Hi mate, Welcome to the site.
Lets go from the top -
1) You can see its starting to scrub up the inners there but that in itself is not bad the car has some negative camber from the start and its kinda hard to tell from the pic but you say it has plenty of tread left so i would not be too concerned about the front at the moment but see answer 4.
2) The alignment should only cost you a few hundred dollars maximum some places don't even charge a hundred but always have a dealership do the alignment MB use a points system for the settings and not many other places have the info to do it right.
3) You should never change just one side of the car i.e change the left and leave the right on but changing the fronts and leaving the backs is not so bad but not the best option really and if it where me i would do them all at the same time.
4) Potholes and such like are very bad for the car indeed and most strikes will put your alignment out now when most people think of the tracking being messed up they think of the car squirming all over the place but its not like that you will very rarely notice anything weird until your tires are ruined, the squirm you where feeling could just be the result of the suspension action but could also be a symptom of a bad alignment so it might be worth getting it checked.
5) Run-flats are slightly harder than the ordinary tire and they tend not to perform quite so well under stress i would use non run-flats but its your choice at the end of the day.
__________________ One thing you will learn with German cars - If it's simple it ain't happening. |