thefisch

Not sure how long it's been there, but I noticed a faint clicking sound today while driving at low speed with the window down. Didn't notice it with the window up. Thankfully it's a slow leak, not enough for TPMS warning but the system showed me which tire it was low when I checked values. No insurance on tires since I just bought the car used so off to my local tire shop tomorrow for them to get smudges all over my wheel.

BenzV12

Nice find , I am pleased for you to discover the nuisance .It's a repairable damage.
TPMS is cool , it once warned me which tire was leaking

phreeeeek

get it patched from the inside

thefisch

getting it done later today. quoted $20 at local place. The tires on the car are the original set of Michelin Primacy MXM4. 50k miles and still has 5/32nds left. Probably will last to 60k which means I will replace them about a year from now.

mystery905

Don't forget to have them replace the TPMS sensor.

thefisch

My understanding is that you can replace the sensor and/or stem with TPMS. Usually you don't replace the sensor unless the battery goes or sensor is bad or damaged since it is so expensive ($150ish). In contrast, the inside of the stem can be replaced cheap and is normally done when you get new tires put on (like replacing the old rubber stems). This is mainly a precaution as the stems can wear over time and lead to leaking.

I have had other tire repairs done and the norm has been not to replace the stem (old rubber or TPMS metal stem) unless it is showing abnormal signs of wear. So unless they show me a damaged or worn sensor, my plan would be to replace the stems when I get new tires in a year or so.

If anyone has had different experience with tires, sensors or stems on this car, please share.

KEY08

Zooming in on your photo it appears there is a lot of cracking or dry rot on the tire. I don't know if you live in a harsh environment or not, but you may not want to try and take these tires out for another 10,000 miles. I know I would not.

drsaab

I agree. Those tires look very dry rotted.

thefisch

good eye on the dry rot. That cracking in very common in FL after a few years. The car I sold had tire with half the tread left but since they were 4 years old the cracking was worse than you see here.

When I had the car inspected a month ago, the MB tech pointed it out to me saying it is showed early stages of dry rot. However, they did not think they needed replacement and could go another year with no problems. To be sure, I took it to an indy tire shop and they said the same thing. Both could have easily tried to sell me tires but thought they were fine.

The bigger issue is the nail is too close to the sidewall so the tire shop won't touch it - their patches are too big for something that close to the sidewall. I took it to two other places and they said the same thing. So I can either plug it myself or buy a replacement. That stinks.

Headed to Autozone for a $7 repair kit. Bonus is the have a BOGO on techron cleaner.

kash2014

Discount Tire Walmart etc won't touch it as you said. But I've never had a "indy" tire shop turn me down, check out a mom and pop tire shop even if its out of the way

weinschela

There is a reason tire shops do not want to repair flats where the entry point is close to the sidewall. They do not want to be liable if the repair fails suddenly while the tire sidewall is flexing. Then the customer sues. But if there is a chance of sidewall failure, and you're going to have to replace the tires soon -- the dry rot is there, isn't it?, why take a chance on your safety -- or your kids if you transport them in this car? Tires wear out even when the treads still technically have enough depth. If it were my car, I would bite the bullet and replace the tires on that axle. It sounded like the tire shops were not ripoff joints, as they advised you that you could go another year with the dry rot. If you are listening to that advice, maybe listen also to the advice that the tire should not be repaired.

KEY08

I went to Discount Tire on Saturday to replace 1 tire from a big pothole bubble and walked out with 4 new tires. haha! My treads were 5/32, 6/32, 8/32 and 9/32, so I bought new. Yeah, I'm pretty **** about tires. The only thing between you and the road, and I realize I went a little overboard(okay, a lot) this time.

I thought all of the 550 OEM tires were Continentals. I didn't know any came with Michelins, especially that Primacy MXM4. Doesn't sound right.

stale-bread

+1. Replace both rear tires. I would not risk passeneger safety with a patched, dry rot tire.

Bigglen1

Yeah, I didnt want to say anything. But, to me the tire looks like it's ten years old!

thefisch

Wished I would have read this comment before attempting it myself. There are a few small shops in the area and could have saved myself the trouble. See drama below.

That is very sound advice, but actually one of the shops did tell me that it could be repaired very easily. Just they they were not allowed to do it. They used to plug tires, but the lawyers told them to only repair a flat when a patch could be used. They were the ones who told me to pick up a plug kit myself and that the tire was worth saving at this point.

Well I am not the original owner so I can't vouch which tires came with the car. These tires were made in the 26th week of 2010 (almost 4 years ago) and the car build date was 9/10 so I assumed they were OEM.

thefisch

The first photo is what the TPMS warning looks like it that helps anyone. It definitely gets your attention.


I did the repair yesterday evening and it should have taken about 30 minutes, but ended up taking much longer. Jacking up the car and removing the wheel was straightforward. The tire repair kit was easy to use. See photos of before, after the plug is inserted and a final photo after cutting off excess plug.


The problems came afterwards. Here is my Clark Griswold story:
First the 12v outlet in the trunk I was using for my compressor went out after a minute of use. Checked fuse #72 per fuse guide and it was intact. Later after testing driving the car, the trunk outlet was working again so I assume the onboard computer shut it down for drawing too much power (car was in accessory mode, engine not running).

While lowering the car, the jack slipped and the car moved half a foot towards the wall. Not enough grip on the sealed garage floor. That was thrilling. The MB jack was wedged under the car. Had to get jack from wife’s car (a much better jack IMHO from a Honda) to lift the car enough to slide out the MB jack. Then when lowering the Honda jack, the car was still in the air. Doh. It’s an SUV jack so the ground clearance on the MB wasn’t enough. See photos of jack before slipping, after slipping (handle is on ground and cannot move, and with assist from second jack).



Had to get a wood block and reuse the MB jack to raise the car enough to remove the Honda jack and then finish lowering the car with the MB jack. To add more insult to injury, I needed to show all this to my wife so she could help guide me out of the garage since the shift in the rear end of the car from the jack slipping put me at a difficult angle to exit the garage. I feel like an idiot so go ahead and flame me if you must. The good news is the tire is holding pressure so far...

Had I known I was going to have so much difficulty with the jack I would have gladly dropped $1k on a whole set of tires. Unfortunately, I get a little DIY bug every now and then. And when I do I either end up hurting myself and/or breaking something. In this case, I have some nice score marks in my garage floor from the jack slipping. But just like burning myself after a couple DIY oil changes and EGR valve cleaning where I incorrectly removed the upper half of my engine, I will gladly pay someone next time.

Arrie

Why did you jack the car up and remove the wheel from the car at all? The beauty of the plug is you don't have to do that. You just move the car so that the puncture in the tire is exposed so that you can get to it. No need to remove the wheel from the car.

thefisch

The advice I was given at the tire shop and at autozone was to remove the wheel since it was the rear tire. If it had been the front wheel, I could have turned the wheels and had it positioned at 10 o'clock. With the back wheel I would have had only 6-8 inches of room to work at a low angle (4-5 o'clock) with no leverage.

In retrospect, I probably should have tried to repair the flat on the car first and then remove the tire only if I couldn't complete it. I would say 'live and learn' but I am not sure I am capable of learning from stupid mistakes.

KEY08

That was a good laugh and you are a good sport for posting those images. Thank you for making my Monday a little more enjoyable. Be careful driving with that plug and definitely keep it on the rear of the car.

thefisch

Well I can laugh about it now. Who knows maybe the plug won't hold and I will have to replace them sooner than expected.

Since you just replaced yours, which tires did you get - Continental, Michelin? I saw you replaced all 4. Any reason why you didn't want to keep the 8/32 and 9/32 which were relatively new and just get a new pair for the front?

KEY08

Like you, I purchased my E550 used. Obviously, the previous owner was playing the tire game and replacing one tire at a time as they experienced pothole or other damage. You see this all of the time on luxury cars and in particular MB. Just look at a CarFax and you will see listings that state "oil/filter change, replace(1) tire".

Anyway, I had the Continental ContiProContact OEM tires on there. These tires are $240 each. It would have been $300 all in to replace one tire. I thought about getting two new fronts then, but at $600 I reassessed the situation, There is a new Continental tire that is similar to the Extreme DWS that I had on my E500 4Matic. It is the Continental PureContact with Eco Plus technology. They took my two good tires in trade and with that credit the total price was exactly $695. Tax, warranty, mounting, TPMS service, all included. I now get to start with a new set of tires at all four corners that I can monitor from the get go for not much more than 2 tires would have cost me.
I really liked the Extreme DWS tires on my other E and I think these are going to be great for me in the crappy Chicago weather. We shall see how it goes.

stale-bread

This is my first set of Conti-DWS ' and they rocked the snow this year. An amazing tire for all weather.

UnderCoverNinja

I just had a screw in my tire earlier today in about the exact location you have. Took it to my friends mechanic shop thats local took him 2 minutes to fix it after he placed the car on a lift. So far its holding up great.

thefisch

It helps to have friends with the right equipment. Hope the plug holds up for you too.

ImInPA

8/32 and 9/32 are virtually new. Most touring tires have 8-11/32 when new.