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Well, I recently got a CPO 2019 S560. Was very happy, until I went over a recessed manhole. Maybe 1" or 1.5" depth. Quite a dip into that, checked the tire after, sidewall was split open, but no pressure loss.
Immediately drove to local tire store, and they replaced with 2 new Pirelli P Zero RFT. 20" rims btw. They also did my alignment (showing all my wheels as misaligned). Of course I'm very skeptical of that since it has been 4 days since I got it from the dealership.
Now I get the car back, and I feel a very subtle vibration in the seat and steering wheel (not visible shaking). I'm not sure if it's in my mind or not but I'm bringing it back to the dealership to ask them to do an alignment, since I need to know its all set.
I guess my question is, what should I do going forward? if I blow a tire out every week if I hit a dip in the road, I'm going to go nuts.
I may get winter tires. Is it possible to get smaller rims, larger tires and have the same rolling diameter? What does everyone run on their W222s?
Well, not good news but you're, somehow, lucky just because your wheel is not damaged.
I purchased my 560 with RFT on 19"'s, the ride was bumpy, at least for me, so I put 18''s and new Pirelli P7 Plus 3, couldn't be happier.
A lot of people from this forum are using 19"'s, those also work for them.....
Regardless of 18"s or 19"s first I would get rid of these RFT's.
Well, I recently got a CPO 2019 S560. Was very happy, until I went over a recessed manhole. Maybe 1" or 1.5" depth. Quite a dip into that, checked the tire after, sidewall was split open, but no pressure loss.
Immediately drove to local tire store, and they replaced with 2 new Pirelli P Zero RFT. 20" rims btw. They also did my alignment (showing all my wheels as misaligned). Of course I'm very skeptical of that since it has been 4 days since I got it from the dealership.
Now I get the car back, and I feel a very subtle vibration in the seat and steering wheel (not visible shaking). I'm not sure if it's in my mind or not but I'm bringing it back to the dealership to ask them to do an alignment, since I need to know its all set.
I guess my question is, what should I do going forward? if I blow a tire out every week if I hit a dip in the road, I'm going to go nuts.
I may get winter tires. Is it possible to get smaller rims, larger tires and have the same rolling diameter? What does everyone run on their W222s?
Vibration is normally caused by wheel balance issues.
Well, not good news but you're, somehow, lucky just because your wheel is not damaged.
I purchased my 560 with RFT on 19"'s, the ride was bumpy, at least for me, so I put 18''s and new Pirelli P7 Plus 3, couldn't be happier.
A lot of people from this forum are using 19"'s, those also work for them.....
Regardless of 18"s or 19"s first I would get rid of these RFT's.
Thanks for the response. I don't mind the bumps per se, but I just can't deal with the idea that going through a mild pothole at 10mph being the end of my tire. I watched 5 other cars go over it with no trouble.
Are RFTs that bad? I haven't noticed the road noise, tbh.
Short answer, any W222 with 20", yes you will likely blow a tire out every week if you hit a dip in the road every week. I lived in chicago in 2020, and had a pre-facelift W222 with 20"... it was a nightmare... .I cracked 3 different wheels in 3 different incidents!!! In my view, W222 with 20" is a no go and that was one of the must-have options when I started shopping for my W222. When a wheel is cracked, the vibration is never gone when fixed and that was another nightmare. Hence, get 18" or 19" wheels, and then the vibration will be gone cause u will never crack the wheels at first place. Even if u don't crack them, there is always that chance you will bend them.
Take it to a shop that does road force balancing. As said above, vibrations are likely due to balancing issues or a bent wheel. If the latter and not bent too badly, then road force balancing may make the tire/wheel combination run true again. Simple spin balancing doesn't catch wheel/tire low/high point misalignments. The lower the profile of the tires the more important road force balancing becomes. If they can't get the road force below 20 lbs, then you gonna have to get the wheel fixed.
As for ongoing incidents, the W222 is a heavy car. Lot of force on the wheel if you crash down an inch or so. The other cars that went through the same spot and assuming didn't have any issues were likely lighter and/or had more sidewall and/or more suspension travel. RFT tires are stiffer, too, so more likely the force gets transferred all the way to the wheel instead of being absorbed by the tire. The mix of low profile tires, heavy car and potholes won't be fun.
Last edited by superswiss; Aug 14, 2023 at 09:12 PM.
Those pirelli run flat tires are known for splitting easy. When I bought my last car a 2017 222 s sedan it had those same tires p zero. Two of the Four had splits in them. What I did was change them out for non run flat uniroyal tiger paw GTZ tires. The car did ride better and I never did split a tire again in 50k mikes of driving and the roads around where I live are not good. I’d say maybe your vibration is coming from a bent rim when you hit the manhole cover. One thing I learned with these cars with the 20 inch rims is you can’t drive to fast over bad city roads like the type in Boston or NYC. Hope this helps.
A bent wheel, balanced or not and depending on speed, will forever let you know its there. You can balance a square but the ride won’t be fun.
I was on Pirelli RFs and had my only sidewall failure at IH speeds. Was flat in less than 10 seconds. No impact, cut or pothole. Just a failure at 32psi. On Michelin now.
I bought my 2017 S550 late last year, but didn't really drive it until February of this year. In the 6 months I've been driving it I've managed to destroy 2 front tires, and I'd only ever had this problem once ever in my life before this car. I'm 56 years old, been driving for 40 years. Yes, I have the 20" AMG style wheels. Like others have said, 20's are a bad option for these cars. I think they look fabulous, but too prone to this problem for my taste. I plan to get a slightly newer car soon and be done with this car.
Just hit the pothole or something last night. Ordered new tire, it should be here in a couple days.
Just an FYI, I don't think the dealer is necessarily the best bet for alignments. I took my car to get it aligned at the dealer last week and it costed 199.95 out the door. Anyways, they said that my tires were worn pretty low (2-3mm) and I had just gotten it back from balancing from America's Tire who said the tires were 3-4mm and recommended I replace them soon.
Dealer said they recommended I needed new tires before alignment, because "the alignment will be done on the specification on the old tires." I've never heard of this before--by this notion, we need an alignment every time we get new tires. Felt they just wanted to get me to buy new tires...all in all, they didn't fix my issue as to why I took it to align anyways and will be taking it in again this Wednesday. My issue was the car drives straight, doesn't drift left or right, but the steering wheel in the "straight" and neutral position (hands off steering wheel) is slightly crooked to the right by a few degrees. If I force the steering wheel straight, car goes left a little. The alignment sheet they gave me only had 2 specs out of range but BARELY.
I bought my 2017 S550 late last year, but didn't really drive it until February of this year. In the 6 months I've been driving it I've managed to destroy 2 front tires, and I'd only ever had this problem once ever in my life before this car. I'm 56 years old, been driving for 40 years. Yes, I have the 20" AMG style wheels. Like others have said, 20's are a bad option for these cars. I think they look fabulous, but too prone to this problem for my taste. I plan to get a slightly newer car soon and be done with this car.
Just hit the pothole or something last night. Ordered new tire, it should be here in a couple days.
What I did get from the tire shop is a road hazard warranty on my new front tires. Only $27 a tire for three years. Seemed like a good bet based on other people’s history with 20 inch wheels.
What I did get from the tire shop is a road hazard warranty on my new front tires. Only $27 a tire for three years. Seemed like a good bet based on other people’s history with 20 inch wheels.
Good idea. I got the road hazard nsurance too. That's good, but what's not so good is having the car towed in and waiting for 5 days to get a replacement tire. When this happened last time, the car had run-flats; the sidewall was cut clean through but I was still able to drive the car for a couple days. And luckily it only took them to the next day or 2 to get the tires shipped in. Not giving any advice, just sharing my experience.
Now I get the car back, and I feel a very subtle vibration in the seat and steering wheel (not visible shaking). I'm not sure if it's in my mind or not but I'm bringing it back to the dealership to ask them to do an alignment, since I need to know its all set.
I guess my question is, what should I do going forward? if I blow a tire out every week if I hit a dip in the road, I'm going to go nuts. [/QUOTE]
I have a 2015 w 20s, and like many others on here have dealt with the fate of bent wheels on this car. You probably have a bent or even cracked wheel. I was able to source an amazing wheel shop near me in Westchester NY. I can provide you the name if interested. They squared me up on several occasions, and it's an amazing feeling to once again have the car smooth up to all speeds. It takes advanced machines and good techs to properly diagnose and repair wheels, and these guys are the real deal. They've also straightened out the wheels on my BMWs, one is an X5 w 22 inch wheels, which had the slightest shake at higher speeds. They went through each one and found the slightest bend, and corrected this to 100% smoothness.
I continue to keep my W222 on 20s, but it takes maintenance.
I have a 2015 w 20s, and like many others on here have dealt with the fate of bent wheels on this car. You probably have a bent or even cracked wheel. I was able to source an amazing wheel shop near me in Westchester NY. I can provide you the name if interested. They squared me up on several occasions, and it's an amazing feeling to once again have the car smooth up to all speeds. It takes advanced machines and good techs to properly diagnose and repair wheels, and these guys are the real deal. They've also straightened out the wheels on my BMWs, one is an X5 w 22 inch wheels, which had the slightest shake at higher speeds. They went through each one and found the slightest bend, and corrected this to 100% smoothness.
I continue to keep my W222 on 20s, but it takes maintenance.
I will take that name via PM. Westchester is but a hop, skip and a jump from me.
If I wanted winter tires (I do), would it be problematic to get 18" rims, and find a tire that results in the same rolling diameter? Meaning, every season, could the 20" and 18" sets be swaped with minimal effort by the tire shop, without needing to rebalance them and recalibrate the cars computers/speedometer?
From my perspective, 18" wheels would be cheaper to buy tires for, and I guess less likely to incur damage, especially in the winter when roads might be a bit iffier.
I have a 2015 w 20s, and like many others on here have dealt with the fate of bent wheels on this car. You probably have a bent or even cracked wheel. I was able to source an amazing wheel shop near me in Westchester NY. I can provide you the name if interested. They squared me up on several occasions, and it's an amazing feeling to once again have the car smooth up to all speeds. It takes advanced machines and good techs to properly diagnose and repair wheels, and these guys are the real deal. They've also straightened out the wheels on my BMWs, one is an X5 w 22 inch wheels, which had the slightest shake at higher speeds. They went through each one and found the slightest bend, and corrected this to 100% smoothness.
I continue to keep my W222 on 20s, but it takes maintenance.
How much does a service like this cost to true all 4 wheels?
How much does a service like this cost to true all 4 wheels?
Depends on the extent of the correction needed, and if it's cracked it costs more to weld etc. On average for me it's been $130 per, for the damage I've had.
The initial test is spinning on a good wheel balancer, and observing the front and back of the wheel for any kind of visual, out-of-round imperfection(s).
How much does a service like this cost to true all 4 wheels?
About 3 years ago I had a MBZ 20" AMG wheel straightened, after a rock hit, for $45 IIRC. It was done in conjunction with refinishing the wheel so the price may have been discounted.
First off, loose the run flats. Run flats by their design have stiff sidewalls to support the car with no air.
Stop shopping by name, for tires shop by DOT spec and manufacture date. DOT spec requirements are the same no matter the manufacturer, So weather it's a Michelin Pilot sport or Nexan, if they have the same DOT spec, they will perform in a similar manner on the street. Consumer rating and recommendations I've found to be more informative.
I drive the streets and freeways of SoCal with frequent runs up to Las Vegas, for the last 10 years (6 2010 Jag XFR, 4 years 2014 S550, 1 year 2015 S63) I've run Lexani Twentys 20' tires. They are quiet, wear great, ride smooth and are way less than Michelin or Pirelli equivelents. I get my rims trued and re finished every 3 years, $1k is about the going rate. Rims are going to bend or break, some are softer than others, my factory Jag rims could just hear the word bend ... lol the new rims were forged $$$$ but held up very well. 2015 S63 Michelin's stock. Yes these are the same rims from my 2014. Just got them Trued and Powder coated 2 week ago
2014 S550 Michelin's stock. 2010 XFR Pirelli's Stock. Stock rims on the bottom seemed to be made of Playdoe they bent so easily...lol
Last edited by Bigg Willi; Aug 18, 2023 at 05:38 PM.
Went to the wheel repair shop. Their conclusion was that the wheels were not balanced well, and that one rim was slightly bent (not the one I hit the pothole).
After straightening and balancing, the front wheels are under 10 road force, and under 20 for the rear. Car seems to be less vibration now. Still rides a little stiff. I noticed my tired are inflated to 45 PSI, but under the gas cap it recommends 36 on front, 39 on rear.
Is there a reason that both the dealership, and the tire shop decided to overinflate the tires?
EDIT: my tire inflators pressure gauge shows 36 PSI. So i guess my question is, why does the app show much higher?
Last edited by Grimakis; Aug 22, 2023 at 10:57 AM.
EDIT: my tire inflators pressure gauge shows 36 PSI. So i guess my question is, why does the app show much higher?
The app shows whatever the pressure was last before the car was parked, so that's hot pressure and not cold pressure. Tire pressure increases as the tires warm up. Every 10F adds 1 psi. However, if your gauge shows 36 cold and app says 45 hot then I'd say your gauge might not be accurate, as that would require a 90F difference in temperature between cold and hot. That might happen on a track, but not with normal driving.
Could also be that the sensors are reading wrong. What pressures does it show in the instrument cluster? Also as far as adjusting the tire pressures go, shops often use the wrong ones. They use the ones on the door sticker, which is for max load, but also the safest for people who never check their tire pressures.
Last edited by superswiss; Aug 22, 2023 at 01:24 PM.
The app shows whatever the pressure was last before the car was parked, so that's hot pressure and not cold pressure. Tire pressure increases as the tires warm up. Every 10F adds 1 psi. However, if your gauge shows 36 cold and app says 45 hot then I'd say your gauge might not be accurate, as that would require a 90F difference in temperature between cold and hot. That might happen on a track, but not with normal driving.
Could also be that the sensors are reading wrong. What pressures does it show in the instrument cluster? Also as far as adjusting the tire pressures go, shops often use the wrong ones. They use the ones on the door sticker, which is for max load, but also the safest for people who never check their tire pressures.
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