djfredmiami

Hello Guys, I purchased this GLS450 2018 Used last year. I noticed the rear original tires had almost no thread comparing to the front ones and decided to get new tries and wheels.
The wheels are AMG Replicas that I used before on another vehicle and had no problems. The tires I used are Bridgestone Dueler Alenza ( the ones that comes OEM on Suburbans and escalades )
these tires have INCREDIBLE tradewear and should last 50K+
after only 4k on these tires, i drove the vehicle this weekend ( it's my wife's car) and the car slipped / skipped seriously on rain at very low speeds ( 45, 50 ) to the point we had to get out of the highway. very scary!
I supposed the tires were still new, but for my surprise they were eaten on the inside only on the rear end. Also, I noticed a lot of tire dust collecting inside the wheel and rear trunk door. The front ones still look new. I also noticed that one side's camber looks more inclined than the other side!
My next step will be getting a new set of rear tires and have it aligned. What do you suggest? do you think my bigger wheels ( from OEM 20 to Aftermarket 22 ) could have caused the wrong camber, or does it seems like it has a suspension defect? sounds like a warranty issue?
should Mercedes do the 4 wheel alignment ( extremely overpriced ) or my tire shop can do?
Thanks for the inputs!

This side seems more inclided than the other.

this side seems normal

front tires looks new

rear tires wearing out with only 4k miles

rear tires wearing out with only 4k miles

barsaec

Did you ever get resolution on your alignment? I'm about to put new tires on my GLS550 tomorrow, and I actually noticed the insides were worn down showing steel cables. My camber, and wear are exactly like your GLS. Thanks!

djfredmiami

I took the car to the place I installed the tires and wheels and the guys mentioned there is no such thing as camber adjustment on these vehicles, and rotation every 5-10k is reccomended to help the tires wear evenly. I did a 4 wheel alignment there and the values were WAY off. The guys said this was the reason for what happened to me. Not the negative camber but must likely bad alignment overall. I am not sure if this was BS. I haven’t got a chance to test drive the car without family inside to see if something improved. I guess I will have to see it over the months

chassis

22” wheels accentuates tire wear with the excessive negative camber specified by MB. Tire wear is already worse than most vehicles with the GL/GLS. 22” makes it worse still.


I rotate every 10k miles at oil change time.

barsaec

I found other posts where most tire shops who perform alignments won't touch the Camber adjust bolts on these cars. I managed to find service work order on my car from Jan20 where an alignment was performed by the BMW dealership, and it stated that the front camber was slightly out of spec. The car sat on a car lot for 6 mos. In the 2 months that we've owned it, we managed to put almost 4k miles on it. The Contis up front where a bit newer than the rears. wear on the rears were worse, but I'm thinking it was just the age of the tires.

350MH83

Camber shouldn't change if you changed rim size but compensated by going with thinner tires. As long as the overall diameter is the same, and the offset is the same, there should be no effect with changing rim size.
Any reputable shop will be able to do your alignment. Nothing specifically complicated in here. Do you know if the car has any reported accident? In my opinion, it can either be that the suspension got taken down (for a repair for example) and not put together in the exact same position for the adjusters, or the car hit something that slightly deformed the suspension arms in the back.

chassis

@350MH83 Correct. Camber angle doesn't change with tire+rim size (static loaded radius or SLR), but tread width (track width) does change with SLR. Through suspension jounce and rebound, which happens every inch a vehicle drives, the tread width changes because of camber and toe angle changes through jounce and rebound. Tread width change scrubs the tire laterally against the road, and is increased with larger SLR, as is the case with larger tires and wheels.

One can easily convince oneself of this when jacking the rear of the vehicle under a rear lower control arm, until the tire just leaves the ground. There is significant lateral movement of the tire-ground contact patch, and the vehicle moves to the non-lifted side. Check this out the next time you rotate your tires, or change your rear brake pads at home.

The location of the tire with greatest contact pressure will see the most/worst wear. In the case of GL/GLS this is the inner shoulder because of M-B's excessive negative camber specification.

In my view, going with larger tires and wheels on these vehicles, original new condition, is an open invitation to worse ride harshness and accelerated tire wear. But it looks cool, to some people.

GLB_AMG

It's not so much the camber...you can have negative camber and still have normal tire wear...it's the Toe in conjunction with the camber...look at the driver side rear...see how it's turned in slightly...THAT is what is causing most of the wear

John CC

Right. Negative camber tries to steer the wheel toward the center of the car, so you need to toe it out to compensate Also, the camber on both sides should be the same. You appear to have much more on the left than on the right.

bakestein1

I have had the same issue (2018 GLS 550). MB dealer said it’s just a part of life with a sports car, when I came back after only 20k miles and the tires looking like yours. I disagreed, and went to my local tire guys. The did an alignment which showed camber and toe out adjusted it and I just have to keep an eye on the alignment ( lots of potholes).

K-Mac

That’s right OEM there is now only Toe (directional) adjustment. It is all to do with cost cutting and ever increasing speed of assembly lines.


No front Camber or Caster and no rear Camber necessary to cater for other then showroom height conditions encountered in day to day commuting – high cambered roads, altered height / wheel squat through load carrying or lowering, fitting wide profile tires, curb knock damage. Excess edge load / higher impact can also lead to ruptured side walls, rim damage.


For all SUV’s - W163, 164, 166 and current 167 we saw the need to design and manufacture “bolt-on” front and rear kits. (For in fact virtually every Mercedes Benz model 1968 to 2022).



W166/X FRONT CAMBER & CASTER:

#504016M $595 replaces the 4 lower arm bushes (replacing at the same time the highest wearing and OEM are expensive to replace). Also can fit without arm removal. Provides up to extra 1.5 degrees Pos. or Neg.


#504016-1P $695 same as above (#504016M) except provides up to 2 degrees Camber change, (for lowered vehicles).


#504016-3K $480 Replaces the 4 front upper ‘A’ arm, inner bushings. Provides up to extra 1.5 degrees Positive or Negative adjustment. KMAC design also retains the security of using the existing OEM high strength forged alloy arms - not replacing with welded, fabricated arms.




FOR THE REAR:

#504026K $480 This kit replaces the 4 lower arm / highest wearing inner bushings. Providing Camber adjustment also for the 1st time and doubling the existing rear Toe adjustment range to compensate. Also can fit without arm removal.


#504026-1N $695 Upper replacement arms - Turnbuckle adjustable for Camber. Also extra Toe adjustable.


DHL air $40 one kit, $60 Front & Rear.




KMAC - Experience Of Resolving OEM Suspension Shortcomings Since 1964!