When I first bought my car (05 Limited) a couple years ago I noticed the tire tread was worn, but not too bad. But in a few months the little remaining tread had vanished, so I bought brand new Continentals for all 4 corners and had them installed by Discount Tire.

I liked the Continentals. Good ride and relatively quiet. But after a few months I start to notice a vibration in front. So I took it back to Discount Tire and asked them to check the balance They came back and said my alignment was off and the inside of the front tires was excessively worn, and they couldn't balance it. I told them to put the tires back on so I could go home and research new tires and look for an alignment shop. They said they couldn't put worn ties back on once they've been dismounted. So I was stuck buying 2 new front tires from them.

A couple days later I got my alignment and all was well again. But then, a few months after that I notice my right rear tire is low. So I air it up and stop in at Discount next time I'm in town. They say that the tire (a run flat) had been run in a flat condition and they were not allowed to remount the tire. Not this BS again! Furthermore, they said the other rear tire had low tread and they recoommended replacing it. The irony is that they never could find the leak that caused the tire to go flat.

They didn't have any Continentals in stock so they put Michellins on. Those are much noisier than the Continentals. I don't like them but didn't have a choice. It was 5:00 PM and I was an hour away from home, so I authorized it.

Anyway, that was 2 weeks ago. Today, I get home only to see that the right tire is low again. But I'm not taking my car to Discount this time. I'll remove the tire and throw it in the back of my truck. This way they can't hold me hostage for new tires again.

Thank you for listenting to my rant. Now here's my question.

I'm suspecting a damaged rim. If that turns out to be the case where might I find a matching rim? I'm not a fan of the low profile tires and don't care for run-flats either. Is it possible to use a different rim on this car and go with tires that wear better? I'm not concerned with performance at this point. I just want to stop spending $1000 per year on tires.

Curt

 

Some have put on a set of 17" Mercedes wheels with tires that closely match the OEM diameters.
Tires are much cheaper and a softer ride, but you give up some handling.

 

There is quite of few aftermarket rims for our cars. You have to make choices. Do you stay true ,@ 18" front an 19" rears? Do you go smaller an lower the car a little? Do you go biger an give it that wider aggressive stance? Man , You can spend a few evenings lookin thru all the combination of possibilities. Mandrusis wheels ,is one provider you should start with.

 

If I can find an exact match on the rim I'll probably just replace the faulty rim and tire. If I have to replace all 4 I like the idea of 17" Mercedes rims with fatter sidewalls to match the overall stock diameter. I don't want to lower the car. I want to keep the stock ride height and speedometer accuracy.

Does anyone have any specific info on which rim/tire combos would work?

 

Well the Mercedes R170 has essentially the same drivetrain (Crossfire is a rebodied SLK320) so expect the wheels and tires will fit: were both 16s (stock) and 17s (AMG & Sport) available. Have not tested but the front brake rotors are the same so suspect the calipers will clear but not certain & cannot test. Do know that Crossfire wheels and tires fit on a SLK320.


26.5" diameter tires are what you need to match

 

Alignments come with a print out with before and after readings, did you get that? Who did the alignment? If you were running on a run flat tire the TPMS still should have been lit to warn you.

Something sound suspect here, mostly the statement from the tire dealer.

 

Yes, I have the alignment printout. I have no idea what the numbers mean. It was performed by Western Tire.

TPMS never came on. But it woulden't have mattered. I live in an isolated rural area. Had it come on I would have just proceeded home anyway and checked it when I got home.

What bugs me about the tire dealer is that they didn't find the leak. Or perhaps they didn't look that hard once they saw the tire was toast. After I get this issue resolved I'm going to be changing tire dealers.

 

 

Possibly. But a 2-week old tire is leaking air on the same wheel that the previous 1 year old tire was leaking air. Coincidence, sloppy installation, or a damaged wheel?

 

There are also rear camber kits.
I rotate mine, but could not do on the continental dsw and dws06 I had, they have a inner and outer.
have to unmount, flip and remount, so what was on the inside on one side is now on the outside on the other side.
if you find a shop that originally mounts the and give free rotations, tell them what it involves on your car.

I got 35k miles on the gmax rears in 275

Now I have esr sr08
Front 18x8.5 +30, Yokohama avid
Rear 19x10.5 +22 michelin A/S ZP 285/35
Stock height.

 

Surely no flip is involved, just unmount and move laterally to the other side. Flipping would keep outside on the outside etc. In which case there would be no need tip-off dismount the tire from the rim.

 

Not sure that I follow what you are saying about camber kits and flipping. Are you saying the rear alignment could be causing the tire to go flat, and not the wheel?

 

flipping does the same as remount ing on the opposite rim.
take drivers side tire/wheel off, unmount, flip, remount then install on passengers side.
the part of the tire that was on the inside of drivers side is now on the outside of passengers side.
but can not do with continental dws or dws 06.
and with directional tires, has to mounted on the other side.

 

If Western Tire didn't sell you an adjuster bolt kit from Mercedes or Chrysler the ONLY thing they could have done is set the toe front and rear.

Post a picture of the printout and we can all see what they did for you.

Still not a fan of your service providers.

 

Back in the bad old daze, porous alloy wheels were common. We used to paint the inside of the rim with latex paint and it would hold air again.

 

Also, you might look at the valve stem it might be leaking. I got new rear tires last year and the next mourning the left rear was very low. I did not notice and got on the interstate, running 80 mph something felt wrong and I pulled over, the tire was already ruined! The shop replaced for free, they stated the valve slim would not seat because of corrosion. You might air up the tire and put some soapy water in the stim with the cap off. My TPMS has been on since I got the car two years ago, I just check the air pressure every Sunday when I wash the car.

 

I'm having trouble uploading photos. It takes the upload but doesn't display the picture in my post.

The pre-alignment values are:

LF tow = -11/32
LF caster = 3.8
LF camber = -1.9

LR tow = 5/32
LR camber = -1.6

RF tow = 0
RF caster = 4.0
RF camber = -1.5

RR tow = 1/32
RR camber = -1.5

Total tow = -11/32
Thrust angle = .1

And the post-alignment specs

LF tow = 1/16
LF caster = 3.8
LF camber = -1.9

LR tow = 5/32
LR camber = -1.8

RF tow = 1/16
RF caster = 4.0
RF camber = -1.5

RR tow = 5/32
RR camber = -1.7

Total tow = 1/8
Thrust angle = 0.0

 

Sounds like a bad wheel. Our wheels tend to form a hairline crack at the rim edge to the body of the wheel. It often opens and closes as you drive it leaks sporadically. You can park it for days without issue and then have it go flat in less than a mile of driving.


When this happens you can easily see the crack on a demounted wheel. But hardly on one with the tire mounted.


I suspect your "Tire Shop" didn't really look.


As for wear, most of us with NA's get about 20K-25K or so on the tires. SRT6's not so much. I'm sure it is possible to do better by driving more modestly. But then you might as well drive a Prius.

 

I run Hankoooks, not a bad tire, but not a great tire, either. Around $850 for a set out the door.

Mine last car was a limited, and this one is an SE, so now SRT power levels here; I've seen 33,000 miles out of a set (my first set, back when I drove the car like it was a Ford Ranger) and as little as 11,500 miles (last set on the Graphite - man, did I DRIVE that car.)

My tires wear pretty evenly, I run 33/34 pounds in them and have no aftermarket alignment parts installed. The cost of tires has been the biggest part of ownership over three Crossfires in nine years. Currently, my daily is a Ford Ranger - $404 for a set of tires out the door that now have 21,000 on them and I'd guess I have about 35000 more miles to go. The Crossfire as a daily driver can tax your checkbook a bit- but I do miss having the Graphite Roadster as a daily driver.

 

I have Hancock’s they are fine but I will not get them again, I’ll get all seasons tires. The Hankooksczrecjustvtonhard when the temperature drops into the low forties
They are wearing evenly so no complaints there, only the fronts were aligned, the shop that did the fronts found rpthey could not do the rear slignm3nt after all..