2thfixr

Is anyone having issues with irregular tire wear? I have 20" Michelin Diamaris tires on my Premier Edition and the tires have been howling lately. I checked them and it looks like all 4 of them are wearing funny. It looks like the leading edge of each tread block is lower than the trailing edge. I have usually seen this kind of wear on cars with bad alignment but only on the front tires. I have never seen this on all 4 tires. I have a service A appt on Mon so I will bring it up then but I thought I would ask you guys.

2thfixr

Car went in and they told me that the tires were "cupping" and it was normal. The funny thing is that the service writer was talking about how these weren't the right tires for the car because they were not really truck tires. He had never seen a Premier Edition so he had never seen 20" tires stock on a GL and had assumed that I had them installed after purchasing the car. When I told him they were the stock tires, he shut up real fast and started back pedaling about how the weight of the SUV would be hard on any tire.

Anyways, any other PE owners with 20" wheels or non-PE owners with 19" wheels having a similar issue?

jpeardm

The Michelin Diamaris are a summer tire for Sport SUV's. My partner had them on his Cayenne and I believe they are or were used on the X5's. He replaced his at 15,000 and I remember him showing me that kind of wear and complaining of increased road noise as they aged. If you haven't already, check out tirerack.com for user reviews and see what others say. Best of luck!

2thfixr

No luck involved, I don't think there are any other options for a 20" SUV tire with the proper load rating.

paulcars

Check out the Yokohama Parada Spec-X in 265/50/20
on Tire Rack. They have a 111 rating which is above the 110 rating on the stock 18's. I have them on my GL and am happy so far for the first 2000 miles.

boxboss

I have, and will be using when my GL arrives, Pirelli Scorpion P Zero Asimmetrico in 295/45R-20. If you are willing to move up 10-20mm in width and down 5-10% in aspect ratio there are several brands to choose from.

labjr1

I have been experiencing the same problem, however I have th 19" wheels with Continentals. I had to have all 4 tires rotated and balanced at 1500 miles due to the "cupping" you described. At that time they told me it was because I was driving my GL in the raised postion occasionally and that unless I was off-road I needed to leave it in the lowered position due to the fact that in the raised position the alignment is off.

After 3000 more miles, all in the lowered position I had to have the tires rotated and balanced again once again due to the cupping problem. They checked the alignment and said it was fine.

Now with almost 6000 miles the problem is showing up again. If they don't fix it this time I will trade it for a Lexus LX 550 the moment they come available. (I've also had problems with the windshield washer container leaking and wind noise from the driver's door - the only thing they've fixed so far is the windsheild washer problem - the wind noise and tire problem are recurring).

jpeardm

I have the 19's with Continental's also with no signs of wear yet at 1400 mi. I remember at delivery, the salesman made a pretty strong point about leaving the ride height in auto mode as it will wear tires in the raised position. I didn't think much about it at the time. Maybe they are getting complaints of this happening. He was also adament about rotation at 6500 mi intervals or sooner. Hope they can straighten out the problems, best of luck to you!

Newbie_2_MB

I, too, notice wind noise on the driver's door when the wind is blowing at a pretty good clip coming from the passenger side. It is very windy where I live and I definitely notice the noise coming home from work.

2thfixr

I don't really understand the rotation thing because all 4 tires are cupping in the exact same way with the same degree of cupping. Rotating them just puts them in different places but the end result is the same. I guess you can rotate cars on 4WD vehicles side to side or in an X pattern? I could see some benefit to rotating them in the opposite direction like that but is that ok? I grew up with the notion that tires should always rotate in the same direction and stay on the same side of the car.

oknish

Jen - do you ever drive on 118 when it's windy? I notice the exact same behavior as you described and was wondering if there was anything wrong with mine. But reading your post, I am wondering if the strong winds we have up in SFV are to blame instead of the car.

Newbie_2_MB

I drive the 14 every day (I work in Palmdale) and it gets very windy out there. I've been on the 118 with it once, the day I picked it up in Chatsworth but I had the sunroof open then & didn't notice the noise from the drivers side. That and I was just grinning too much to notice

There are days when I don't notice it, so I'm guessing it just the really strong winds we've been having lately. I was on the 14 again today out to Lancaster and didn't notice it.

oknish

I live in Chatsworth but didn't knew there was an MB dealer there. Closest I knew were Encino or Calabasas.

Newbie_2_MB

There isn't. I bought it through my credit union (Premier America) which is in Chatsworth. They bought the car through an auto broker at Laguna Niguel MB and had the car trucked to Chatsworth where I picked it up.