Tires: Tire guide, utqg treadwear, target value

Question
I have a 2001 E430. Live in hilly area. This car eats tires maybe 12000 miles a year and need new ones. What would be the best tire under these circumstances. More interested for safety and longevity than performance

Answer
Tim,

The real problem is the hills.  Most tire wear occurs in cornering - and you do a lot of it.

So first step would be to back down the speed you take corners.  The next step would be to select a tire with a higher UTQG treadwear rating.  The problem is going to be that in order to get a higher treadwear rating, the traction has to be sacrificed - especially wet traction.

And lastly - get an alignment.  Even a little bit of toe is going to cause your tires to wear quickly.

My experience says that the published alignment tolerances are too wide.  Not the target value, but the allowable deviation from that value.  I think it ought to be half of what is published.

Put another way, the alignment should be within the inner half of the spec.

You should be aware that even vehicles that do not have a pull can be out of alignment.  There are settings where one out of spec condition is offset by another out of spec condition – typically camber vs toe.