pierrejoliat

I just picked up a nail in my tread, not fixable unfortunately. my other three tires have more than half tread left, if I just put two new ones on the back will I have issues with 4 Matic ?
Help greatly appreciated!

Quattrodude

Good luck with everyone's opinion on this question...

But my .02c - as long as you stay with the same tire size and model etc. the amount of wear is so negligible it should not be a problem. but you will want to keep them either front or rear for each pair new\used.
And then save the extra one you have as another spare.
(That's I we did on my GF car when she had that happen too - on her ML)

or you can buy one tire from the tirerack (I have No affiliation!) - and they can shave the tire to the same tread depth...LOL - that just seems silly.

Good luck
JPC

pierrejoliat

That's exactly my plan, figured I would get two and put them on the back so I would have the same tread depth side to side and the fronts are still more than half and I have a spare just in case!
Thanks Quatro!

kajtek1

When MB never made it official, owners experience is that 4% in rpm between the tires is acceptable.
New tires v/s worn are far away from that limit, although manufacturers are not making it official neither.
Putting new tires on the rear is old manufacturers slogan, contradicted by driving experience.
I had 1 car with much worse tires on front and after couple of "too close for comfort" incidents, put newer tires on front.
Rear axle grip means S***t when you have no steering control and no positive braking.

pierrejoliat

Thank you Kajtek, I appreciate your advice and knowledge. Since I have lots of tread left on the fronts as I rotated them at 10k miles and that is how many miles are on the tires, I feel pretty safe with the traction and braking thing!

NickTH

My uncle is a mechanic with 30+ yr experience told us that as long as u use the exact same tire dimensions, with today's modern tire technologies, u should no problems at all. In fact, he always have 4 different tires of diff manufacturers, diff ages, diff depths, etc on all of his own cars. It's so minor from 10/32 to 4/32, As long as you don't track nor race 'em, you're good.

up_too_late

I've used the tire shaving service from Tire Rack. I'd rather buy a tire with shortened life then gamble with the cost of a differential.

jonUF02

I personally have replaced 2 tires at a time on my 550 4matic. I have been buying Pirelli P-zero Nero model from Discout Tire store. No issues at all when replacing a pair at a time. They will also rotate and balance for free since I bought the extra hazard warranty plan. Last time I went in for a screw in the tire / leak, they immediately took all 4 off, checked them, balanced them all, patched one, and put the pair with the best tred on the rear. Only thing I wish they would do is remove all the old sticky tape from the weights when they balance them. It drives me nuts, then I go home and clean the inner surfaces of my wheels.

pierrejoliat

Thanks Nick,
I have continental Pro-contact on the car now and will replace the back with Continental DWS06, I will replace the fronts this coming fall and will drive 3k miles between now and then. I have the DWS on my old S classes and they are excellent. both are two wheel drive though and I've always done two at a time. I now have a 2012 4matic E350 luxury and 2013 4matic E350 with full AMG sport package.

pierrejoliat

Thanks Jon and Up To Late, appreciate your input.

ghlkal

Funny, I have the same setup. I hit some shrapnel on the road and sliced one rear tire. Put two new DWS on the rears and left the Pros on the front. That was 10K miles ago. No issues. You'll be fine.

pierrejoliat

Thanks Ghikal, I like the DWS06, it's good in the snow, I'm on the east side of Cleveland in the snow belt so that's important, even with 4Matic. Plus they last longer as well. Probably important in Milwaukee too!!!