jmonjure

Hi everybody. My wife has an '05 SLK 350. She brought it in for some recall recently, and the dealership told her she needs to replace her tires. They're the Pirelli PZero Rosso tires and she's only got 8000 miles on them. Now, I'm a truck guy and I can admit I have no experience with sports cars and performance tires, but it looks like there's a ton of tread left on all 4 of the tires.

I'll gladly accept any info from you guys, since I know you all have a lot more experience with these tires, but it seems like an 8000 mile lifespan is absurd.

Thanks in advance.

ppower

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If there is tread left they are full of BS and trying work the wife over because they think you're naive. I had this happen back in the day to a girlfriend. A tire place told her she needed new tires when the old ones still had about 30-40% tread left on them. She had only gone in for a rotate. Well when I found out they rotated them right off the car, I went down there and found them on the used rack out front. I took and started taking them off the rack and putting them in my truck. The service manager came out and asked if I was buying them. I told them no, that I don't have to buy that which I already own. I then produced the receipt for the tires she had gotten and told him they took these off the car I had her bring to have them just rotated. Then told him in no terms that they are my tires and that I NEVER gave them or her permission to give them to the tire place and that they would be leaving with me and if they wanted they could call the police. He just nodded his head and went back inside and I left with the old tires, which we used after the new set that she didn't need wore out.

Pirelli P Zero Rosso tires are tread wear rated UTQG 220 for most which is a about a 15k mile tire. Of, course depending on how you drive. I have Nitto NT555RII tires on the rear of my Mustang and they are UTQG 100 rated and last about 5-7k miles. I beat on them some, but not all the time and I still get that much life out of them.

Pp

FishtailnZ

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As long as they're not down to the wear bars, they're good - sounds like someone's trying to make a quick buck. I've gotten about 10k miles on mine now and the rears are shot. Fronts are still in excellent shape though.

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Zeiser50

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Wear bars are the maximum allowable (by the law). In France (Michelin tyres), the thickness of these bars are 1.6mm.
Michelin, as safety recommendations, explains that 3.5 mm is the minimum of depth (specially for rainy weather).

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etyu

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A respectable tire place will use a tire wear depth gauge and show you exactly how much treadwear is left in terms of mm. I would go to an independent tire place (e.g., America's Tire Co.) and ask them to measure all 4 tires, then decide.

Btw, jmonjure, if you don't mind, please update your location. This helps those who may be replying to your post/questions.

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Eddy

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JoesSLK55

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I just purchased my SLK55 last month with 12,600 miles on it and failed Maryland State Inspection because the rear tires were down a just past the wear bars.

Be very careful when you buy the new tires there are different versions of the Pirelli PZero Rosso's one is specially made for the MB and it is stamped with an M on the outer sidewall of the tire. The difference is the Service Description (SD) witch includes the load rating and the speed rating the MB SD is 92Y. The non MB SD is 88Y this means they are designed for the XL extra heavy load.