Vredestein Sessanta Warning!

[230K]

Hi

I have 265/35/ZR 18 Vredestein Sessanta's on the rear of my E300 Turbodiesel Estate and while preparing it for MOT i noticed the inside walls of both tyres were cracked. Seems to be a problem don't know how serious but if anyone has similar tyres it might be best to check them. My front tyres are 235/40/18 but are fine.
I have changed the wheels and put on my winter wheels, tyres are nearly on the wear indicators so were due for change anyhow.

See pics below.

Does any tyre experts know why or what these cracks are and how serious they are?? Are they dangerous???

230K

 

[C240Sport97]

call Vredestein customer service and see what they have to say .. tyre side walls should not do this

 

[BTB 500]

Key question - what's the date code (4 digit number) on the tyres?

First 2 digits will be 01-52 (week number), second 2 digits are the year. So 1405 would mean 14th week of 2005.

 

[230K]

Key question - what's the date code (4 digit number) on the tyres?

First 2 digits will be 01-52 (week number), second 2 digits are the year. So 1405 would mean 14th week of 2005.

Hi

They are stamped 2107 so i gues that means they are 17 months old or so. I knew they couldnt be that old as i only bought them a year ago and the Sessanta has not been out long.

Were they dangerous????????????

230K

 

[Dieselman]

Were they dangerous????????????

Not unless the carcase gives way and lets the air out. It looks like the tread is peeling off from the rest of the tyre.

 

[Satch]

What inflation pressures were you running them at?

Main cause of sidewall splits on low profile tyres is running at too low a pressure which causes excessive sidewall deflection leading to splits. If the sidewalls are not well supported there is simply not enough rubber to soak up the shocks and loading. Once a spit starts it propagates just as your pictures show.

This is one reason why off road you tend to use tyres with very high sidewalls: a low profile tyre, unless inflated to very high pressure, would split very quickly in rough terrain

 

[230K]

What inflation pressures were you running them at?

The tyres were kept at 32/34psi and increased hen car was loaded. I might email them the pics and see what they say.

230k

 

[C240Sport97]

The tyres were kept at 32/34psi and increased hen car was loaded. I might email them the pics and see what they say.

230k

it would be interesting to see how they react .. I would hope that they will send you 4 new tyres!

 

[230K]

it would be interesting to see how they react .. I would hope that they will send you 4 new tyres!

Hi

I wouldn't expect 4no. new tyres, it is only the 265/35/18 rears that are afected and only discovered when they were due for renewal.

230K

 

[Satch]

The tyres were kept at 32/34psi and increased hen car was loaded. I might email them the pics and see what they say.

230k

Suspect they might say that you needed to inflate then a lot higher than that. Low profile tyres (35 profile) should not be run at the pressures quoted for the OEM tyres.

 

[rf065]

I fitted Vredestein Wintrac Extreme's for winter last year, whereas MB claim tyre pressures of 30 to 36 psi for my car, the vredestein site recommended 39 to 42psi. I think Vredestein will tell you they have been underinflated, that's what it looks like to me anyway.

Russ

 

[yachtman]

is this classic speed cushion damage?

I would be interested to hear if you drive regularly on a road with speed humps, as I believe inner side wall damage is a symptom of straddling the "toffee" type road humps, as oposed to the all across the roadtype.

In which case if the tyre maker cant help, a claim from the council for the unworn portion of tyre life.

 

[Smiley]

265/35/18s on a e300 t/diesel?
Out of interest why such a huge tyre / wheel and what does it drive like?

 

[prc]

Had a similar issue with some Nokian tyres a while back. Call customer service.

 

[Alps]

i had similar on some fuldas abt 8yrs back, when i sold the car the buyer noticed it and rangcustomer services and got all 4 replaced FOC

 

[Will]

265/35/18s on a e300 t/diesel?
Out of interest why such a huge tyre / wheel and what does it drive like?

AFAIK he's running OEM 18" staggered W210 AMG wheels. These were fitted as standard to the E55 and were available as an option for other models. Although the tyre sizes seem 'excessive' for a 300TD, they're the correct size as advised by MB for a W210 model.

It'll no doubt tramline slightly more, and perhaps not be so 'supple' when dealing with bumps etc, but they will look great and provide firmer handling characteristics

Will

 

[neilrr]

Looks like they've been run either flat or seriously underinflated.

 

[Satch]

Looks like they've been run either flat or seriously underinflated.

Afraid it looks that way, at least per the makers site:

Key in that E55 wheel combo and you get 2.9Bar (42psi) front, 3.4Bar (49 psi) rear

http://www.keepthepressureup.com/tirepressure.asp?TaalID=3&UserSessionID=50165522&mark=114

 

[230K]

Afraid it looks that way, at least per the makers site:

Key in that E55 wheel combo and you get 2.9Bar (42psi) front, 3.4Bar (49 psi) rear

http://www.keepthepressureup.com/tirepressure.asp?TaalID=3&UserSessionID=50165522&mark=114

Is there anyone on the forum with an E55 210 estate that could post a pic of their fuel filler flap to see what MB recommend for this set up. Any of the advice previously posted on here has said run the MB pressures. I even posted on this before and the answer was use the filler flap pressures. See here:
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=23385&highlight=tyre

The max allowable pressure of the tyre as stamped on it is 53 psi. Surely a cold tyre at 49 psi could rise close to the max pressure when hot??????

230K

 

[rf065]

Any of the advice previously posted on here has said run the MB pressures. I even posted on this before and the answer was use the filler flap pressures. See here:
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=23385&highlight=tyre

The max allowable pressure of the tyre as stamped on it is 53 psi. Surely a cold tyre at 49 psi could rise close to the max pressure when hot??????

230K

http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible_pg2.html

"The Max. Pressure -10% theory.

Every tyre has a maximum inflation pressure stamped on the side somewhere. This is the maximum pressure the tyre can safely achieve under load. It is not the pressure you should inflate them to.
Having said this, I've given up using the door pillar sticker as my starting point and instead use the max.pressure-10% theory. According to the wags on many internet forums you can get the best performance by inflating them to 10% less than their recommended maximum pressure (the tyres, not the wags - they already haves inflated egos). It's a vague rule of thumb, and given that every car is different in weight and handling, it's a bit of a sledgehammer approach. But from my experience it does seem to provide a better starting point for adjusting tyre pressures. So to go back to my Subaru Impreza example, the maximum pressure on my Yokohama tyres was 44psi. 10% of that is 4.4, so 44-4.4=39.6psi which is about where I ended up. On my Element, the maximum pressure is 40psi so the 10% rule started me out at 36psi. I added one more to see what happened and it got better. Going up to 38psi and it definitely went off the boil, so for my vehicle and my driving style, 37psi on the Element was the sweet spot."

I would only use the MB fuel lid sticker, if you have the same tyre/wheels as the car left the factory. If you have went from 16" to 18", you really need to inflate the tyres a lot more than the sticker says. Lots of posters on this site will tell you otherwise, but I believe they are wrong.


Russ