Tire Bead Problems of Mercedes Benz E320

In June of 2011 I purchased a set of four michelin p215/60r16 primacy mxv4 tires for my 2005 Mercedes Benz E320 automobile. In July of 2014 one of the tires failed (lost air pressure while parked) while my wife and I were on a weekend trip out of town. The local tire shop that repaired the flat informed us that the tire could not be repaired – the sidewall had failed and the tire would need to be replaced. The failed michelin tire had been installed for 3 years and had 50% of the usable tread wear remaining (measured later by discount tire). We temporarily replaced the tire with a non-michelin tire and saved the failed michelin. When returning from our trip we took the failed michelin back to the discount tire shop where we had purchased the set. Using the road hazard guarantees when purchasing the set, discount tire replaced the failed michelin with a new michelin. While performing other vehicle maintenance in September of 2014 I observed a second michelin tire with a sidewall crack following the wheel bead for several inches before progressing radially. I again took the failed michelin back to the discount tire shop where we had purchased the set. The failed michelin tire had approximately 50% of the usable tread wear remaining. Using the road hazard guarantees when purchasing the set, discount tire replaced the failed michelin with a new michelin. In October of 2014 I purchased a used car with michelin tires installed. Since recently experiencing michelin tire failures I examined the used car michelins and, sure enough, I discovered a tire with three significant incipient sidewall failures. These sidewall failures of different year manufacture michelin tires seems to me to indicate a pattern of quality control problems. My limited experience with these failures seems to indicate that having the tire on a vehicle front position accelerates crack propagation. I would like to attach pictures of the tires (foot long crack - worst case).

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