Strange tire wear
 

Hello, all.

I recently put new tires on my '97 S420 (OEM size Conti ProContact). I took the car out on a 300+ mile road trip over the weekend, and when I returned, I noticed that the right front tire had a noticeable feathering on the outside edge. The other three tires had worn evenly and had no such feathering.

The car had an alignment done about 3,000 miles ago.

I noticed that I can feel a very slight vibration in the steering wheel at highway speeds and I had to keep the steering wheel pointed ever so slightly to the left to keep the car headed straight down the road. I'm not exactly sure if this could be considered a symptom or not since the roads I was driving on (mostly US routes, no interstate) had pretty good crowns on them.

I'd appreciate any insight or suggestions. Thanks.

who did the alignment?

if it was a Mercedes Dealer, see if they will take a look at a reduced fee to see if things are within spec. If your rims show no or little rash they can assume your particular about not bumping into curbs.

also double check your definition to make sure you meant to use the term FEATHERING and not CUPPING. Because the vibration and cupping may just mean that wheel needs a new balance.

The alignment was done at a dealer, so I might give them a call and ask them to take a peek.

Regarding the wear, I would definitely define it as feathered. On the outside edge of the tire, the front of each tread block is noticeably higher than the back. It feels like a curved ramp if you run your fingers over it.

I did a bit of poking around on google and here's a picture that represents what I'm talking about:

http://www.lasercannon.com/images/Z/.../myfeather.jpg

thats actually cupping and an out of balance tire may cause it, I GUESS first you chk the alignment for wear on a 1997 vehicle.

You did say a slight vibration, and I don't know if a slight imbalance can cause cupping or if it needs a more severe condition.