[Aroy]

Low profile tyres are excellent for smooth highways as they are lighter and run cool at high speeds. The only problem is that as the height of the sidewall is less, they will absorb road shocks less than a high profile tyre, which may result in more damage on bad roads.

In case you find that the 225/45/17 tyres are prone to damage (or deteriorate faster) in your day to day run, then the only recourse is to increase the sidewall height - change to higher profile tyre on 16 inch rims. The nearest sizes based on the outer diameter of tyres are
1. 225/50/16
2. 250/45/16
Both the tyres will increase the sidewall height from 3.99 tp 4.43 inches, giving you a better cushion

[lurker]

Maybe it's not about the tires at all, it is very much possible that they have revamped the suspension and cut corners somewhere and transferred more stress onto the front tires.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by lurker

Maybe it's not about the tires at all, it is very much possible that they have revamped the suspension and cut corners somewhere and transferred more stress onto the front tires.

Does not matter, as ultimately the tyres are the first point contact with the road and are supposed to smoothen out the road undulation. The rougher the road the higher should the sidewall be to absorb normal shocks. That is why OTR vehicles use high profile tyres with thicker sidewalls.

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Dear Tumbler - hello to you. Can you please post some photographs of the failure mode of your car tires and two more photographs, one of the load rating and the second of the country of manufacture as embossed on the sidewall. Please also mention your car's UW, FAW, RAW and GVW. I know that you have got standard replies etc. (as expected, no point in debating), I want to learn, this data will help me to understand and analyse a premium product application like this one, hence requesting.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

[srishiva]

I can understand your concern vis a vis MB. Why would they have a bad tyre combination being offered as OEM ? They need to take the blame since you say its not a specific problem only with your car.

Now I hope you stop using the said tyres and move on to something better as suggested and enjoy your car. Its really difficult to drive slowly over or around potholes since you never know when you will hit them. I have hit numerous ones and haven't had a problem with my tyres and so might have countless others in this country.

[DuHasstMich]

My cousin faced the same problem with his CLA, as mentioned by Tumbler. The first time two tires had bulges on the sides, which were replaced for free since the last was <1 year old. The second time, the 3rd tire also got a bulge(again within 1 year of ownership) and was reported to MB, however no action was initiated from their end.
Soon enough that tire burst while driving and MB completely washed their hands off. The reason given by Conti was that the bulge and the tire burst were at 2 different spots and they are not responsible.
I fail to understand how such known problems are being ignored by MB, and why they continue to sell such delicate beauties which cannot even sustain themselves on Metro roads.

[GTO]

Sigh, I just hate this new trend of big wheels + low profile tyres as the combination is simply unsuitable for our broken roads. Even on my 530d, although the 18" rims look awesome, I'd much rather be running the 520d's 17" rim size. Luckily, the Continental runflats on my 530d seem to be robust. The car has done over a dozen highway trips so far and has inevitably taken 2 - 3 hard knocks from unexpected potholes. No bulging though. In fact, it's one of the reasons that I might replace these tyres with runflats (as much as I hate runflats). The stronger sidewalls are a boon on Indian roads when you're running low profile tyres.

You should probably look at another brand of tyre as the Continental model you're running is too soft / delicate. Look at Michelin PS3s. I ran the same for 3 years on my Civic (also on 17s) and didn't face any issue.

Originally Posted by surgvij

Hi Tumbler, even I would like to add that blaming the car or the car manufacturer for a side wall damage is not fair.

Why not? Who chose this tyre size? Who chose this brand? Mercedes.

As Akshay1234 posted, Mercedes eventually acknowledged their mistake by equipped the later A-Class with 16" rims.

Originally Posted by Epic

Another option is just changing to a different spec of tyre on the 17" rims itself with increased side wall height.

Are your current tyres 225/45/R17? If yes, maybe you can look at a 215/50/R17 (Pirelli & Michelin).

Please don't! And especially not on a German car which are built to very tight specifications.

Originally Posted by RohanDheman

Try shifting to nitrogen

Nitrogen offers zero benefits and will not make any difference here.

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

Please also mention your car's UW, FAW, RAW and GVW.

Behram, a lot of European car owners have suffered in India due to poor tyre choices (including by Jaguar). BMW is the only one who's had it a bit easy due to their runflats (and thus, stronger sidewalls).

[Epic]

Originally Posted by Epic

Another option is just changing to a different spec of tyre on the 17" rims itself with increased side wall height.

Are your current tyres 225/45/R17? If yes, maybe you can look at a 215/50/R17 (Pirelli & Michelin).

Originally Posted by GTO

Please don't! And especially not on a German car which are built to very tight specifications.

What exactly are the drawbacks of going for a higher profile tyre on a German car?

[reignofchaos]

Actually Mercedes itself shifted from 17" to 16" in the A-Class facelift for a better more supple ride.

So they were probably aware of this issue and took remedial measures.

I guess shifting to the new facelift's 16" rims and tyres might not be a bad idea.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Epic

What exactly are the drawbacks of going for a higher profile tyre on a German car?

Extremely slim clearances. They design & build to exacting specifications. In this case, the wheel well. You'll be surprised to see the very thin gap between the tyre & wheel well in my 530d & C220, both.

Another reason is the expensive parts. If anything goes wrong, the bills usually start in 6 figures .