mellonc

Do wider rear tires help with voracious rear tire wear?

I'm thinking about going staggered set up for the car as my car eats up rear tires (very evenly) like there is no tomorrow. Diesels have tremendous torque hitting the rear tires right around 1500 to 2500 RPM and resulting damage is the loss of rubber in the rear.

second question. Right now, my takes higher PSI in the rear than in the front. When i do make the rears wider than the front (say, by 1 inch) does this mean that I keep the rears at the same PSI as the fronts?

WildWolf

curious as well. Would make life a little easier when changing winter wheels to summer wheels....

EuroDriverSD

The E-series Mercedes is notorious for rear tire wear. I was told by a Mercedes tech some time ago that they softened the suspension on the W212 to mitigate the tire wear.

Generally, wider tires wear at a faster rate on the inner edges rate due to the increase in camber angle. Assuming a perfect alignment with the ground (highly unlikely), they'll wear at the same rate - there will just be more rubber to chew up. You'll just be wearing out more expensive tires and decreasing your fuel mileage. Another negative is more propensity for hydroplaning in wet conditions.

The positives are greater traction in dry conditions (if traveling at a high enough speed unlikely to be achieved at regular driving conditions) and the looks factor - they do look nice.

nota_amg

that's funny. I had square wheels when I bought my car, put a brand new set of continental 245/40's ot it and wore all 4 out at the same time...almost perfectly even wear. My new staggered setup is doing the same thing with 245's & 285's...same, almost perfectly even wear, and I make a LOT of torque(+700 lb/ft)... sounds like you might have an alignment issue...

you said uneven wear, exactly how/where are they wearing?

mtnman82

Rear wheel drive car will eat rear tires faster than the front tires. Staggered won't help this. My previous MB (c230k) went thru rear tires almost exactly twice as fast as the fronts. I'm assume the RWD E class will do the same thing...

Dingo L

I really want to know more how they "softened" the suspension, please.

EuroDriverSD

What was explained to me was that they used softer springs than what was used on the W211 which allow the car to squat more on acceleration, which reduces tire spin. In turn, it reduces tire wear

Dingo L

Thank you for your reply!
That's the answer I am looking for, that a softer spring gives softer suspension..... I know, of course, the shock absorber plays a more important role on that issue.

ygmn

Normal Shocks are DAMPENERS and just slow movement of suspension.

As for tires wearing evenly:
Car payload, weight distribution, tire pressure, AMbient temps, rain or shine, tire compounds, roads, driving style, etc cause wear
and well it is a crap shoot on what wears first front, rear or same.

pierrejoliat

The '10-'13 sports had a stiffer shortened springs, so in '14 they softened the sport springs but kept the lower ride height, my "12 luxury sits a whole inch higher than my '13 sport also my friends '14 and my son's "15 sports are nowhere close to the stiff ride in my '13. Of course my luxury also has the 17 inch wheels but all three of the other sports have the 18 inch wheels. They did not change the suspension codes though, my luxury is 485.

LILBENZ230

My RWD 350 had all new OE tires installed at CPO at 29k miles. It is closing in on 44k miles now and I'm not sure the fronts will outlast the rears in my case.

Same for my W203 C230K. It was staggered and always needed 4 tires at once.

Weird.

EuroDriverSD

My W212 also seems to be wearing them pretty evenly, front and back although I only have about 8k miles on them but it also has Brabus springs.
My old W211 always went through rear tires at about twice the rate as the fronts.