wfung

The inside of the tread is wearing out much faster then the outside tread. Can an alignment cure this problem.

The dealer is charging $199 for a alignment while Sears is charging $99. I'm assuming the dealer doesn't do anything different then Sears.

Any info would be appreciated

Darkmann

Most likely a camber problem. Toe could also be out. When was the last time you rotated your tires? Is there any feathering - some parts of edge of the threads lifted up? $199 sounds on the very high side. I just had mine (4-wheel) done at my dealership for $89.95. I don't know what Sears does any alignment shop should be able to do it. I don't believe there's anything special about the ML alignment. Make sure to do the 4-wheel alignment and make sure to get a print-out of the b4 and after - most shops will give you this as part of the service order.

mihir_d

The last I purchased my tires from a very reputable tire shop in town. They offered free alignment as part of the deal. I left the truck with the shop, and after an hour or so got call from them saying they could not align the truck.

When I asked why, they said, because of the way the truck is designed, it takes a special alignment rack to align the truck, and only an MB dealer would have the equipment needed to align it.

He offered me a $50 discount on the tire job, since he couldn't do the alignment. I next took it to the local MB dealer who charged me $94 to do the job.

coretexity

Last I changed the ML tires - I went to BigOTires in Santa Clara, CA.

They called me up to inform me of the whacky alignment. I went to the shop, they showed me the "before" print-out. They aligned it for $80 and gave me an "after" print-out. I later ran the diagrams across my service advisor, and he was okay with it.

It was almost a week later that I realized my cute (original) metallic wheel valve caps were replaced with ugly plastic ones. I called them up and they refused to take responsibility of the matter. Anyway, its better to lose the wheel valve caps than get ripped off at the dealer for alignment ;-)

mihir_d

After a tire rotation at Costco, noticed a few days later, that the valve caps were replaced with cheap plastic ones...

Called Costco - they refused to take responsibility.

Learnt my lesson - DIY tire rotation....it also gives you a chance to thouroughly clean the wheels in and out..

wfung

These are a couple of pics of the tires. I think I will need 4 new tires soon.

m500

I only wish these tire can last longer. It barely make it to 28,000 miles per set. I'll need another set in a couple of month. I think I might go for 31" this time with 1/5" lift.

Darkmann

From the pics, it looks like your camber is slightly more negative than it should be. I can't tell from the bottom foto whether the tire is feathering or not. But I believe an alignment will solve the problem. Camber or toe or both.

Yes, you'd certainly need new tires soon. Do the aligment soon after the new tires. You're safe on the current ones but not for long. What I'd do (you're not me so I'm not asking you to do this!!!) is to inflate the tires about 3psi above spec to relieve the inside a bit and allow the center of the tire to take some of the beating. It has worked for me on my cars but then, the ML is a weired machine.

wfung

Thanks Darkmann for the advice. I'm going to try it and see how it works out.