bkdc

I don't expect to get more than a year of use from the current tires I have, but I was wondering if it's normal to see significantly uneven wear on the outside surface of the front tires due to spirited driving. I'm no speed demon. The rear tires are wearing very evenly.

On the left front tire, the left side is wearing thin, and on the right front tire, the right side is wearing thin. I have magic body control.

whoover

When was your last alignment?

as.thompson

A wear pattern like that could indicate a problem with toe-in or camber. Best have your alignment checked.

superangrypenguin

It's normal for heavy cars but get your alignment checked

hyperion667

Don't we make more right turns on average then lefts? Though I read that somewhere.

Donnymac

Your description is classic toe-in issue. An allignment shop(professional) can correct your problem.

My experience with 2 MB dealers for allignment was a bust. Indy shop fixed me up both times. Its not difficult.

good luck.

superangrypenguin

I wasn't aware that you work for UPS



You don't really want to use an alignment outside of a dealership. See the holes around the center cap on your rims? MB dealer's alignment machines go through those 6 holes to get a better alignment. Indy shops rarely have those systems, if at all.

Mitch Alsup

Another thing, If you are headed out for spirited driving, put 3 more PSI in the tires.

At one particular road race track, I have to switch the side of the car the tires are on 1/2 way through the day to even out the wear.

whoover

There's a more important reason to use a dealer for alignment. Outer edge wear can be toe but it can also be geometry affected by worn components. Control arms bushings, ball joints, struts and other components could all be suspect. The dealer is the most experienced in this specific suspension and will check for worn components. It could also be camber, which requires a special bolt and washer kit to correct, which the dealer will have in stock and the experience to use.

I always get my tires from Tirerack, have a local tire shop mount and balance them, but leave alignment to the dealer.

Quadrobenz

I have been driving S65's for 13 years. It is not normal for an S class to wear off the outside edges of the front tires. If it does then there is an alignment issue and possible under inflating the front tires. I have always had mine aligned at the dealer and they do a first rate job. Plus they give you the printout that documents the before and after alignment settings. I had to have my W222 2015 S65 re aligned twice to, first get it correct (the as delivered from the factory was way off), then for a minor tweaking when I replaced the tires.
The S65 has wider tires than the S550 but just for info I use 44psi front/38psi rear. When the factory tires were replaced the wear was even from edge to edge on all 4 tires. The comments and advice given above match up with my experience of over 100k miles driving S65's.

superangrypenguin

AMG W222 vehicles have camber built in to minimize outer edge tire wear and tend to cause inner edge tire wear under normal driving.

ajm0623

yes. same situation with my tyres. exactly the same. my car is a 4matic w/o mbc. i have 16,000mi (but only 11,000mi on these prematurely worn tyres as i use snow tyres in the winter). i was very surprised to see the excessively quick wear as you note.

K-Mac

PROBLEM IS ALL COMES DOWN TO THERE IS NO ADJUSTMENT OEM, EXCEPT BASIC TOE, DIRECTIONAL ADJUSTMENT!

No front Camber and Caster, no rear Camber to adjust tire contact angles to suit your particular driving conditions - excess premature inner or outer edge tire wear.

We saw the need therefore and have re instated from the early 90's precise, single wrench adjustment (accurately under load, direct on alignment rack).

Catering for other than ideal showroom height conditions. Providing ongoing adjustment capability for day to day commuting encountering situations such as high cambered roads, altered height (through load carrying or lowering), fitting wide profile tires / wheels, curb knock damage.

Extra feature is that the K-MAC front and rear kits "at same time" replace the 4 front and rear highest wearing suspension bushings (the first vehicle item to fail).

Katie22

Raise the tire pressure. I had to do this with my Maybach to keep it from eat the insides of the tires. All is well now at 47 psi.

Nice Ride

Katie22, is that Cold or after driving. If cold, what are your readings after driving in the summer...

Katie22

Thats cold pressure at 47 and goes up to around 50 when your driving. My tires are the extra load run flats with a max rating of 50psi if i recall.

I have not notice ANY difference in ride with pressure raised and my tires are NO LONGER getting the edges eaten away. Had three tire failures before I figured out that I needed to raise the pressure regardless of what Mercedes says to keep them at. I know my Maybach weights more than a s550 but not much more so perhaps you can learn from my tire failures.

OH FORGOT to mention took car in to check alignment when these failures were happening all was perfect car just weights so much it squishes the tires too much at Mercedes recommended pressures and they sidewalls get eaten away.

bkdc

After further inspection, I realized that both the inner and outer extreme edges of the FRONT tires are getting excess wear. The middle of the tire seems just fine. I kept my tires inflated at 36 up front so I don't think they were underinflated. I have to conclude that this particular set of runflat tires (Pirelli Nero) are very soft at the edges and lack a firm 'contact patch" technology feature to prevent the excess lateral wear during turns. They say the leading cause of excess edge wear is "enthusiastic cornering" which I am definitely guilty of. I think I will need to overinflate my fronts.

I'm curious whether this has anything to do with the Magic Body Control suspension.

Anyway, the tires are swapping for a new set of Michelin Pilot Sport AS 3+ this weekend. The guy at the tire shop said he would not install standard tires unless he saw a spare in the trunk.

Quadrobenz

The tire shop that you are using must not install tires on AMG’s since they have neither RFT’s nor spare tires. It sounds like for the driving you do a higher front tire pressure would help.

Katie22

I added a new post the other day about this. Its title was something like solved rear tire wear isssue.

I ended up adding the adjustable rear camber rods to my car and then had the alignment shop change the camber so as not to eat the inside of the rear tires.

Katie