Tires: Rear Tire Wear, mercedes e300d, michelin tires

Question

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The text above is a follow-up to ...

Thank you for your reply.  Responses to your questions follow:

1.  The front tires are fine.  Rear tires show no cupping, no high spots, no rough edges and they have worn evenly.

2.  The tires are Michelin E-MXV4 Plus size 215/55HR16 which listed for $172 each.  They were computer balanced and full wheel alignment was done at the time of purchase.
I purchased the tires from Town Fair Tire.

3.  My vehicle is a 1998 Mercedes E300D 4 dr sedan - a fairly heavy car.  I keep it well maintained and it has 155,000 miles on it +/-.

4.  There have been no changes in the driving patterns.

5.  Town Fair Tire assessed the life of the tires.  They had no explanation for the wear.  Their receipt showed warranty only against workmanship.  No road hazard, no mileage w/o care and no mileage with care.  They would not give me their Michelin representative contact info for me to reach them for an opinion.

My prior set of tires (same brand and model) were installed 2002 and I got 3 yrs and 49,000 miles on them with no problems.  

I called 1-888-Michelin and hung on the line over an hour one day and I left the speaker phone on for 12 hours the next day and they never came to the phone - nice customer service,eh?  I'm very dissappointed in these Michelin's as I've used this brand of tire for years without incident.

Thanks for your help.   

Dee

-----Question-----
I put 4 new Michelin tires on my vehicle one year ago and after 11,000 miles, the rear tires have evenly worn out.  I rotate tires and check tire pressure as required.  I had a wheel alignment when the tires were put on.  I had the same tires the previous 5 years with over 50,000 miles.  What's happening?
-----Answer-----
Dee,

There appears to be a lot of information that isn't here that might provide a clue to what is going on.

1)  The rear tires are worn out but smoothly worn.  What about the fronts?

2)  The tires are the same as the previous set.  By same do you mean brand or is the line / design the same, too?  What design is it?

3)  What vehicle are we discussing - year / make / model?

4)  Has anything has in your driving changed?  (Other than the tires)  Is someone else driving the car?

5)  Has anyone look at the tires?  Did they come with a mileage warranty?

OK, that's a start.  Post back and we'll continue the investigation.

Answer
Dee,

1)  "The fronts are fine" - well, that doesn't tell me enough.  Are they half worn?  about 3/4 worn?  See, if they are 3/4 worn, then that probably means that at the end of the next rotation cycle, they would be worn out, too.

But if the fronts are half worn or less, then that probably means there is a problem with the rear axle alignment.

2)  OK, the new tires are Michelin E-MXV4 Plus.  But were the previous tires MXV4 Plus's, too?

3)  OK, a Mercedes, but I don't think it's the vehicle per se.  Some vehicles are known to be tire eaters, but Mercs aren't.

4)  OK, no change in driving habits and no new drivers.

5)  I looked up the warranty - and yup, no mileage warranty.

Overall I would say that there is something going on in the rear axle.  Alignment, worn bushings, something like that.  

Have an alignment done and ask the guy who does it to look carefully for things than might cause a tire wear problem and report what he finds.