My 07 was out of alignment from the factory & as such ate up the fronts within the first 17K miles....I might squeeze 23-25K out of the rears. Was this a common problem? Has anyone else on here had the same problem? Should I take Wilma (8X076028) in for an alignment before the same thing happens to her?

 

Chris, my front tires wore out at just about the same mileage because they were out of alignment too.
But what was odd, was the info that I received from somebody here on the forum (who worked at a dealer) that did a check of my cars warranty history. It said that the dealer where I purchased my new car from had realigned the front wheels, and replaced a hose under warranty before I took possesion of my car.
So I guess they really didn't actually do the alignment, or they did a very poor job when they did.
I would definitely get a front end alignment done with new tires installed since the old ones wore out prematurely.

 

I already had the alignment & put new fronts on my '07, I was just questioning whether or not I should go ahead & have an alignment done on my wife's new '08 ...<800 miles on it so far. I'm just wondering how common it's been for these Crossfires to come out of the factory = out of alignment???

 

In my opinion you should. It is my understanding that from the factory it is a cvery rough alignment, meant to get the cars rolling generally straight out of the factory. You should take it in to any shop that can align and get a full 4-wheel alignment to straighten it out. I did and saw some improvement in my MPG and feel of the car.

my $.02

 

I had to have all my tires replaced after 10k, rears where down to the belts, and not thru agressive driving.I had a 4 wheel alignment and lots of problems getting it done, This past season I put on 10k and no sign of wear, get a 4 wheel lazer alignment if you think that your tires are wearing, its cheap insurance as tires arnt covered by warrente's

 

Does Wilma drive STRAIGHT down the road, or does she pull any to one side or the other?

 

Sorry Chris, I didn't catch Wilma's serial #, after all we've never been formally introduced.

 

I had my '07 done @ 12K when I had new tires.
It was pulling. I had the dealer do it, thay had a special $89.99

 

Wilma (8X076028) is not pulling to either side (as far as I can tell), however, I could not detect anything wayward with Fred (the '07) either.....right up until there was almost no outer tread on either front tire at 14,000 miles & then a belt actually slipped on one of the fronts & it became totally out of balance!

I suppose some of that tread could have been lost on those 0.9G decreasing radius off ramps??? But, both sides - outer treads only?

I guess since I found 1 out of 4 dealerships that believed the 1st alignment was covered during the warranty period.....maybe I could go back to them with Wilma & say I suspect it feels out of alignment??? The other 3 dealerships all said it was only covered 12,000 miles / 12 months. Actually, since she only has 800 miles on her....I could fib to any of them....

 

The Blue one drives very straight and I think I will leave it alone.

 

I took Fred up to 131 after the new fronts & alignment....very smooth, after I replace the rears I may go for the record.....have not yet found volunteer to ride shotgun & take photo of speedometer....may have to rely on Garmin Max record again.

 

Obviously mine is not new, but the last set of tires only got about 17K miles. The front tires scalloped really bad. Now it pulls pretty bad with the new tires, but I need to find time and someone I trust to do the alignment. Thinking of going to MB dealer, just have to drive.

 

if you have a good year near you can schedule a free alignment check to see if it needs one. *i used to work at goodyear and people constantly would bring cars in for alignment checks*

 

I decided to not take any chances and got my lifetime alignment when I hit 10k miles. So every 6 months or 6k miles, I'll bring her in. The car is starting to feel a little squirly which I'm assuming may be the steering stabilizer which Ill replace soon since it's a cheap fix.

 

I've got only about 3100 on my 07 XFire Coupe and this thread caught my interest. FWIW, I've got a friend that works at CDJ dealer and he told me when I was looking at Crossfires that they were terrible when it came to tire wear. 20k tops from a set. (Note: His point was that the OEM tires were expensive, but we all know that there are tires out there of equal/better quality at much lower prices.) The experiences stated in this thread would seem to substantiate his feedback to me.

But, I've also got a fellow Merkur owner that has a 2005 E55 AMG (burgundy color - what a beauty & rare!) that had the same issues with his original factory set of tires. According to him, he found a local independent service shop that specialized in German imports with technicians that had previously worked at local M-B & BMW dealerships. He was told that the factory alignment settings for his E55 would wear out tires rapidly. They did a 4-wheel alignment and adjusted the settings to different values. His tire wear is great, no pulling has occurred and the ride quality is as good as ever. I'll see if I can find out more specifically what was done & report back.

 

Thanks for the responses, I was unaware that Goodyear would do free alignment checks. They would actually have to touch Wilma though....wouldn't they.....

 

My buddy with the E55 got back to me on the factory alignment. According to info he received, the M-B factory specs called for the alignment on the E55 to be stressed by a "pressor" bar and also set to compensate for German road crown. The tech aligned Gary's E55 to more typical US road configuration and ignored the M-B factory specs. According to Gary, it's made a world of difference in how his E55 behaves.

My $0.02,

 

Very interesting......

 

most likely they will pull it in and put the pads on her.. unless you know someone at the dealer real well or stress the fact you want to drive it in but still they may say we drive or no alignment check. Speaking of which i had mine done just out curiosity mine is well within tolerance a little out but well in tolerence.

 

well, hard cornering is going to punish the outer edge...especially on a camber limited car...

and unless you only ever turn in one direction, of course both fronts are going to see the wear