pdx13

I have a 2014 S550 with ride control. I recently discovered that my two rear tires and one of my front tires is worn to the belts on the inside after 17K miles almost exclusively highway miles.
The dealer claims there is no alignment problem and they have basically washed their hands of the issue, advising me to contact Goodyear. It seems to me that the dealer would serve as an advocate on my behalf in resolving this excessive wear if it is a tire problem since the dealer sells Goodyear tires, but they claim that they have no sway with the tire manufacturer. Wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue, and advice about how I might deal with this. Seems to me that purchasing a $100K+ automobile would include a little better customer support. I owned an NSX and recall that due to the camber on those that they burned through rear tires, but I am not aware of this issue with Mercedes.

714Merc

Do you have 19 or 20's? Seems to make a huge difference on the 222.
I have amg 19" rims; 23,000 miles and tires are still in great shape, which is unheard of for me, have always replaced backs at around 20K miles in all my previous S-Klasses.
But, I have a friend with the 20's who had to replace all 4 tires at 17K, his alignment was off though...

Edit: Purchase date Nov 19th 2013 - Mine came with Perelli Pzero run flats.

pdx13

I have 20" wheels. Hard to imagine that the wheel size would make such a difference. I sure won't be buying Goodyears again.

714Merc

I agree with you, shouldn't make a big difference... But, to be honest, my friend's 20" rim tires looked significantly lower profile than mine. My buddy paid around $2K for replacement set of run flats just last week; I'm going non run flats when I replace, and rolling with a MB tirefit pump...
Interesting how cars come with different tire brands depending on purchase date; mine are Pirellis, but months after I took delivery, S550s were coming to my dealer with Michelins...

pdx13

One would think the tire brand should be exclusive. I am debating whether to go with run flats again. I can get Bridgestone for about $1200.
When I went to pick up the car I told the service rep that I was not happy being kicked to the curb when I bought a $100K+ car from them a year ago. Now they are going to check alignment again, take pics and submit them to District Headquarters for MB. I do not expect any resolution, but seems like the least they can do.

erdocslx2

My previous experience with tires on my w220 s55 and my w221 s65 are as such. I have had some rears last 20k and some last 5k and that on an everyday drivers mostly highway miles. The far worst for lifespan were the sport conti's (5k miles on rear). Bridgestone was about 7k. Michelin's i have gotten 12k on the PS2's, 15 k on the super sports. I have gotten 20k on the Nitto 555, and on Vredestein. I had Pirelli on my SL55 but have not one of my S classes. My new one has Pirelli so we will see. Just some info for you. my last 2 sets I have bought have been the nitto. If your car came with sport conti's be prepared for the short life and if you are a little heavy footed maybe even less miles.

pdx13

What is particularly interesting to me is that less than 5k miles ago I had the car in and an inspection was supposedly done which showed all tires at above 7/32 tread depth and now they are down to the belts. I cannot believe there is not something seriously wrong with the alignment.

Mitch Alsup

Which section(s) of the tire is(are) worn:: {inner edge, center, outer edge}?

hyperion667

MB's are known to eat tires, the weight I have heard is a big factor........no 4 matic?

BenzV12

Well, I do have W212 and a non 4MATIC car .The service adviser told me I got to replace my rear tires because of excessive wear ,front tires were OK nonetheless . I won't lie to you , I like to " launch" like a street racer but sporadically .My tires are Michelin Primacy .
A guy said that Michelins were prone to wearing more than others while others said it was because of neglecting tyre rotation

pdx13

It is the inner edge on both rear and the RF. LF not so bad. MB claims it is not an alignment issue, but cannot explain why they didn't notice it when car was in 5K miles ago and reported all tires good. Service rep initially said, "Well you have good tread on the rest of the tire so that may be what they measured." I told him I fully expected that if they noticed excessive wear anywhere on the tires they would have reported it. I am sure they are just placating me, but they claim to have sent pics to MB, but again I am not expecting that they will offer me any help. Even if they agreed to pay for half the cost, what they charge is twice what I can get the tires for elsewhere. I am just worried that I will be burning through tires every 10-15K miles. I drive the car very conservatively although at highway speeds. The car is two wheel drive, but does have the "Magic" ride control feature.

pdx13

Well, no big surprise. My dealer said they made their best case to MB Corporate, but no luck. At least service rep had enough integrity to admit that they missed a potentially dangerous situation when they did the inspection in April and did not notice any wear to the tires. Told him I was disappointed in the level of service if something so obvious were missed when the car was on the lift to look at my ride control unit. Told them that I would take my business elsewhere. A dealership is more than shiny floors and a big TV. I expected a higher level of service, like going to Goodyear on my behalf, or at least an audience with the service manager. Now it is on to Goodyear to see if they will do anything. With a car this heavy I may just be destined to poor tire wear, although wearing the insides only down to belts seems like some other problem to me.

Wolfman

First off, if you want to talk the the service manager, just do. No need to waste time with an SA.

I haven't seen inner tire wear on a sedan unless lowered or out of alignment (camber?). If they aligned it, check the alignment sheet you should have received.
We drive SL's and those are prone inner tire wear on the rears which can be easily adjusted with slightly higher tire pressure. This is emphasized by the automatic lowering of the car since tire wear really comes into play above 30 mph.

That said, Airmatic also lowers itself at speed, maybe the front lowers too much? They could test the suspension leveling while on the alignment rack...

Last but not least, if I were you I wouldn't bother with the run flat tires. Had Goodyears on the BMW and Pirelli P Zero's on the MB. Lousy tires. Since I use it as a winter car, the Pirelli's will come off fast and replaced with better MS tires at half the price.

ItalianJoe1

Seems not too abnormal in my experience, big benzes are hard on the tires, it's a heavy car and they do run a lot of camber from factory.

K-Mac

KEEP IN MIND THERE IS ONLY FRONT AND REAR TOE ADJUSTMENT OEM!

CAMBER – Allows to actually change the tire contact angle, improving wear/ traction

CASTER –Resolves steering pull, increases steering response. With better turn in and high speed directional control, along with improved anti dive/lift under brake and acceleration.

AT K-MAC WE SAW THE NEED AND MANUFACTURE PRECISELY ADJUSTABLE (SINGLE WRENCH, ON CAR) FRONT CAMBER AND CASTER AND REAR CAMBER (WITH EXTRA TOE) KITS.

Allowing to return vehicle to factory specs to accurately resolve steering pull or costly/premature edge tire wear. The result of altering height, load carrying, curb knock damage or fitting wide profile tires/wheels. Added bonus is these 4 front and rear K-MAC adjustable bushings also replace the highest wearing suspension bushings at the same time and have twice the load bearing area. The front bushes are 2 axis self aligning and are designed to also improve brake and steering response


For the front (only) -there are available fluted Camber bolts. But these are inaccurate (one only position) bolts offering a minimal .3 of one degree (1/8”/ 3mm) and require labour intensive disassembly each time. While the K-MAC unique patented design provides single wrench precise/ongoing adjustment capability – on car, accurately (under load) direct on alignment rack.

With 4 times the adjustment range of the one position fluted bolts. It means you fix it right the 1st time - no more ongoing visits to dealers or alignment shops or constantly changing tire brands because of lack of full/precise adjustment.

For the rear -you can purchase adjustable Camber rods but to reduce inner edge tire wear unlike K-MAC lower arm bushings – these rods need to adjust top of tire outwards reducing all important clearance to outer fender. K-MAC kits also include extra Toe adjustment necessary to compensate for this new rear Camber facility.

W222K-MAC Front kit #502316K $480
W222K-MAC Rear kit #502526K $480

Current promotion for MB World members USA/Canada delivery - $30 one kit or $40 front and rear (normally $70 one kit, $80 front and rear).

See link for latest 2015 catalog http://K-mac.com.mercedes/

Mitch Alsup

If you really want to get to the bottom of the issue, what you will need is a Probe-Tipped Pyrometer. {Hint: the service department will have that deer in the headlights look.}

This is a device used to measure the tire temperature at a single point. Given a number of points across the footprint of the tire one can determine the proper tire pressure, the proper tire camber, and the proper tire toe-in (or toe-out). Note that proper might be different than factory alignment spec due to road conditions, weather conditions, driver preferences, driving aggression, and the kind of tires on the vehicle. We use these things to setup race car chassis to particular driver preferences.

With such information, the suspension can be adjusted for maximum mileage or maximum traction, or a combination of both. I have my Ferrari setup where both the front end and rear end become slicks within 100 miles of each other; while getting 10K total miles and 40 race track sessions (25 minutes) on standard street tires (Bridgestone S03s). Most Ferrari drivers get 7-8K miles and never see the track.