greg12m3

So, my e55 unfortunately came without it's stock wheels. It has 17s from an e430, I think. So I lowered my car as soon as I got it and ever since have never been able to fix the alignment, it's lowered with h&r and koni's and stock pads. My question is would putting on 18s fix the tire wear problem? as I do drive a lot and am already on my second set of tires in the first year of ownership and about to get a third. I do drive my car pretty hard as in a lot of flooring it from a standstill and a lot of traveling rather quickly.

I haven't seen to many people complaining about camber/alignment issues and uneven tire wear so I'm guessing maybe since my wheels are smaller that is causing a problem...

Tire wear is on the inside of both rear wheels and then for the front driver side wheel there is excessive wear on the outside and on the front passenger side there is wear on the inside but not too bad.

Thanks!

desired_speeds

camber problems in the rear possibly but I'm clueless about the fronts.

Peter_02AMG

It doesn't matter what size tire you put on, it will not fix your tires uneven wear. You have an alignment problem and only an alignment will fix your problem.

I can tell you from experience that when I got my H&R spring install with pads#1 I didn't get an alignment done. I was waiting for it to settle some more but it never did. I only had about 3/4" drop front and 1" rear. The point is I driven over 15K mile in over 1.5yr and my tire wear out evenly, I didn't need an alignment. I got an alignment about 3 month ago and the tech told me it within spec.

SaMaS

+1...

ejsheltra

Outside diameter of the tire is the same whether 17" or 18" wheel if you are sizing them correctly so that has no effect. Definite alignment issue. Get front camber bolts and hunter alignment and then see where you are at. It will be better. According to Luke at Tire Rack if you are lowering less than 1.5 inches then you do not need camber bolts or different rear arms. I did the front camber bolts anyway. That was with a conversation I had with him yesterday.

greg12m3

Thanks for all the responses! and so quick too! I'm going to get my car re-aligned with camber bolts either tomorrow or monday.

MBZE55AMG

camber bolts dont help you will need a kmac camber kit for front i had the bolts but didn't help much. I had to install kmac that was the only option i had or replace tires every 2 months. Its to bad speedy benz doesn't make a kit for the front his product is A+++++.

Peter_02AMG

How low did you drop your car? If you replacing tires every 2 months than something is seriously wrong with your suspension.

MBZE55AMG

never had to replace tires i would have if i didn't put the kmac camber kit in for the front. The car is about 1/2 inch from tire to fender in front and a inch for the rear. My tires are wearing even for both kits installed handles awesome u would never know it a 4 door.

saintz

+1

The tire diameter is the same, regardless of the wheel size, assuming you have the right tires on. So that won't influence the ride height or suspension geometry.

However, if you're running 17s, they're probably narrow (I'm assuming the front and rear tires are the same size). You would definitely benefit in the traction department if you find a set of staggered 18" wheels like originally came on the car. This won't help with wear, but the car will perform a lot better.

While you're getting new tires, many places will give you a discount on an alignment at the same time.

Just to clarify, do you mean you haven't had a chance to take it for an alignment yet? Or you took it for an alignment, but they couldn't get it aligned to spec? If the former, you need to get it aligned when you get new tires, no question about it. If the latter, you probably need to look into the camber bolt option that was mentioned before (and can you post the alignment results?).

armaniE55

Greg12m3 - What was the outcome on your alignment issue? Going this Weekend to get mine done.

Back in factory spec's?

-Johnny

greg12m3

I got front camber/caster bolts from the dealership and ordered rear trailing arms from speedy benz (www.speedybenz.com). The dealership then installed everything as the dealership here is mod-install friendly and now my car handles amazingly!

All back in spec.

Yet I went over a pretty bad bump last nite and then wound up blowing up my rear driverside tire while peeling out so i'm going to get another alignment.

Here are a few pictures, you can kinda see the trailing arms.

KL2DC

greg: Which dealership did you go to for your installs/repairs?

greg12m3

Euro in Bethesda. They have been good to me.

I would never buy parts there except like little clips and brake light bulbs. But on the service side I've been very pleased. They always take my car when I want them too and repairs usually never take more then a day, I'm always offered a rental car although i'm too young to legally take one and I always get a bottle of water and a little bit of assurance when I leave knowing I went to the dealer.

Most importantly they are "conscious" as in I tell them the car is being driven in such a way so please inspect it with this in the back of your head, and it seems they do because at 135k my car seems to be doing great, they have been taking care of it since 90k.

armaniE55

Ouch! Keep that ESP on or stay clear of curbs

Get er fix

armaniE55

Ouch! Keep that ESP on or stay clear of curbs

Armani

greg12m3

My steering wheel position sensor is broken so my esp is always fully off.... But I didn't hit a curb, I don't know how but the tire just came undone.... It was a kumho ecsta spt, after I wear through this set of them I'm never buying kumhos again.

armaniE55

Grab a set of these... Unbelievable Tires...

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...w=false&cs=275

Reviews alone make them a easy choice.. plus they look bad as@

Armani

greg12m3

I definitely will next time! 400 for the rears? Thats pretty cheap, I thought invos would be a lot more, I only paid 40 less for the kumhos and their terrible.

armaniE55

Exactly..cheap and very sticky when they warm up.. Excellent tires for the money..... I'll post another review after a few months of driving 5k to 10k

Armani

saintz

Can you compare them to any other tire you've run? Like, are they stickier than a General UHP, Kumho MX, etc.?

armaniE55

Hey Saintz

I can only compare them to Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 on this car. As these are the only tires I've ran. So with that in mind I would say that they are defiantly up there in performance wise and very sticky once they get warm 0-60 you can barely hear them chirp. Very satisfied and will buy again. Not worried about constantly pushing them from stop n go as the price point is great...kinda like 2 tires for the price of 1 PS2

Armani