DGulliver

I thought it might be nice to ride under warranty again for awhile, so we did go look at some Certified Pre-Owned stuff about a month ago. My car's nice, no paint, etc., so I let them work me up a trade on a 2011 E class. Mercedes of Nashville offered me $7500 for the '04 S55 AMG, I kid you not. I said "Wow, was it wrecked when you got out there?!" I realize they have to start somewhere, but jeeeeez.... Wait, you guys can have my '99 SLK for that!

w4sim

Dealers, or any other trader, that your going to part-exchange with or do a trade in offer will always offer you well below the book value of the car, in most cases peanuts.

Its always best to sell your car privately if you can.

HIGHLANDER S-55

My S55 does the exact same thing... Around 5k miles the threads are showing on the rear tires with more so on the right side. When I had an S500 it also wore out the rears fast and the right side first. I had to rotate them to get around 10k. On both cars the fronts wear pretty normal. I would be interested to know what other S55 owners out there wear down their rear tires in under 10k miles without burnouts. I just chalk it up to normal for these cars and just spent the $450 every 6mos for new back tires. Mercedes is NEVER going to admit the S Class burns through rear tires that fast. It aint right but it's a small price to pay overall for such a great car.

DGulliver

Highlander, I can't rotate tires- the front and rears are different sizes on my '04 S55 with stock wheels.

Since I installed the new (used) ABC module, the car doesn't do the raise/drop thing while at idle anymore. The rears seem to be wearing ok for now but time will tell, soon..

HIGHLANDER S-55

When your passenger side rear starts to show more wear than the driver side (and it will) you can rotate it to the other side. Your tires are probably directional so you will have to go to the tire shop and they can switch the tires on the rims. If you're really lazy you can buy just one new tire for the right and when it wears out you'll be even again for two new tires back there...lol JK, but thats how my old S500 was. My rear tires on the S55 wear close enough together I change both rear tires between 6k and 10k mikes...

DGulliver

Highlander, the tires I had on before were the Michelin Sport Pilot PS2- different (softer) tread on the outside edge of the tire. This is why I couldn't rotate side to side like you recommend. I have a tire now that your method would work for, thanks!

StuMacdonald

New POST; same problem, however in my case I only got 5k out of my Bridgestone Potenza, at $ 400 a pop that is crazy money over the course of a year for tires only...
Any suggestions on more durable tires for this problem? Bridgestone sucks!

HIGHLANDER S-55

It really doesnt matter what brand you buy... expect 10k miles or less on the rears. Rotate as right wears more. I'm running Kuhmo's right now. They were pretty cheap and ride good so I dont stress. I just know in 6mos i'm going to need new ones.

w4sim

Surely this cant be even tyre wear?

I had new Pirelli P-Zero's put on about 6 months ago, i dont even think iv got 5k out of them. But the problem with mine is that the inner 2cm of the tyre have completely worn down to the strings, whereas the rest of the tyre is showing approx. 3.5mm of tread.

I think my main problem is down to poor tracking and camber/castor adjustments.

If yours is showing tyre wear in the same way (tyre is more worn on one side than the other, usually the inner side) then your problem might be down to tracking rather than the car simply burning tyres of its own accord.

w4sim

Iv used Bridgestones in the past on my car and they're not a bad tyre. If anything, you should be getting more out of Bridgestones as they use a harder compound than the likes of Michelin and Pirelli.

Nanook

For what it's worth who's to say factory aligment specs are correct for your car ? I know on my Z06 and ZR1 if you aligned the rear to factory specs they both would burn off the inside of the rears..they both needed custom tweaking and only then did it minimize the wear and extend tire life..granted at the loss of spirited driving performance..

HIGHLANDER S-55

No, mine pretty much start to look like slicks with the wear pretty even. After about four months I really start watching the right rear closely. I'd get an alignment in the rear just so you know everything is OK. My fronts wear perfect so I never let anyone mess with the alignment up front... The hard rubber sounds like the way to go...

w4sim

Because otherwise Mercedes would have some kind of a lawsuit on their hands. They cant just make a car that would only have the inner edges of the tyres making proper contact with the road.

I know from my own personal experience with my car that when i first got it on the original 18" alloys the tyre wear was pretty even all the way accross. On 20's and then lowered on top, abit of a different story. Iv had mine tracked several times, but it does the same thing.

But given the fact that by lowering it and putting bigger wheels on mine i may have moved it away from the factory spec, so now the factory standards dont work on my car. In this case i think i need to find someone who will custom tweak it, but otherwise on a standard car, factory settings are best.

HIGHLANDER S-55

Nanook has a good point... if it's wearing like that and its aligned correctly the alignment guy might have to get creative. I had a car like that, took two tries for the guy to get it right but he gave me a prit out out of what he did and I keot it with the car info.

w4sim

Now slicks all the way across after just four months from new is definitely not sounding right . . . . unless your version of normal driving is slightly different to ours, lol.

HIGHLANDER S-55

Both mine are lowered. Factory 19" AMG rims on one. 20" on the other one. No real bad uneven like you are experiencing...

w4sim

Sorry if this sounds daft, but which is your right?

American drivers side rear tyre???

HIGHLANDER S-55

]Now slicks all the way across after just four months from new is definitely not sounding right . . . . unless your version of normal driving is slightly different to ours, lol.[/QUOTE]

No...lol I start watching at four months. I get around 6 months for a set of back tires and dont let them get to slicks. I rarely, rarely will do a burnout. I'm telling you 5k to 10k miles on the rears are NOARMAL for our cars. Now, you shouldnt be wearing uneven that much... Once you accept you will need two new back tires approx every 6k miles you will enjoy your car more...lol Just go on ebay and get a good deal shipped to your door and cruz on... My tire guy here changes them with balance for $25 per tire. He knows me well...lol

HIGHLANDER S-55

Passenger side rear is the one that wears first...

HIGHLANDER S-55

Sorry, if you're in UK shipping cost from ebay would probably be crazy...

w4sim

Iv had a bit of a vibration issue with the back end of my car for some time now and recently i thought i would just jack the whole rear end up and just put the car into drive.

Sure enough the rear wheels started to spin at about 30 mph. Although to be 100% accurate, only one tyre was spinning (american drivers side rear), the other one wasnt doing anything unless power was applied and the car went over 40-45mph.

My guess is that these cars have an open LSD and so one tyre gets the power down first, which is probably the tyre that gets chewed up before the other one. Just my theory from observations. Try lifting the back of your car up, switch ESP off and just put ut into Drive and see which wheel spins.

w4sim

Dont worry, i normally get a pretty good deal with tyres as it stands, and i know the tyre fitter so well that he dare not charge me . . . . . because i own that tyre place and he works for me

But i myself am a tyre fitter so i understand quite a fair bit more than your - "average joe" i think is the right expression - about tyres.

Iv got another brand new set waiting to go on now, but il see if i can get a picture of the old ones on here.

DGulliver

Guys, (Stu especially) my tire wear problem has been solved.

It's not driving habits, misalignment or poor tires! It was in fact, a faulty ABC module. It seems the module would randomly raise and lower the car while driving or parked. It no longer makes any of it's own up and down changes or adjustments while sitting idle. I bought one used from eBay for $250, plugged it in and put new tires on the rear. I have been 8k miles on this last set of rears with even wear and they look good. Even my fronts are wearing evenly, which they never did before.

This may not be the magic cure for everyone, but it solved my problem. I wanted to share my results.

HIGHLANDER S-55

Sounds interesting... I'm kinda doubtful though because my S500 did the same thing with "airmatic". Seems like I would notice if my car was adjusting up and down. What is the part number you used?

K-Mac

AMG S55 Tire Wear

OTHER ALTERNATIVE TO CONSTANT PREMATURE TIRE REPLACEMENT IS TO FIX IT RIGHT ONCE AND FOR ALL WITH K-MAC


Ex-factory there is only front and rear Toe adjustment for virtually all Mercedes 1968 to current models (and same with Chrysler Crossfire and 300C etc.).


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