Continental ContiproContact - poor treadwear?
I drive a 2010 E350 4Matic Comfort w/ stock 17"
Wondering if other MB owners experiencing accelerated treadwear with their Contis if they have them? Thanks.
Last edited by mbuster25; Apr 24, 2013 at 01:49 AM. Reason: Clarification
I drive a 2010 E350 4Matic Comfort w/ stock 17"
Wondering if other MB owners experiencing accelerated treadwear with their Contis if they have them? Thanks.
Conti Extreme Contact DWS is better according to what I read



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I talked to Mercedes dealer parts guy, who also said same thing that that 4matic is tough on the tire and that I would be lucky to get 20-25K out of set. Don't quite buy that.....yet.



Yes, it wearing evenly across the tires, sometimes no difference in inner,middle,outer tread - the rear tires right now all reading 7/32nd left. The front tire readings are around 7 or 7.5/32nd left (as best as I could estimate).
I talked to Mercedes dealer parts guy, who also said same thing that that 4matic is tough on the tire and that I would be lucky to get 20-25K out of set. Don't quite buy that.....yet.
ML350 got Pirellis which are going down fast but I'm not thread jacking.
I haven't experienced accelerated wear with 4matic and Contis thru a combined 34k miles.
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Yes it can be that bad. 4-Matic has a differential lock between the axles that is ON at all times. It does allow speed difference between the front and rear axles but has a spring loaded "disk brake" on it. This means that if the dynamic tire radius between the axles is different then there will be extra force induced on the tires as the tires must make this center differential lock to move.
With the 4-Matic it is very important to keep correct air pressure in the tires to maintain tire radiuses the same between the axles. If not faster than normal tire wear results.
Last edited by Arrie; Apr 24, 2013 at 05:48 PM.
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Just about the AWD system on the tires. I don't know who else of the car makers actually use the most simple and stone age system that MB does. I know Audi does not. I used to drive a Q7 and I was told it has no differential locks at all, not on either axle nor in the center differential. That car handles the situations where a lock would be needed by applying the electronically controlled brakes, i.e. when the system senses one of the wheels starting to spin too fast (loosing grip) the car would apply brake on that wheel. This means that when driving under normal dry conditions there is no fighting between the axles or wheels and no excessive tire wear is caused by the power train system.
Audi makes the best AWD system you can buy. If I lived in a snowy state Audi with Quattro would be my car.
About the Firestone Indy Wide Oval tires I must say that they are not the quietest tires. They are noticeably quieter than the P-Zero Neros I had. There is an issue with noise when making sharp low speed turn where the front tires make kind of "Grunting" noise but other than this they are far better than the Neros for comfort, handling and grip.
The 275 wide rear wheel also look very nice and the wider tire with just slightly bigger tire diameter also corrected my speedo to show exactly the correct speed. With 265/35-18 my speed was about 1 mile low but with these 275/35-18 it is spot on. My radar detector told me this. Also mounting on the stock 8.5" wide rim was not a problem at all although the Firestone booklet asks for 9" minimum rim width.
Last edited by Arrie; Apr 24, 2013 at 06:08 PM.



40,000/8 = 5,000 per 32nd wear (assuming fairly linear wear)
Your weakest tire is 5/32. 5-2=3. 3 x 5,000= 15,000 miles
15,000 + 28,000 = 43,000 miles
Tires warranty is good for 40,000 miles.
You have worn 5/32 over 28K miles. 28,000 / 5 = 5,600 miles per 32nd (actual).
Therefore, you should make it to 40K.
40,000/8 = 5,000 per 32nd wear (assuming fairly linear wear)
Your weakest tire is 5/32. 5-2=3. 3 x 5,000= 15,000 miles
15,000 + 28,000 = 43,000 miles
Tires warranty is good for 40,000 miles.
You have worn 5/32 over 28K miles. 28,000 / 5 = 5,600 miles per 32nd (actual).
Therefore, you should make it to 40K.



Tires can change dramically as they wear. I once had a set of Michelin MXV4 Plus on a W211 and half way thru, started groaning badly. I was too cheap as I knew it was the last set I would buy for the car before selling (not for that reason). You are riding ContiProContact 245/40/18", right? At what mileage did you notice the noise?
Tires can change dramically as they wear. I once had a set of Michelin MXV4 Plus on a W211 and half way thru, started groaning badly. I was too cheap as I knew it was the last set I would buy for the car before selling (not for that reason). You are riding ContiProContact 245/40/18", right? At what mileage did you notice the noise?



Yes, 245/40/18 in front and 265/35/18 rear. I bought the car used so I noticed it right away. I've only put 1K miles on it. Everything else is so quiet in the car it's noticeable. I'm looking for quiet over sticky this time. And yes, people can have differences of opinions and still get along
Another tip never go softer in tire rating unless your are positively sure. For example, if using H, don't try S.
One time I hated my tires and sold them to a tire dealer used. There is a market but they are located in not so nice areas if you know what I mean.
If you have room, you could keep as spare. For example, if you get a unrepairable flat and the other tire is more than 3/32nds worn, instead of replacing the pair, put your old ones back on.
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I'm very happy with my Bridgestone Turanza Serenity Plus. They are an improved version of Turanza Serenity which rated very high on TireRack survey ---millions of miles my many many drivers.
They have a special noise reduced pattern, dubbed Resonance Noise Attenuated silencer grooves (RENOA). They do run quiet and have long wear, good rating in wet/snow/dry traction etc.
I test drove ML350 and E 350 and even my wife said--gee, the E seems noisier. With these tires it is very quiet except on some select super grooved
concrete where everything runs noisy .
You may wish to check the Tire Rack info and survey and I think they had them or previous Serenity in a head to head test where they did very well.
Good luck
I'm very happy with my Bridgestone Turanza Serenity Plus. They are an improved version of Turanza Serenity which rated very high on TireRack survey ---millions of miles my many many drivers.
They have a special noise reduced pattern, dubbed Resonance Noise Attenuated silencer grooves (RENOA). They do run quiet and have long wear, good rating in wet/snow/dry traction etc.
I test drove ML350 and E 350 and even my wife said--gee, the E seems noisier. With these tires it is very quiet except on some select super grooved
concrete where everything runs noisy .
You may wish to check the Tire Rack info and survey and I think they had them or previous Serenity in a head to head test where they did very well.
Good luck





What tires do you have?
Using 2 mm as the minimum thread depth your fronts are going out at 30000 miles, which I would think is quite normal for the tires these cars come with.
The rear is a bit faster as they will be gone at 20 000 miles.
If we use 2/32" as the minimum thread depth the fronts will run about 32000 miles and the rears 21000 miles.
Are the tires wearing evenly across the tire? Do you wear a heavy shoe on your right foot? Do you drive doughnuts on parking lots?
I just replaced my rear P-Zeros at 33000 miles. They were totally gone in the middle, had some thread left at edges. I guess my tire pressure was a bit too high.





They don't offer it in 265/35/18 or anything close. But I liked the emphasis on noise reduction. Thanks