Cambridgehank

Today is Friday. Last Saturday the tire service message appeared as I drove away from home. The driver side reason rear tire was low, 21!. I drove to the dealer and asked to have the tire repaired. The reception person said they did not repair, but replaced. I waited in customer area for an hour and he came to tell me that the warranty company is not open on Saturday. So, theey gave me a loaner. On Monday the warranty company agreed to replace the tire. I picked the car up today with a new tire. Who knew they had to have approval.
ires
I just received an invoice email from the dealer. The new tire cost $350? Wow. I have OEM Goodyear tires. Not sure why they sent me the invoice when the warranty company paid for the new tire. Glad I purchased the warranty. I cannot wait for the next flat tire.

rbrylaw

Personally, with the expense of the tires and wheels on MB cars, I won't be without the wheel and tire warranty. Glad it worked out for you.

dudley07726

rbrylaw

It certainly came in handy for me in Tampa, FL. I've had 3 tires replaced, not from potholes, but from nails/screws. No one will fix a run flat from a nail attack.

ua549

The dealer has replaced my flat tires at no cost courtesy of MBUSA. I did not purchase tire insurance because the cost is prohibitive - a 2 year policy cost as much as buying 10 new tires from Tire Rack.

rbrylaw

For our 2016 cars, the wheel and tire warranty cost $700 for 60 months. That's about the cost of two tires. It more than paid for itself for me.

ua549

Mercedes quoted me ~$2,400 for a 3 year term. Tire Rack sells 245/45R18 Pirelli Cinturato P7 MOExtended run flats for ~$213. I can buy 11 tires for less than the cost of insurance.

The_Judge

I passed on the wheel and tire insurance and all of the other high-cost, high-profit items offered by the dealer's closer (i.e., the finance guy). Maybe I'm just lucky, but I've haven't ever had to replace a tire due to damage, and I've been driving for over 50 years. Seems to me that tire insurance makes little economic sense for me — there is such a thing as being over insured.

ua549

True, but the run flat tires cannot be repaired even for a simple puncture. I've never replaced a tire that wasn't worn until run flats came along. When it is time to replace tires, non run flats will be my choice.

rbrylaw

Then your dealer tried to take advantage of you. I just paid significantly less for the wheel and tire insurance on the E300 we picked up today for 5 years.

cetialpha5

Yeah, but if you live where the weather is nice and don't have potholes, then I'm not surprised. On the two cars I have now, so far one crack rim and two bent rims on one car and about 4 flat tires in about 4 years. 3 of them couldn't be fixed as one was a bubble and two others were nails/screws in the sidewall. One was repairable because the nail was in the middle of the sidewall. Not sure where all these nails are coming from, but there's lots of construction in the area. Other car just had two bent rims so far, no lost tires, but those were 45's not 40's which had the 4 bad tires. I was offered tire/wheel insurance from a used car dealer, I think he wanted $1000 for 2 years and I passed. The 3 tires/bent crack rims over 4 years was still less than $1000.

The_Judge

According to my tire guy, some brands of tires are more prone than other brands when it comes to picking up nails and so forth. I not positive about the brand of tires that came with my 2008 Cadillac CTS, but I think it was Goodyear. I had three or four punctures, both in the sidewall and tread. Tire Guy said that based on his experience, whatever brand those tires were was prone to such damage and suggested switching to Michelins, which have been my brand of choice since the early 70s. I took his advice and dumped the Goodyears with about half their tread left, replacing them with Michelins. No punctures after that (my subsequent cars, including my current 2018 E400C, all came with Michelins). But as you point out, YMMV, and of course luck and driving conditions play a big role. Tire insurance may be a good bet (which is what it really is) for some, but not for me.

cetialpha5

That's a little way out there. The nails were in Michelin tires. Also got them in Pirelli tires. What kind of studies did he do to come to that conclusion? Nails/screws will puncture whatever tire it happens to run into. The Michelins did have a higher load rating, 97 vs 93 on other tire brands so in theory they could be stronger as they can handle more weight and make it harder to puncture, but it doesn't matter to some nails/screws.

mobster600

I think if your getting 3-4 tires replaced in a few years your driving over any crap on the road. I’m super vigilant on my roads. They suck! I saw a chunk of road next to the fresh put hole and I slowed down and move away from it.... Be aware of your surroundings! Lol

cetialpha5

I'm not sure what the roads are like in your area, but it's not like there's a good option on what roads to take. Plus with so much traffic on the roads here where it can take close to an hour to go 10 miles, you're not going to see potholes or nails on the road. Mostly you focus on the traffic in front of you so you don't get into an accident. I had few flats in a previous car, the flats, bent rims are more of a function of the paper thin 40 aspect ratio which does nothing to protect tires/rims.

ua549

It is almost impossible to see a single nail or screw in a well traveled roadway. I get one or two flats per year. They used to be repaired free by my tire dealer. With run flats repairing a tire is no longer an option.

mrmotoguzzi00

Same, 3 tires for nails and screws.... assuming it's because all the construction around here....

rbrylaw

Yes, lot's of construction going on all over the place. It's pretty hard to avoid getting bit by a nail or screw.