Suspension of disbelief

I am getting conflicting information from Mercedes and my local dealership. The front tyres of my W210 E-Class are wearing badly on the inside. The dealer suggests that the front springs are changed and the car given a full wheel alignment. The springs have been checked and found to be in good condition. I wrote to Mercedes quoting you from a previous e-mail and part of their response was "it is our experience that issues with the suspension springs do not affect the tyre wear as they are not directly linked". Who is right?

Asked on 17 January 2009 by

Answered by Honest John

If the front spring hangers, or 'perches' as MB calls them, start to collapse through corrosion, then severely increased front tyre wear will result. Precisely this happened to the W210 of a friend of mine before MB admitted the reason and fixed the car free of charge. Though to expect MB to fix a 10-year-old car FOC is pushing it a bit.

Tags: wheels and tyres technical issues dealers owning

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