Good afternoon everyone,
I've posted numerous times previously about tire related issues with our GL550. At around $2000 to replace them on the car (295/40/21), it was frustrating to learn that I could have prolonged the life of the recent Continental's had I known/considered this before. By driving for long stretches with the GL in sport mode (ours was full-time), you are putting the camber of the car out of whack and reducing the tire life drastically. We drove less than 20k on the most recent tires before the inner walls were gone.
I recently had the car in for an alignment after putting brand new tires on. They could not get the camber corrected without adding eccentric bolts. However, while standing there considering spending the money on the bolts, I realized that we always keep the car in "Sport" mode. I climbed up on the lift, got in the car while up there, and pushed the button to take sport off. The techs and I all watched real-time as the shop's computer program adjusted and the car was in perfect alignment out of sport mode. When in sport mode the camber was way out of alignment, then it was instantly perfect. This is just a friendly caution if you're as ignorant as I apparently was to use the different airmatic modes judiciously. The ride is comfortable in all of them. I had rotated the tires twice in the less than 20k we'd put on it too, so that won't help.
Incidentally, there are other less expensive options now for this tire size that weren't available when I'd last replaced them. At that time there were only Pirelli Scorpions and Continental Conti's. I replaced ours with Lexani's that are made in this size now after researching them a bit. So far, they perform just as well as the Continental's had, look nice, and are quiet. The total for all four was $645, including shipping across the country from CA to the northeast.
TL/DR - Don't stay full-time in "sport" airmatic mode, or you'll replace tires faster. Consider Lexani tires when you replace your Pirelli/Continentals.
I've posted numerous times previously about tire related issues with our GL550. At around $2000 to replace them on the car (295/40/21), it was frustrating to learn that I could have prolonged the life of the recent Continental's had I known/considered this before. By driving for long stretches with the GL in sport mode (ours was full-time), you are putting the camber of the car out of whack and reducing the tire life drastically. We drove less than 20k on the most recent tires before the inner walls were gone.
I recently had the car in for an alignment after putting brand new tires on. They could not get the camber corrected without adding eccentric bolts. However, while standing there considering spending the money on the bolts, I realized that we always keep the car in "Sport" mode. I climbed up on the lift, got in the car while up there, and pushed the button to take sport off. The techs and I all watched real-time as the shop's computer program adjusted and the car was in perfect alignment out of sport mode. When in sport mode the camber was way out of alignment, then it was instantly perfect. This is just a friendly caution if you're as ignorant as I apparently was to use the different airmatic modes judiciously. The ride is comfortable in all of them. I had rotated the tires twice in the less than 20k we'd put on it too, so that won't help.
Incidentally, there are other less expensive options now for this tire size that weren't available when I'd last replaced them. At that time there were only Pirelli Scorpions and Continental Conti's. I replaced ours with Lexani's that are made in this size now after researching them a bit. So far, they perform just as well as the Continental's had, look nice, and are quiet. The total for all four was $645, including shipping across the country from CA to the northeast.
TL/DR - Don't stay full-time in "sport" airmatic mode, or you'll replace tires faster. Consider Lexani tires when you replace your Pirelli/Continentals.