tomd

As the recent buyer of a 2005 SL500, I was a bit disappointed to see that MB decided to do away with the Flexible Service Schedule and free standard maintenance for 4 yrs/50,000 miles, that they offered for my 2003 SL. Still, for me, it was better than the alternative of raising the MSRP by another $500. I usually buy a new MB every two years. My question concerns their offer of free tire rotation up until 6,500 miles. Normally tires are swapped "front to back" in a tire rotation, but this is obviously not possible with the standard staggered width setup on the 2005 models. Does that mean that they do a "side to side" swap? And is this a good idea?

ima55r2

I wouldn’t do a side to side swap. They have to demount the directional tires for the swap to work and then they run the risk of damaging the rims. I cringe every time I see them work on the tire changer and have the prybar slip off especially with the stiff low profile sidewalls.

If there is uneven tire wear, I would get the free first year alignment done and buy new tires and cross my fingers during the mounting process..

blueSL

I agree with you about changing tyres. There are few things in life which make it more nervous than having someone who really doesn't care changing tyres on 18 inch + rims. Here in the UK there are a few select tyre dealers who take the greatest care of your rims and it's worth taking the day off and driving cross-country to visit them (for those in the UK, Micheldever Tyres is who I'm thinking of).

Interesting the bundled maintenance deal has been discontinued, presumably MB were not making any money out of it. My SL55 is currently in the shop for a number of warranty items, so their profit on my car has taken a hit as well. Saw some stats which said 1/3 of their gross margin is being gobbled up in warranty work. The dealers must love it.