E550 I went out of my way to make sure it did not have low profile tires. I don't get the allure so many people have for these tires when they are prone to fail so often. As a tire, it should get you from point A to B safely without stranding you on the street and from what I have heard here and from friends who have them, the low profile tires are incapable of doing that reliably on less than perfect roads.

Blowing out a tire is such a huge inconvenience and I'd hate to have a loved one stranded on the street. I actually prefer the solid/substantial look of a regular tire. Until they make low profile tires at least as durable as regular tires there is no way I'd take ownership of a car with those tires on.

ImInPA

Ironically, large diameter wheels would truly be best served by Run-Flat tires. They have a much stronger sidewall and resistance to general road hazzards. Of course they tend to ride a bit harder and noisier.

JP465NY

I even had blowouts on my 2003 E500 which had 17s.

park423

My sister-in-law had an 07 CLK350 with stock 17" wheels and Conti tires and twice got bubbles in her sidewall, not exactly a blowout but one waiting to happen. Don't think this issue is exclusive to 18" wheels