Cracked Alloys

[vanquish spirit]

Nightmare day yesterday! Took my wifes E 320CDI in for a worn tyre and the local tyre company showed me a crack in the wheel they were changing the trye and told me a rear wheel had 3 cracks in it. I am gobsnmacked. I have heard about German alloys being prone to this, but it sounds very dangerous to me. New wheels are £220 each . Will MB pay, the car is way out of warranty but we have owned it from new. Its a 2003 with 100,000 miles on the clock. I appreciate that it is a 7 year old car and it has done a large mileage, but in 30 years of driving I have never experienced a failure in quality in alloy wheels, and if I were MB I would be pretty sheepish about it as it potentially a serious accident waiting to happen. Any advice please?

[Biggriff]

Don't think MB will pay. Car is too old and they will claim you damaged them.

Be wary of buying second hand alloys unless you can get them crack tested as part of a refurb.

[vanquish spirit]

I feared that would be the upshot. I just wondered whether there is any precedent of owners being sucessful at getting them replaced. I guess if it was 4 years old we may stand a chance. Oh well more money out than in again!

[Dog Star]

Just get the cracks welded and all the wheels refurbed while you are at it.
Job done

(Seriously - just get them welded by a specialist)

[vanquish spirit]

you reckon they will be ok then? Spose they would be, and they certainly need a refurb!

[r129sl]

To be fair to MB it likely isn't their fault. The dumbo public demands ever bigger alloy wheels with ever lower profile tyres (hey, they look good, who cares whether they are good, give me blacked-out windows while you're at it); and the dumbo government allows the roads to break up such that they resemble the far side of the moon; it's no surprise the wheels crack.

The most appropriate wheel diameter for an E-Class is probably 16", not the 18" wheels that most are fitted with. Your E320 CDI came standard with 17" wheels (at least in the UK market), but even then, 100,000miles on appalling British roads will take its toll.

Edited by r129sl on Thursday 26th August 07:51

[vanquish spirit]

I do agree with you. I specced it with Sports Suspension but as its mainly for use on rural roads in Kent all of your comments apply. I guess I just was a bit shocked at the damage and the investment in the car, again! Its a great machine but eats tyres, I think we are on our 30 th tyre in the 100k miles. It always wears them on the inside edge, both front and back. I assume it is set up with lots of negative camber which is why it holds the road so well, but the tyres are seriously scarificial and it seems so are the wheels!

[Dog Star]

vanquish spirit said:

you reckon they will be ok then? Spose they would be, and they certainly need a refurb!

I don't have a problem with it - I had mine refurbed a while ago and one of them had a crack on the inside edge - the refurbers got it sorted. The weld is probably stronger than the original alloy.

[r129sl]

That's far too much tyre wear even for a car putting 400lb/ft torque through the rear wheels. It may be worth having an alignment check.

[vanquish spirit]

we did have an alignment check a while back, but with the bad roads its probably due another one. I will check out the welding option and sort it then I think. tx