Hi,

I am getting frustrated with my 2020 GLE350 4MATIC.I need advice on reliable tires that can last at least longer than 40K miles.
My 2020 GLE350 came with Cooper tires and those tires did not last 16K miles . I had to change the tires and the current ones are Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra, 275/50-20. I got fooled by a research report I found from tirerack.com and what I am seeing is that those tires are about to be changed again just after 25K miles while the warranty on the thread wear was 70K miles. What tires do you guys think are reliable and can last at least 40K miles. I know that the car is heavy but I think there are other cars that are heavier, too. I don't think the drivers have to change tires every 20K~30K miles. My wife's Audi Q7 have tires that lasted to 50K miles.
Thank you for your advice.

This is how it is with MB.

Unnecessary chosen camber specifications cause short tire life, particularly on MB SUVs.

No dealer remedy to correct this is possible. An aftermarket K-Mac solution may improve things.

Read dozens of threads and hundreds of posts since 164 on this.

I squeezed 42k miles from Michelin CrossContact LX25s on my 166, with gentle driving and 50psi pressure.

I put the Pirelli AS plus 3 on my previous 2018 GLE 550e and my 2015 BMW X5 35d. On both vehicles, the tires were quiet, comfortable, and performed well. At 20,000 miles they showed little wear, and I have no doubt that they would have lasted for 40,000 miles (I have since replaced both cars). I would put the Pirelli AS +3 on the short list for my new 2024 GLE 450, except that they aren't made in the 20" size.

We had a GLE450 with 20" wheels & Michelin Primacy Tour A/S and the rear lasted 35k ($300ea) and the fronts were still at about 5/32's
Compared to our GLE63 with 22" & Michelin Pilot Sport 4S ($700ea) and the rear are down to 3/32 in 10k miles

Check out the Faulken tires too. MB is putting them on as OEM on their 2024's now. I've had good luck with Yokohama's and might go back to them when my Pirelli AS's wear down.

It is not the tires, but the set up, take it to an alignment shop and dial all of the negative camber out you can.

Thank you for your response, I think I will give it a try for Pirelli AS plus 3.

Are you eligible for a tread-wear prorated refund? I've successfully done that a handful of times over the years, when tires have worn out well before their tread-wear warranty. I just did it with Pirelli on my W222 a couple months ago, and I received ~50% prorated credit. Of course, that was only applicable if I purchased another set of Pirellis, but I was planning on it anyway, because I like the tire. So, while it was a minor inconvenience to change tires with less than 30k miles (in my case), my wallet is no worse off.

So if you'd consider another set of Bridgestones, and assuming you're eligible for the prorated refund, that's what I might do...

Hope that helps!

Michelin Defender LTX2 - 70K mile warranty. Have had 3 sets of them on 3 different vehicles, and they last.

Remember if you have different size front and rear tires (Staggered) and cannot rotate;
he mileage warranty is 1/2 of what they publish.
Read the fine print.

Are staggered setups for anything more than appearance and sending rubber to the landfill twice as fast?

I am at 24K miles with the original Pirelli Scorpions and they are looking great still, probably will last till 40K

Dido.
I just did this with my Michelin PS4S' and received 65% refund from Michelin on a new set after only getting 11,200 miles front (4/32) and 8,500 miles rear (5/32). Would I but these again? Not for my current application.

Very happy with the 21inch Pirelli Scorpion tires on my 2021 GLE350. 32,000 miles on the rears and 35,000 miles on the fronts. And - staggered - so they were never rotated. They were not to the wear bars yet, but wet handling was starting to suffer, so I replaced them two at a time at the dealer. Put the same tires on again - quiet, good handling and lasted a lot longer than expected.

Little more traction from the wider rears and I doubt anyone can see they are staggered without really looking hard by either reading tire sidewall or looking at tread width which means putting head down almost near ground to see...

Heck even fooled the dealership's idiot service writer as he said I needed my tires rotated.... TO quote Homer Simpson "DOH"

But yeah kinda a waste for daily driver.

I agree and definitely recommend the Pirelli Scorpion. Had them on my previous ML350 and previous non AMG GLEs.

If your staggered tires are not directional, then they can be rotated side to side. And they should be.

Do you mean asymmetrical or directional? A symmetrical and directional tire (such as my Blizzaks) when new can be mounted on either side. Once mounted on the left side or the right side, it is my understanding that rotation is front to back only, not side to side, unless you remount the tires so they continue to rotate in the same direction. If the tire is asymmetrical and a staggered size, it is where it is.

Directional.
There will be an arrow on the sidewall indicating directionality.

A directional tire can be dismounted and remounted on the other side, to maintain directionality.

The cost of regularly mounting and remounting tires in order to rotate them probably negates the cost savings realized by making your tires last a little longer. Not to mention the increased potential for wheel damage caused by the guy mounting the tires.

I agree, and I don't do it for the same reasons you mentioned.

I also have had poor luck getting those wide tires balanced, even with Hunter 9100 Road Force balance.

But it's possible.

moving them left to right would not change much in tread life, in theory since I think I have equal number of RH turns as LH turns if going out to some place and then coming back home.
Also still does not resolve the warranty issue being cut in half.

Reason to rotate front to rear is normally one axle will wear quicker than other.
So by rotating you even the tire wear out and all 4 should be wearing about the same rate
so you get the luxury of buying 4 tires at a time in lieu of 2.
which the tire companies want as they sell tires


Another school of thought for normal "SQUARE" tire setup is do not rotate
just replace 2 tires at a time if wear is really different on vehicle.

EXAMPLE: say your fronts wear quicker then rear by large margin Fronts at wear bars while rears sill have 1/4" tread above wear bars.
Just buy 2 new ones for front. and keep eye on rear and replace when they need it.
In long run you end up buying less tires since the rears would not eat them as fast as front.
So you go thru say 2 sets on front to 1 set on rear in 100K miles; that saves you equivalent of 2 tires and install fees.
but that is for us cheapskates like me and depends on how the vehicles eats tires.


Works on wives FWD car as it eats fronts versus rear
Fronts last 35-40K
Rears last 55-60k

Does not work on my truck as it eats them pretty evenly.
Jeeze I need to look at truck tires as they are pretty old 12 years this July.

While cruising down the highway at 75+ mph, those 4 rubber donuts spinning 14 revolutions per second comprise your life support. Tires are an expense where I don't go cheap.

When changing left to right, the inside shoulder becomes the outside shoulder.
Outer shoulder wear moves to the inside. The rear negative Camber is balanced out.

I estimate you gain 3 to 5,000 miles (out of my expected 30,000), I don't think that offsets the expense and and bother of remounting twice a year.

If you're going to swap tires, you should do it every 5,000 mi if you want to make a difference. I just don't.

I do front to back rotations every 5K miles. I'm coming due on one of my cars. I'll ask the tire shop manager about the cost/benefit of doing side-to-side remount rotation.