Brabus Wheels and uneven tyre wear

[Rockingrobbo]

I bought a 2006 Mercedes E280 Avantgarde ex-demo from a Mercedes main dealer 12 months ago which had a fully fitted Brabus body kit, sports suspension and 20” Brabus alloys etc etc The first problem was encountered when I first drove the car fully laden and the tyres were rubbing on the wheel arches causing the rubber to burn! First of all the dealer was going to make the wheel arches higher through the body shop! Eventually they re-aligned the wheels which were then 2 inches further in i.e. not sticking out so far and this solved the problem. After 20k miles I was asked to replace all 4 tyres at a cost of £1500 as they had worn to the steel on the inside but the tread was fine. Disgruntled I was but had no choice to agree to replace all 4 tyres as they were unsafe but wondered if it had anything to do with the worked carried to bring the wheels in closer to the car to avoid the rubbing problem. The wheels over the winter have degraded and corroded badly. Mercedes very kindly have agreed to replace all 4 wheels at a cost of £3k but the tyres, having only covered 12k miles and have very good tread, need replacing again due to being thread bear on the inside and unsafe as could blow at high speeds. The dealership has recognised this is very unusual and there is a problem somewhere but because they have checked the alignment and geometry of the car and found nothing untoward and cannot find the fault Mercedes will not make a contribution towards the replacement cost. I would welcome your comments on 1) what the problem might be and how to solve it? 2) the non contribution by Mercedes on the cost of replacing the tyres 3) the fact they are very dangerous which cannot be spotted without taking the wheels off every time and 4) Should I get someone like the RAC to independently inspect the car?

 

[aka$h]

Seems like the proble is the camber, it was probably set correctly to begin with, but then you had the issue of rubbing when driving with full load. To get around this the have over adjusted the camber, which is resulting in the inside edge wearing so badly.

You need to take the car to an alignment centre, and just ask them to check the geometry on the car. Id bet my money the rear is out, take the proof to MB and take it form there.

What dealership was this?

Regards