Discussion
catso said:
A friend of mine has a fabrications business and is a particularly good welder. He repairs many alloy wheels, the vast majority of which are BMW..
Mate of mine went through a total of 6 alloy wheels with his 335d, which was bought new from the dealer and cossetted (i.e. never kerbed, nor bumped up and down kerbs, nor taken over speedbumps at any more than a crawl). Not fit for purpose. Nezquick said:
Jarcy said:
I suffered a cracked wheel on my 9 month old BMW. I only found out because I thought I had a slow puncture.
To my lay-man's eyes, the crack was clearly a manufacture fault as it had cracked outwards (as opposed to inwards as you might expect if the wheel had suffered a blow). And of course I know that the car had not been driven over an undue curb or pothole.
However BMW were not interested in paying for the rim, nor was the lease company.
Very common with BMW alloys, especially the larger ones (19" and above). BMW simply will not entertain any claims even though they clearly have an issue with numerous styles of alloy wheel. The 326 style alloy on the E89 Z4 was terrible for cracking.To my lay-man's eyes, the crack was clearly a manufacture fault as it had cracked outwards (as opposed to inwards as you might expect if the wheel had suffered a blow). And of course I know that the car had not been driven over an undue curb or pothole.
However BMW were not interested in paying for the rim, nor was the lease company.
If I was the OP I'd approach the dealer you bought it from and see how it goes, the worst they can say is no.
PH XKR said:
.......Fortunately I didn't have run flats nor need them but the sidewalls are ridiculously thin. Next time round I am going to see if I can work out a safe replacement with more sidewall
If you raise the height of the sidewall to a suitable degree by going to a higher profile, how are you going to maintain the same rolling radius?Willy Nilly said:
why do we bother with alloy wheels when they are such an expensive pain in the arse?
Thank you for calling wheels wheels.I'm sure BMW don't make the wheels any more than Jaguar do. They may well use the same supplier.
I'm not a metallurgist but it wouldn't surprise me if welding up the cracks creates other problems since it likely changes the structure of the alloy and leaves residual stresses local to the weld.
4rephill said:
PH XKR said:
.......Fortunately I didn't have run flats nor need them but the sidewalls are ridiculously thin. Next time round I am going to see if I can work out a safe replacement with more sidewall
If you raise the height of the sidewall to a suitable degree by going to a higher profile, how are you going to maintain the same rolling radius?PH XKR said:
4rephill said:
PH XKR said:
.......Fortunately I didn't have run flats nor need them but the sidewalls are ridiculously thin. Next time round I am going to see if I can work out a safe replacement with more sidewall
If you raise the height of the sidewall to a suitable degree by going to a higher profile, how are you going to maintain the same rolling radius?If you want taller side walls, you'll need smaller diameter wheels. This site ( https://www.wheel-size.com/calc/ ) is great to see the difference in rolling circumference , and what alternative tyre sizes can be used with wheels.
As a note, I accidentally fitted some taller sized tyres to the rear of my Boxster, only a few percent bigger, but it definitely blunts the off the line performance.
herewego said:
Willy Nilly said:
why do we bother with alloy wheels when they are such an expensive pain in the arse?
Thank you for calling wheels wheels.I'm sure BMW don't make the wheels any more than Jaguar do. They may well use the same supplier.
I'm not a metallurgist but it wouldn't surprise me if welding up the cracks creates other problems since it likely changes the structure of the alloy and leaves residual stresses local to the weld.
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