Nuru

I took a good look at my tires after 2 weeks of having the car with limited driving time (3rd car, weekend car). 3 of the tires have some chunks of rubber missing out of them and I have not run the tires into any curbs.

Are these Pirelli's not so sturdy tires?
What do you all recommend as replacements?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated?

hyperion667

go for the Michelins..........
that sux about those tires.....I have only heard negative things about Pirelli's as of late......maybe they make a really good one.......but I never hear about it....

I'd also march those tires back to whom ever sold them to you too for some recovery you know???

good luck.......
damn, your 350 is a weekend car???

HBerman

If you look closely at the picture #1 and picture #3, you can see some rim damage exactly aligned with the tire chunks. Didn't you also have a recent encounter with a depressed manhole that caused damage to your bumper?

CEB

Correct. That sort of damage only occurs with an impact. Picture 1 clearly shows a damage wheel at the same point.

The OP either bought it that way or he hit something. This is somebody's "operator error."

In addition, the tire in the first two pictures need to be checked immediately. The first picture may just be a missing chunk of sidewall protector (hard to tell from the dark photo) but the second picture is quite deep and appears to be well beyond the sidewall protector.

This has nothing to do with the type of tire. Somebody hit something very hard. Do you maybe valet the car? The first phot is clearly impact (pothole, manhole cover etc) as the rim of the wheel is bent while the second could be driving sideways off a low curb or a sharp metal grate.

hyperion667

ah ha.....good catch if so
but it seems like OP would have noticed?

xolinlevh

Does anyone else drive your car? Maybe they had an 'incident' they didnt mention!

norcal_cyclist

Your car weighs over 3k pounds the sidewalls are rubber. Hit any curb and guess what... tires lose every time. Someone curbed those babies...

hyperion667

that made me lol haha

Nuru

Thanks everyone for your comments. Actually, the pics are a bit misleading as I did not clean the tires before I took the shots. The shadow that aligns with one of the chunks is actually just that, a shadow and brake dust. None of these have dents or abrasions in the wheels that align with the chunks and cuts. When I went in to have the bumper scuff assessed at a Mercedes Certified body shop, the technician note that there were no marks on the wheels that aligned with the tire cuts. He did comment that it looked like someone ran over something???. See the attached pics to a later message in this thread

A quick look under the car at another dealer did not reveal any under carriage damage, so it seems that something put enough down force on the car to do the damage to the tires that I did not notice. The pothole where I scuffed the bumper was on the opposite side from where the most serious tire damage. Co I gonna look at replacing all 4 tires with either new versions of the same brand or new of another brand.

Nuru

Yes it is the weekend car, as we have other cars for everyday driving to work, etc. So it will have low mileage on it - when I eventually trade it in on a 2012 - 2014 BLUTEC LOL!

Nuru

Took another look today and it looks like these could be parking abrasions, but there are no consistent leadin scuffs on the tires. Could this be from low speed curb contacts for some of the chunks, but in one case there is a slit in the tire where it appears that there was some downforce on the sidewall. See pics attached to show the lack of tire damage aligned with the wheels.

Nuru

No evidence of an alternate driver - yet - I have been noting the miles LOL!

Firestopper0383

I don't know about soft rubber, but, they wear like crap. I had to replace both rear tires due to low tread depth at 17500 miles. More wear on the right rear drive wheel. I am not a hot dog when driving and was very concerned. I contacted Pirelli and they were nice enough to make allowances for me to replace them both for the price of one.
Come to find out, their Pirelli PZero tires have a 45K wear out warranty, except on the cars with staggered sizes. The warranty drops to 22,500 on the rear tires effective 1/1/2012.
Has anyone else experienced the same or similar situation with Pirelli tires?

CEB

I don't know, but that first picture certainly loos like a slightly bent rim. You may want to give it a very close look.

I forgot that you hit that pothole so hard that your bumper got damaged - perhaps there was a road hazard on the other side of the car that you didn't notice from what had to be a tooth jarring impact.

ImInPA

Unfortunately, many come here to post about "defects" in the car or components in an attempt to make themselves feel better about screwing up.

To the OP: You broke it. Own up to it. You bought and broke your car...just get it fixed and get on with your life.

Nuru

LOL! Thank you for that sound advice. I would have never thought of that myself.

Anyway, I made a deal for 4 tires and will go with that for now. I am checking with the service department for their records on checking those tires as other tire shops are indicating that the slits in the tires typically end up with damaged rim, which I do not have.

Nuru

Actually, multiple professionals (body shops and tire shops) have given it a very close look and none of my rims are damaged/bent. Thought about that pothole that caused damage on the front left, but that tire is the most perfect one on the car. The other 3 have multiple issues. Don't recall any other road hazards on the other side, just the jolt on one side.

However, I just got a good deal on 4 tires so I am gonna replace all 4 and use the good one as a full sized spare - when I get another rim. When I wear these out, I may replace them with another brand.

Nuru

In the past I had Pirellis on other cars and they did wear fast IMHO.

norcal_cyclist

PZero's are performance tires... never expect to get much life from them or any other especially if they're staggered and non-rotatable...

Nuru

Yes I am aware of that too. On this car the tires are all the same size, so one can rotate them.

GMW

The rims were resprayed as one of the first pics showed evidence of a respray over the rubber residue when someone removed the wheel balancing weights but left some of the rubbery glue on the rim inside.

So they were abused in a previous owners? life.

Nuru

Good eyes, that is what one of the Tire shops also said. I am working on replacing all 4 wheels and gaining a full sized spare. Replacement tires should be here next week.

BM2BZ

it might not be helpful but interesting to read nonetheless.

http://www.caranddriver.com/comparis...omparison-test

test results for the lazy people like me .

• + Ninth: Pirelli P Zero
• + Eighth: Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec
• + Seventh: Toyo Proxes R1R
• + Sixth: Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2
• + Fifth: Continental ExtremeContact DW
• + Fourth: Hankook Ventus R-S3
• + Third: Yokohama Advan Neova AD08
• + Second: Bridgestone Potenza S-04 Pole Position
• + First: Michelin Pilot Super Sport

mnje350

My 2010 E350's tires are about gone now at 26k. It came with continental whatever's. I like the wear I got out of them and have had no problems. Sound great too. I'm gonna replace them with the same tire. I got better life outta these than the Michelins that I had on my Toy Avalon. Not sure why but no complaints.

Nuru

Thanks!