E-Class Road Rumble

[Ribbs27]

Hello all,

Does anyone else find the MO Continental Sport tyres create terrible road noise once they are a few thousand miles old?

My E320 cdi Sport was fitted with these tyres from new and once the first set were down to around 3mm the road noise was so bad I took it to the dealer as I thought a wheel bearing was failing, they assured me it was the tyres (I have to say I thought they were fobbing me off). Anyway having changed the tyres the car was back to its silent best. The second set of fronts are now down to around 4-5mm and I can already hear the difference in sound intrusion.

Has anyone experienced this? I don't want to have to change the tryes when they have 3-4mm of life left, but it drives me nuts......I'm a real fuss pot for my car not having sqeeks/rattles or road noise, hence buying a Merc.

[steve-V8s]

Same problem with Michelin pilot primacy on my 530 BM as they get beyond half way it starts to sound like a wheel bearing is on the way out. I just move them to the back and put new ones on the front. Gives the tyre fitter more work to do but stops you from buying more rubber. Several people have checked the geo and it did it from new ( or at least from 15,000 miles when got it. Have noticed the noise on Merc taxis several times as well.

[Egbert Nobacon]

It's an alignment issue that causes the front tyres to wear progressively more as you move toward the inner edge from the outer. The tyre then presents an angled profile to the road surface causing road rumble and in severe cases darting, camber following and instability.

The more the tyre wears, the more severe the issue.

It seems to affect mainly BMW's and Mercs and on my E39 it was solved by a good 4 wheel laser alignment and fresh rubber (the issue never returned even when tyres new tyres wore down)

I too thought it was a wheel bearing issue and put the car into BMW under warranty. The tech said immediatly on road testing "it's tyres" and to prove it he put another set of wheels on from a similar vehicle and we drove it over the same route - all noise/handling issues vanished.

Edited by Egbert Nobacon on Friday 8th October 15:11

[Ribbs27]

Thanks for the advice, I'll get it in for a decent 4 wheel alignment.

[GTIR]

Yes common problem.

Inner tyres wear as the suspension sags and it cambers in. Only way to fix is camber kits but it's not 100% it will work.
I get vibration only luckily but after 250k I'm not surprised.

[Monkeylegend]

Definitely a tyre issue. Had the same on both my E classes, laser wheel alignment will improve it if out, but have just changed from Dunlop Conti Sports to Pirelli P7's and it has made an amazing difference.

If your tyres are symmetrical, try switching from front to back on the opposite sides so they run in the opposite direction. My noise was always from the front tyres, and switching to the back quietened them down a lot and I got the full wear from them.