OT: Tire Question - Unusual wear Sumitomos
 

Based on recommendation from this board I put a set of Sumitomo HTRZIII's on my '05 MB E500... I'd been happy with their road manners and was thinking about getting some for my C2S next go round. I got about 20K from the first set until they started to rip appart on the inner edge (steel belt showing through)... still OK tread left on the rest of the tires (both front & rear).
I figured it was an alignment problem, so I got a 4 wheel alignment done and 4 new Sumi's.
16K miles later the rears are shredded on the inside again (with OK tread left throughout the rest of the tire. The wear looks as if they were on a car running outrageous negative camber. Running stock sizes - rears are 265/35-18 and fronts are 245/40-18's
Tire shop guy (at a different shop) told me the Sumi's just don't hold up well on heavy powerful cars like the E500. He said their internal construction just can't hold up to the stress, and recommended I go to a higher end tire. He's not just trying to upsell, b/c he sells the Sumi's and said he recommends them for lighter cars. This seems odd given the weight and power a 993 subjects the rears to.

Anyone here experienced such problem with the Sumitomos? Particularly disintegrating like that in the rears?
Or are they just 15K mile tires and that's that.

Had them on my E60 BMW 550i for 15k (at the time I turned it in on lease) and did not have anything like this problem. Also have a friend who runs them on his RS4 with no trouble.

My Sumi HTRZ IIIs are starting to show steel in the inner rears too, and I don't run heavy negative camber either. They also have about 15K miles on them, and are being replaced with new HTRZ IIIs.

I think 15K miles on 993 rear tires is acceptable, especially for a value tire like the Sumi HTRZ III.

Bridgestone S02 rears on my 993 wore quickly on the inside although the camber was correct, tyres needed changing after abt 5000 miles.

Changed to HTRZ IIIs. at the rear and after similar mileage with the same alignment show nothing like the S02 wear.

I think the SO2 is about twice the price of the Sumi's..............................

Thanks for the input guys.
I think I'm going to have to change the set up on my E500... it's a DD and I don't really want to buy new tires every 15K for that car. Maybe go to 17s and high mile tires. I'll save the high end rubber for the C2S which does much fewer miles each month.

It is. That's average wear.

That car needs at least a 275/35 18 to have the proper load capacity for its weight. The tires are really too small unless you are running them at higher pressures to compensate for the lack in air chamber volume. As a result they are building up too much heat and wearing out faster. Any camber outside of neutral is exacerbating the wear also. I believe your stock camber settings are 1-2 degrees.

Try the 275 next time and watch your pressure, I'm sure you will see a big increase in wear from them. ;)

The Sumi HTRZ's seem to be wearing normally on my C2, normal street alignment. Don't think I've ever gotten more than 15K out of the rears accross several brands or makes though. So far I'd say excellent value tire! Would try something different for the E500 though as you suggest and based on your experience.

Thanks Damon, I sent you an email w/ follow up questions.:thumbup:

LOL, I never got more than 5K on my rears with the cabrio :)
15K I would be jumping up and down with joy!