E300-18

I'm curious about how many miles most people get from their run flat tires. My E-300 is my first Mercedes and my first set of run flat tires. After about five years and 35,500 miles, I just replaced the original run flat tires. Based on posts from @Streamliner several years ago, I replaced them with Bridgestone Quiettrack (not run flat). They are rated for 80,000 miles, so I'm hoping I don't need to mess with tires now for quite a while.

My front tires didn't wear evenly. The inside of the tires wore more quickly than the outside. In addition, there was one spot on the inside that wore even more quickly, and the tire lost pressure. I had the alignment checked, and it was a little out. I can see how the alignment could make the inside of the tire wear more quickly, but I'm puzzled as to what would cause one spot on the tire to wear so quickly.

The only thing I noticed was a gradual slight increase in vibration at highway speeds, and that went away with the new tires. With my other vehicles, I never bothered with tire rotations and proactive alignment checks, and my tires eventually needed to be replaced due to dry rot, rather than wear.

Is my experience common in the Mercedes world?

JTK44

I have Pirelli Centurato P7 RF on my 2019 E450. My tires were wearing evenly and based on the tread life at 25,000 miles I expected minimum of 40,000 miles.

However three of the four tires developed bubbles on the sidewalls and had to be replaced. Rather than have three new and one old, I replaced all four also with MOE Pirelli P7 RF. I have kept the 4th tire with 6/32 of tread life as a spare in the event one of the four new tires also develops a sidewall bubble.

I have my own air compressor and I am very, very diligent about keeping the pressure at 35 psi throughout the year whether it is 90 degrees or 10 degrees and everything in between. Proper tire pressure is the key to long mileage from a set of tires and of course proper alignment. As I mentioned above my tires were wearing evenly, no pull so I know my alignment was OK.

I have the 18" stock wheels and tires not the 19" or 20" wheels. I have read anecdotally that RF are more susceptible to sidewall bubbles because of the stiff sidewalls. On the other hand I have also read that because of the stiffer sidewalls of RF as compared to non RF, they are less susceptible to sidewall bubbles.

So pick your poison!-

Ivanerrol

Myself and friend have near identical W213 sedans. Mine's 2018 his is 2019.
Friend has just replaced his 20inch Goodyear runflats at 25,000 kilometers - That's just 16,000 miles. He replaced with Pirelli P7 run flats. $2,000 Aussie Dollars for the set.
His wife's 2018 W205 wagon just had her 19 inch Pirelli Runflats replaced - just on 30,000 kilometers 18,000 miles - again he installed Pirelli P7 runflats. Again - $2,000 Aussie dollars.

I changed my 20 inch AMG wheels with Goodyear runflats for 18 inch wheels off an S Class when my car was new. Pilot Sport 4's (Not run flat) on the front. Pilot super Sports (not run flat) on the rear. The rear Pilot Super sports are down to the wear lines after 20,000 kilometers - 12,000 miles - I'm just about to replace those rears with non run flat Pilot Sport 5's. (Aussie dollars $509 each).
I have 17 inch Pilot Sport 4's on my W212 wagon. They've done 35,000 kilometers (near 20,000 miles) and are no where near worn they'll do another 35,000 kilometers.

The G Man

If you could get 5 years out of your runflats, you are doing pretty good. Depending on your driving style, 35000 miles is about average tread life wise for the P7 tires. Those Bridgestone you bought are rated for 80000 miles but you would be lucky to get 50000 out of them before the recommended replace tread depth of 3/32nd.
The bald spot on your old tires are cause by imbalance wheel, you might have felt some vibration at certain highway speed. an imbalance wheel could cause suspension and wheel bearing damage.
i would never let my tires wear out to the point where it dry rot or leaks air. Tires plays a very important part in road safety, it is where the rubber meets the road as they said.

E300-18

That makes sense that an unbalanced while could have caused the wear spot. I don't know what would cause the unbalance, but the small vibration at highway speed gradually developed over time. It seems to me that the physical deformation of the tire was likely causing the vibration.

I certainly didn't purposely run the tire down until it leaked air. I was negligent in thoroughly inspecting the tires. I do periodically check them out, but I didn't get down on the ground to be able to notice the uneven wear on the inside of the front tires. I will admit to sometimes being frugal to a fault. (This car was an uncharacteristic splurge and a retirement gift to myself.) I can't always visually tell when dry rot has become a problem, and I struggle with throwing away an old tire with plenty of tread. I agree that it's better to be safe than sorry, and good tires are important.

The G Man

Nice retirement gift to yourself.
Tires can become imbalance over time. Steel belts can shift and wheels can become slightly out of round over time. Dry rots are hard to spot unless you have access to a lift. Look at the manufacturers date on the tire, if its 5 or 6 years or older, there might be some dry rot. A good tire is a tire that is balance and no tread blocks anywhere on the tire that is less than 3/32”.

E300-18

That's interesting. Quite a bit of variability. I have never heard of non run flat tires only getting 12,000. I would have a hard time accepting that.

JTK44

There seems to be a common thread: The larger the wheel, standard is 18" in the US, the harsher the ride with RF: The larger the wheel, the less mileage RF tires are good for.

Keep this in mind.

E300-18

I have never heard of sidewall bubbles. I'm also pretty diligent about keeping proper tire pressure.

I haven't been a fan of the run flats, mostly due to the higher cost vs. the number of miles they get. I was also annoyed at the hoops I had to jump through to get a spare tire for the car, and the fact that the storage compartment in the bottom of the trunk, which looks like the perfect place to store a spare, has been designed to not hold a spare. For all of my whining, I will say that it was convenient to simply turn around and drive home a few miles when the tire sprung a major leak.

The G Man

If you ever owned low profile tires and drive on roads with potholes, sidewall bubbles are pretty common. I would consider any tire aspect ratio 45 or below to be low profile tires, 17” tims on the E class would be the safest from bubbles. Sidewall bubbles are when the sidewall’s layers separate from each other due to road impact and cause a bubble. These bubble could cause a blowout at high speed. Runflat itself does not have a shorter tread life, usually that is a function of the rubber compound and the original tread depth. For instance, those Bridgestone Quiettrack you bought is rated for longer tread life but the rubber compound is harder and therefore, you are giving up performance and being able to drive in light snow for higher tread life.