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fgwinn
Date registered: Dec 1899
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Vehicle(s):
| E500 4Matic tire wear
Just rotated the tires again at 37,600 miles. This is the sixth time for the OE tires. The tires had been wearing very uniformly until about 32,000 miles. At that time I noticed that the left front tire was cupped on the inner edge. I am using a rotation pattern that moves the rear tires forward on the same side and moves the front tires to the opposite rear side. This was the recommended pattern on the TireRack site. I got a 4-wheel alignment at 32K miles at my local MB dealer. The car road perfectly true both before and after the alignment. Nearly 6K miles later the right front tire has been noisy and it too is cupped on the inside edge. The left front tire looked fine and did not exhibit the same wear pattern as the left front tire at the previous wheel alignment.
What causes the inside front edge of the tire to become cupped? By this I mean that every other tread on the inner edge is noticeably worn. Is this problem the result of improper alignment or a defect in the front suspension? I keep the tire pressure at about 31 front and 33 rear. I lowered the rear pressure from the recommended 34 since the inner treads seemed to be wearing faster. I raised the front tire pressure from 29 since it seems to improve mileage and also I prefer the steering feel with higher pressure in the front tires. I keep the Airmatic in Sport 2 mode most of the time. I am wondering if something could be wrong with the Airmatic system that could cause the unusual tire wear.
I was hoping to get 50K miles out of the Conti CH95 tires. But I may have to change them closer to 45K miles. At 37,600 miles the tread depth is 6/32nds. |
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fgwinn
Date registered: Dec 1899
Location:
Vehicle(s):
| RE: E500 4Matic tire wear
I have driven nearly 3000 miles since I rotated the tires. I have kept the Airmatic suspension setting in Comfort mode since the last tire rotation. The tire that was cupped at the last rotation is now on the left rear and seems to be no worse than it was at 37,600 miles and perhaps slightly better (although still somewhat noisy). More importantly the front tires do not show any signs of cupping on the inner tread. The easiest way to monitor the cupping wear pattern is to drive into a dusty gravel parking area and check to see if the treads are evenly coated with dust. I may skip the next tire rotation and leave the tires which are in the best condition in front just to make sure the cupping wear pattern seems to correlate with Sport-2 mode.
I am fairly confident that I will make it to 50K miles on the original ContiTouringContact CH95 tires. Is it conceivable that the Airmatic Sport 2 setting may contribute to the cupping wear pattern? I wonder if the toe-in setting falls outside of specification when the car is lowered in Sport 2 mode. |
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AndrewAZ
Date registered: Dec 1899
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Vehicle(s):
| Re: E500 4Matic tire wear
Sounds good for stock tires if you can get more than 35,000 miles out of them... Especially sine you have Continental tires they have a reputation to wear down fast. I would consider my self lucky if I got 20,000 out of conts... |
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