Excess Tyre wear

[MSG2004]

Hi
since I bought my W203 Merc C Class C180K - problems after problems with suspension.

The front passenger side tyre wears excessively on the outside - I've had it tracked several times by MB and independents - car is out of warranty.

today i did my own research and noted that approx ten cars i looked at on the road, all had excessive wear on the front passenger side tyre - should mercedes be compensating me for designing a car that is not fit for the purpose??

I've driven 30 years and never come accros anything like this before

 

[timskemp]

kerb wear when parking?

 

[Dieselman]

It's a result of a number of factors, rear wheel drive, too liberal use of the power steering, not enough wheel camber and roundabouts and tight corners.

firstly have a full 4 wheel geometry performed.

Have your previous cars been front or rear wheel drive?

 

[BlackC55]

Hi
since I bought my W203 Merc C Class C180K - problems after problems with suspension.

The front passenger side tyre wears excessively on the outside - I've had it tracked several times by MB and independents - car is out of warranty.

today i did my own research and noted that approx ten cars i looked at on the road, all had excessive wear on the front passenger side tyre - should mercedes be compensating me for designing a car that is not fit for the purpose??

I've driven 30 years and never come accros anything like this before

You are not alone. I have seen this problem before on many 203's. It seems to be a characteristic of the car. Keep a close eye on your tyre pressures and your choice of tyre seems to make a difference. I agree with Dieselman about the 4 wheel alignment. Get an MB dealer to do it. They are the only people that are any good at doing MB's in my experiance.

 

[MangoMan]

I think this is a common problem, not only Mercedes, but most rear wheel drive cars. A few factors; Front wheels being pushed along, rather than them pulling themselves along, (FWD). Road camber, so most of the time you are correcting this by steering to the right nearly all the time, and round-abouts. I have noticed on a lot Mercedes, if tyres not rotated, that the front left tyre always wears on the outside more than the others.

I would say in Europe it would be the opposite, front right, it would interesting to hear from anyone from over there?

Anyway, that my tuppence worth.....

 

[Rory]

Hi
since I bought my W203 Merc C Class C180K - problems after problems with suspension.

The front passenger side tyre wears excessively on the outside - I've had it tracked several times by MB and independents - car is out of warranty.

today i did my own research and noted that approx ten cars i looked at on the road, all had excessive wear on the front passenger side tyre - should mercedes be compensating me for designing a car that is not fit for the purpose??

I've driven 30 years and never come accros anything like this before

Does it also drift to the left? I'm told "they all do that".

It's a real pain on my car that it has staggered wheel/tyre sizes - the fronts wear on the edges and the rears in the centre.

I noticed at the weekend that the outside edge of the NSF tyre on my wife's Honda Jazz was much more worn than the rest. her car runs perfectly true on the road and I put it down to it being mainly used in town.

 

[Nibbo]

I have read quite a few threads on this as it happened to mine also.
It would appear that this wear is "normal" on W203's.

 

[Flyer]

Know the problem; here's a current photo of my near-side front F1 @ 11k miles:

 

[mobiledreams12]

According to my local tyre fitter this is common on W203s with sports suspension. He said it's also common on Beemers...

 

[mark.t]

check the inside of the other tyre .......i had this problem took it to a guy in chadderton near me .... ex formula 4 driver ..... sorted the car no problems .... i also had a twichey back end going round corners he adjusted the rear chamber bolts? and low a behold sticks like glue no twiching rear..... and no tyre wear on front .... funny thing thow ...before the car went in the steering wheel was even .. after it came out it slightly dipped to the left off center .... no probs yeat after 10,000 miles on p6000.....

 

[Rory]

check the inside of the other tyre .......i had this problem took it to a guy in chadderton near me

Can you let us have his contact details pls?

Did he set it up with a 4 wheel laser system? The steering being off-centre probably just means it wasn't fixed in the centre position before he made the adjustments.

 

[1998K]

only to confirm that I've the same problem. I own my C270 with sport chassis option since december 06, it's an used car year 2003.

I'de done 5000km but car come with only 25000km at the date of my delivery. Actually front tyres are completly destroied at side externally, rear are also destroyed but mainly in the centre.

Still to decide if I wait to install winter tyre on present 16" since I'd like to upgrade to 17".

I remember previous W202 never had any problem of tyre wear, also after extrem lowering with H&R spring.

 

[mobiledreams12]

only to confirm that I've the same problem. I own my C270 with sport chassis option since december 06, it's an used car year 2003.

I'de done 5000km but car come with only 25000km at the date of my delivery. Actually front tyres are completly destroied at side externally, rear are also destroyed but mainly in the centre.

Still to decide if I wait to install winter tyre on present 16" since I'd like to upgrade to 17".

I remember previous W202 never had any problem of tyre wear, also after extrem lowering with H&R spring.

I think it's to do with the agressive camber settings with the sports suspension option - check out the contact patches of the front tyres on full lock. Uneven tyre wear is the price you pay for good handling I'm afraid...

 

[mark.t]

Can you let us have his contact details pls?

Did he set it up with a 4 wheel laser system? The steering being off-centre probably just means it wasn't fixed in the centre position before he made the adjustments.

I will get you the details ...they are on a receipt filed away

the steering wheel is off centre because the wheels a now ruining true and not scrubbing along at a slight angle...... after 10,000 miles even tyre wear:bannana:

 

[Parrotman]

This is a known ' characteristic ' and is referred to in the MB Handbook. Think this is probably due to camber angle more than anything as Dieselman might be impling.

Had exactly the same on my previous car a Nissan Primera Estate ( which I sold after 12 years reliable virtually trouble free 130K motoring ). Used to have the tracking checked on I think it's a Star 4 wheel machine ( on which they discovered the Mondeo subframe welding problem ) and that particular wheel camber was right on the edge of tolerance limits. Not being too car-techno, don't know if the camber can be adjusted and/or if it's wise to.

Made the jump to MB on the recommendation of my son who has c 220 cdi saloon.