MBS63AMG

My 2019 has had a wonderful smooth ride since I bought it. It has 22,000 miles on it as of this morning. I only drive it maybe twice a week on some of my long drives to work. Today I ran into a 10 mile construction zone backup where I went from total standstill to maybe as much as 15mph. The entire time I was slowly driving on grooved pavement, the pavement after they scrape off the old pavement leaving the rippled grooves and make quite a bit of noise. The car was riding as smooth and quiet as usual before I got into this one hour of backed up traffic. As soon as I got through it and got back up to 70+mph speeds, I noticed a very noticeable shudder in the steering wheel. I did not hit anything nor did I fall into a pothole.
I pulled over to check the tires and the tread was somewhat chewed up in various areas of the tire tread. The rough pavement has damaged my tires that appear to have another 15,000 miles of tread left on them. I'm going to make sure the vibration of the grooved pavement didn't knock off a balancing weight but I think the major issue is tire destruction from the rippled grooved pavement. I think the slow speed caused it because I've driven through this work zone many times and no problems. I'll keep you posted.

MBNUT1

Wow that's a new one.

SilberGrau57

If you've got a square setup, try rotating front to back, do not cross, and see if that improves it

cfmistry

I’ve had a similar situation in the past, but it was all rubber deformation. After a few more miles the tires looked normal again.

As for your vibration, my money is in a rock or two stuck in your tread.

MBS63AMG

The rock being stuck might be the issue. Headed to the car lift shop this morning to see if that is the case.

MBS63AMG

I too believe the tires will correct themselves within a few miles. Still going to make sure a balancing weight didn't jar loose.

MBS63AMG

Unfortunately a staggered tire setup.

SilverArrow44

Just curious about the size, brand, and model of tire that you have. If you have soft and sticky 20" high performance summer tires, then that is odd, but makes sense. If it's a 19" all-season or touring tire, then that could be problematic. Either way, I would swing by Discount Tire, have them inspected, and request a balance and rotation. Even if they're staggered, they should be rotated side-to-side and balanced every 6K miles or so.

Also check your air pressure. After much trial and error, I have learned that my car performs best with a cold PSI of 34. I check it monthly because as the seasons change and the ambient air pressure changes, so does the cold PSI.

BenzV12

I also think there's some rock grabble stuck in the tires causing the problem you described . Hopefully, it's just as simple as that

MBS63AMG

Update: I went by Discount Tire to have them load bearing balance the tires and it turns out the right rear tire had a weak spot that was ballooning out right at the junction of the contact patch and the sidewall. They showed it to me in action as it spun on the machine. So I guess the whole thing was just one big coincidence or the rough pavement caused an inevitable problem to manifest itself sooner than later. The tire was an OEM GoodYear run flat. I replaced it with a Michelin NonRF. My lease is up soon so I decided to just replace the one tire as the others were perfect and still have 40% tread left.

SW20S

I would advise HIGHLY against replacing just one tire on an axle with a non RF when the other tires are RF. Saving money is great, but you have created the potential for dynamic issues with the load characteristics of both tires on the axle being really different.

I would go back and replace the other tire on that axle with the same tire. Can't put a value on safety

as.thompson

MBS63AMG That is a very risky thing to do. Even replacing two tires on the same axel isn't good. If you are saving $ perhaps a used OEM RF take-off could be an option until you replace all four?

MBS63AMG

Ok. Sounds like a plan. I'll get that done this week. In fact, I will just replace all of the other three. Thx.

SW20S

Thats really the safest thing to do...

SilberGrau57

Either a defect in the tire (should be warranted by the tire manufacturer) or you hit a pothole along the way. I wouldn't know how to prove a defect, though. Sounds like its already too late to claim defect and have it replaced under tire manufacturer's warranty.

MBS63AMG

At least I got 22K miles out of them. The other 3 look to have another 15K on them but I've decided to bite it and get all new ones. It might have been a pothole I hit 10K miles ago, who knows, but it is unbelievable that I went into the grooved pavement with completely quiet and vibration free tires and immediately after coming out of the zone the one tire went bad.

TNS550

I've not had a MB lease and curious. Will you be penalized for not returning the vehicle with run flats, since that is what was originally on the car?

W205C43PFL

Likely have to return the vehicle with MOE or MO branded tires, however if they sign a new lease, the dealership is usually more lenient.

SW20S

My guess is yes. I replaced mine and I considered keeping the old ones. If I had been in my new house with a big basement I probably would have

emilner

Certainly change that tire back out to a matching tire or replace all of them. I can't believe the tire shop installed a non runflat with runflats. That's dangerous. And yes- they will penalize you on the lease return having unmatched tires. I returned my 2015 with non RFTs but then again I had the dealer replace the stock tires with Michelins before I took delivery.