Chucky300

Hi All,

Anyone here have Sports Package plus 1 20" Wheels setup?

All four (4) of my tires have bubbles. 2 of the tires have 2 or more bubbles.

Granted I drive in NYC and the roads are not great, especially in the winter, but this is not my first benz with large wheels and tires.

Could this be a tire defect? Anyone have any experience?

Thanks!
Brad

Kratos-TM

Crap, I hope this is not common.

DaveVY

We have the 20" wheels, and have not noticed any defects in the tires but I haven't looked closely at the wheels since the last wash two weeks ago. Where are you seeing these? In the sidewall? Or tread?

I will look more closely later today at ours to be sure nothing new has developed.

Edit: after checking, I don't see any defects.

SB_NYC

Chucky-

You live in NYC. If this is your first car with 20's, prepared to be shocked. On my last 7-series with 20's, I spent well over $5-6k in tire replacements. My last S-class had 19's but I still replaced many, many tires. Thankfully I had the tire and rim package for that car.

The eagles are not too good with road hazard either, nor are the goodyear excellence. Pirelli Pzero non run-flat are awesome, however, bad scenario if you do get a flat without the spares anymore.

In any event, If I were you I'd go to a local dealer see what they can do with that $2500 S-class customer loyalty money. If they can't do anything, call up your tire manufacture, complain and open a case, and see what they can do. Worst case, call up MBUSA in Montvale, NJ, complain and they might pay for half if lucky.

lsdreem

Mine is in at the dealer as we speak for the bubble. I only had it on one tire. They replaced no charge. Having said that, if there are signs of road hazard like hitting potholes they will not cover with warranty unless u have the tire warranty. This is a $600 tire.

lsdreem

These bubbles happen due to separation of the layers inside the wheel and air getting in between them. imo this is a defect of the wheel because I've never had these bumps happen on runflats or any other tires, even after road hazard.

Chucky300

Good thing I have the wheel and tire warranty policy on the car. !

cookstar

I have 21's on the GL and no bubbles, New York climate is similar to Toronto! glad I got the 5 year tire warranty.

joshg1001

yeah roads in big cities aren't great. I had a bubble on my C class, though only 18", but pretty low profile. Had the bubble (even though I know its not safe) on my car for 2 years +. Then all of a sudden coming out of a driveway with a bump onto the street, it gave out and left me to change to the spare. Must have been then 100 degree heat.


what a waste of rubber on your end though

EMPIRE2007

I already replaced One tire on mine. Had to wait for 3 day because it was not in stock in Huntington Benz. I had same problem with 2012 BMW 650i x-drive on 19 run flat, I replace 4 tire in the first year. It seem once you hit small pot hole at high speed, it will leave a bubble on those run flat, but that was Continental's.

Chucky300

DaveVY

I would hope that they (either MB or tire mfg) will replace the tires. Sounds like a mfg defect to me when all 4 tires have bulges. But with the wheel and tire plan I would expect you will get a replacement one way or the other. But it still stinks to have to take it in and go through the aggravation.

cookstar

How many miles does your vehicle have?

In my opinion at the very least they need to replace two tires, i.e if the front tire has a bubble both fronts should be switched out and if the back has a bubble both back tires should be switched out ( even this is not ideal, you need all 4 tires replaced IMHO). Your tires lose thread life the second you drive off the lot regardless of what others or the dealer might tell you, so this is a big safety issue if only one tire is being switched out. Even if not a safety issue now in the future one tire will have uneven wear.

Chucky300

About 2000 miles now give or take. All 4 tires have bubbles - but it concerns me that 2 of them have 3 or more on them.

I;m going to have them replace all 4 tires. A defect is a defect. Whether its a coincidence or not - it doesn't matter. I paid a lot of money for the insurance package. I'm going to use it.

Wolfman

This is a common issue with Goodyear RFT's. The BMW forum is full of them. Goodyear does replace these under warranty fairly easily:

Here is a BMW link:
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...ghlight=bubble

Good luck!

lsdreem

SA said he sees this a lot and it is usually potholes on lo-profile runflats. Either way here is their diagnosis on the tirebump issue as well as the screeching brake thing ( which also seems to be an issue brought up ).

I have the extra insurance for tires and wheels as well but for some reason its not showing up on their system so it looks like my "satisfaction" allowance was used to replace the tire.

Odometer reads 1440 miles in case anyone was wondering.

lsdreem

Might as well swap them all out but as EMPIRE stated, be prepared for your car to sit at the dealership for a day or two because they will likely have to order the tires. Mine was there for 2-3 days as well.

cookstar

Good will gesture...... LOL, they would never try this with me at my dealership. Either ways I am glad I have the paint and rim insurance. Ive already used the paint insurance twice and plan to use it twice a year!

Diesel Benz

Chucky's tyres look unsafe to me. Wouldn't the wheel be (somewhat) damaged too if these bubbles were from potholes?

LovinMercedes

When I had my BMW 7 Series which also has run flats all anyone ever talked about on the forum was how bad the run flats were and how many times they got bubbles. As soon as you hit any kind of pot hole you have a change of getting a bubble.

I used to get 4-5 new tires per year or two and so did most people on the BMW forum that would ever experience pot holes. Tire insurance was a must.

I don't suppose the MB experience will be much different now that they too have run flats. Don't like these tires.

Germancar1

Clearly this is from hitting something. Not a MB or a tire problem, this is a bad road problem. Happens on anything wearing such tires going over bad roads. My own tire plan has paid for itself already having had to replace both front tires because of bubbles.

M

Chucky300

All 4 tires have the bubbles. Two of the tires have 3 bubbles in them. That's what lead me to my concern that these tires are defective.

My logic also took into consideration my previous S Classes with 19" wheels and tires did not have this problem to this degree. Once in a while, yes. But 7/8 bubbles in a month?

wilassasin

RUNFLAT TIRE ISSUES. IM SUPRISED MB WOULD RID OF A DEDICATED SPARE AND FOLLOW BMW IN AND PROVIDE RUNFLATS. THIS WAS A POOR DECISION ON THEIR PART, ALTHO SOME PEOPLE TRY TO SUPPORT RUNFLAT TIRES THEY ARE NOT NEEDED FOR LUXURY SEDANS. YOU WILL EXPERIENCE A HARSHER RIDE, MORE ROAD NOISE AND TIRE ISSUES WITH RFT'S. I CAN UNDERSTAND WHY MY CORVETTE HAS THEM OFCOURSE BUT NOT A LUXURY SEDAN EVEN IF THEY ARE TRYING TO DO ANYTHING TO SAVE GAS (SMH).

FOR THOSE THAT ARE UNFAMILIAR WITH RFT'S, THEY CANNOT BE REPAIRED AND THEY WILL BUBBLE MUCH FASTER & EASIER THAN A CONVENTIONAL TIRE UPON A HARD IMPACT SUCH AS A POTHOLE ETC. IF YOU PLAN TO STAY WITH RFT'S I WOULD SUGGEST A TIRE INSURANCE PLAN THROUGH MB.

ITS NOT A GOODYEAR OR CONTINENTAL ISSUE, MY WIFE OWNED A 2010 BMW 335I XDRIVE WITH STANDARD MICHELIN PILOT SPORT RFT'S AND WITHIN ONE MONTH OF OWNERSHIP I HAD TO REPLACE 3 TIRES DUE TO BUBBLES. I REPLACED THEM WITH CONTI DWS CONVENTIONAL TIRES AND SHE NEVER HAD ANOTHER ISSUE PLUS HAD A BETTER RIDE AS A TRADE OFF. I PURCHASED A SLIM SPARE TIRE KIT THRU CONTINENTAL AND MOUNTED IT IN HER TRUNK. IM NOT RECOMMENDING ANYTHING JUST SAYING I HATE RUNFLATS.

SB_NYC

Does the car come with a flatfix kit? When I picked up in Germany (European Delivery) it didn't have it....I'm not sure if they add it at VPC or not..

Chucky300

UPDATE: Car brought in to replace the tires.

I also let them know about the squeaking brakes when the vehicle is in reverse.

Will keep you posted.