Dunlop Sport A2 wear after 12K miles

[BillH]

After purchasing a 1999 C230K in October of 2002, I replaced the tires with Dunlop Sport A2s. My local tire chain (Hibdon's Tires Plus)did a front-end alignment and balanced all tires at the time of purchase. I have kept the tires inflated as per Mercedes' recommendations and they have never been overinflated. After one year and 12K miles, I had the tires rotated and balanced. I noticed that the tire that had been on the driver's front showed increased wear on the outside. The tire that had been on the passenger left rear has increased wear in the middle of the tread. The other two tires look good. I don't want to replace two Dunlops after only 20-30K miles. What's the problem?

[savas]

I don't know exactly what the problem is but I would start with getting a 4 wheel alignment done at the dealer.

[Luke@tirerack]

sounds like some wear in the suspension components to me

Don't feel too bad, the set of SP A2's that I had on my wifes C230 only lasted 13k miles, and the car was aligned when they were installed!! I can assure you Dunlops will never be on any of my cars again, not only because of the short life span but they were not good in the rain. Also when coming to a stop they would follow every groove in the road to the point I had to hang onto the steering wheel tight at every stop. Not GOOD!!!

[savas]

I agree that they are very very loud and are not very good in the rain. I wouldn't get them again. However, my set lasted 40K and wore relatively evenly.

[BillH]

Thanks for your responses. Would a four wheel alignment address the problem of wear on the center of a rear wheel? I purchased the Dunlops based on decent reviews and comments made in this forum and the Tirerack site. The car is my wife's and I don't drive it very much, but I have noticed the tires are loud at highway speeds. I guess I can't fault the tires if the increased wear is due to my car's condition (worn suspension, etc), but the car doesn't seem to handle or ride poorly, so I'll have to get that checked out. I'm disappointed, I thought I was getting a decent set of tires. Any recommendations for replacement tires at approximately the same cost when the time comes?

do you have the sport package on your 99 C230? If so I would recommend the conti-extremes, what an awesome tire!! If not then everyone here is raving about the kumho's, might want to give them a try. I know I'm going to on my 95 E320 just to get back a soft ride. I love the 16" conti-extremes I installed several months ago on 16" wheels but they aren't very well suited for my cars ride (factory suspension).

I've been quite satisfied with the sets of D60A2 that I've put on my middle daughter's SAAB and Audi, the older son's Audi, and the '83 Toyota Celica (on 2nd set) that my youngest daughter drives. I expected to sacrifice some tread life span for maximum grip's sake within what my budget could manage, and I got what I wanted: really good handling and about 35,000 miles per set at the minimum; more like 50,000 on the SAAB, and they aren't anywhere near the wear bars yet.