RE: Mercedes tyre 'skipping' - official statement
Discussion
99dndd said:
Is it just me, or do we see some sort of new Mercedes Benz reliability issue thread on here every week?
customers demand every larger fashion wheels with tiny side walled tyres, yet expect a good ride, the solution fit tyres with walls the thickness of a condom to try to compensate kambites said:
Eagle F1s? If so I'm not surprised - they have very soft sidewalls.
Maybe - no particular noticeable difference from the Michelin's in that regard though. It's also got rid of the tendency that the Michelin's had to be a bit floaty under acceleration. Quieter too. Probably not quite as much in terms of ultimate grip though.The real point I suppose is that the tyres make a big difference with this sort of thing. Maybe they'd make a difference on the Merc too?
I've had this with a couple of 4WD cars.
Tbh, you get used to it and it's only on full lock at crawling speeds.
That said, the C-class and E-class I've seen had some crazy lock going on, seems to be a thing with Mercedes.
Just looked it up, the difference isn't big but Merc and BMW seem to manage 10-11m, but only on the RWD models. Audi is 12, as well as the 4WD 3 series and C class. So the turning radius should be unrelated.
Tbh, you get used to it and it's only on full lock at crawling speeds.
That said, the C-class and E-class I've seen had some crazy lock going on, seems to be a thing with Mercedes.
Just looked it up, the difference isn't big but Merc and BMW seem to manage 10-11m, but only on the RWD models. Audi is 12, as well as the 4WD 3 series and C class. So the turning radius should be unrelated.
kambites said:
I don't think it is "wrong" as such. Modern cars generally don't run pure Ackerman geometry for handling reasons
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I think one could argue it's just another disadvantage of the current fashion for enormous wheels and rubber-band type tyres.
Absolutely! If these cars were on engineering-led 225/55 16 or 225/50 17 like they would have been 10 or 15 years ago we wouldn't have these fashion-induced phenomena....
I think one could argue it's just another disadvantage of the current fashion for enormous wheels and rubber-band type tyres.
MrBarry123 said:
swisstoni said:
How often does any car spend on full lock? Seems a fair bit of fuss about not much unless I'm missing something, which isn't out of the question.
Quite and no, I don't think you are.Black Edition A5 models (those with the 19" Rotor design alloys) also do it. My step-father mentioned it to me previously as his does it, I showed him this thread. My Scirocco also did it yesterday.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=133...
As already stated earlier, my understanding of the reason why is that when at full lock, due to Ackerman steering geometry, the inside front tyre has a smaller contact point with the road in comparison with the outside front tyre as the inside front tyre is turning "tighter". Therefore, and especially when it's cold, said tyre struggles to find grip in comparison with the outside front tyre, hence the skipping sensation, which is the result of the inside front tyre "fighting" with the outside front tyre and losing the grip war.
Should any owners be concerned, on a flat piece of tarmac, go to full lock, get out and have a look at the contact point of both tyres. The inside tyre's contact point will be narrower than the outside tyre's.
It's really nothing to worry about unless you spend your entire day circumnavigating mini-roundabouts and/or like submitting fanciful tyre wear claims to Mercedes.
ZesPak said:
That said, the C-class and E-class I've seen had some crazy lock going on, seems to be a thing with Mercedes.
Totally agree, the turning circle of my C-Class is superb. It's one of those features you take for granted very quickly, but seems obviously annoying when hopping into another car that can't match it (and yes, I am looking at you, Volvo V70..).
No wonder the taxi drivers love 'em
cowboyengineer said:
my old Porsche Boxster and cayman did this on full lock too. and they are only 2 wheel drive
Yep, my 981 Cayman S does it pulling off the drive on full lock. 2 friends with a Boxster and a Cayman R have experienced it too. Once the tyres have warmed up, no problem.My 987 Boxster Spyder on Michelin PS2 does this and I think my previous Cayman S did it also.
As referenced earlier in the replies I thought this was a well known occurrence to do with the tyre construction with the treads 'skipping'.
At first I thought it felt like the tyres rubbing against the walls of the wheel well and the noise is a bit uncomfortable. But just wind off a little bit of lock and it eases.
It's not often it does it.
Not sure why Merc is being attacked so much about it.
As referenced earlier in the replies I thought this was a well known occurrence to do with the tyre construction with the treads 'skipping'.
At first I thought it felt like the tyres rubbing against the walls of the wheel well and the noise is a bit uncomfortable. But just wind off a little bit of lock and it eases.
It's not often it does it.
Not sure why Merc is being attacked so much about it.
GranCab said:
S'funny how this hasn't been discussed before as it transpires many 2WD cars suffer from it and have done for a few years.
I suspect it's a combination of expectations of mechanical refinement rising and this particular car suffering from it to a greater extent than most. It seems to be a very common thing on quattro drive Audis, especially on greasy, cold surfaces, like we have been having recently. As many Mercedes customers are starting to get 4WD as an option in the UK now (this wasn't available on many of the non SUV range, as it was in continental Europe), it feels strange and therefore wrong.
Dear Mercedes drivers.....it's fine, nothing to worry about. Bring on the summer and you will forget it ever happened.
Dear Mercedes drivers.....it's fine, nothing to worry about. Bring on the summer and you will forget it ever happened.
Have had this on B8 RS4 with 20 inch wheels and p zeros, alleviated by fitting 19 inch winter wheels with dunlop wintersports, I get it also on my 991 with 20 inch wheels and p zeros, had it to a limited extent as well in my previous B7 RS4 with dunlop sportmaxx but nowhere near as bad. From my experience I agree with what Merc say, it is not exclusively a 4wd thing - definitely temperature related and made more noticeable the lower the profile and the wider the tyre. Not sure what the brand is on all C43 but would be interesting if P Zero is more prone to it than other tyre models (I hate the P zero but have no 'n' rated choice).
lots of cars do this with wide low pofoile tyres, my pug 106 does it (as have lots of cars i have fitted wider wheels and tyre to) on tight lock turns, nothing to worry about except it leaves you to wonder if the manufacturer really thought out the downsides of "suping" up a lower end version of a vehical 
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