2 cracked alloys and 6 damaged tyres in 15 months
Discussion
keelbyfish said:
My point is why do they supply them if its obvious?
Because people buy them. If they didn't buy them off Merc, they'd buy them aftermarket.keelbyfish said:
Im a middle aged fish merchant and to me it wasn't obvious or I wouldn't have opted for them.
Really? It came as a big surprise to you that a tyre with a sidewall > < this thick would pass on more impact from poor road surfaces than one with a much taller sidewall? Or it came as a surprise that road surfaces are poor?swagmeister said:
I would say that for at least the past 8-10 years of this, I have always ran 18, 19 and 20" alloys with the usual rubber band tyres, and in 31 years I have never cracked an alloy nor damaged a tyre as a result of poor roads. Yes they are in a mess I agree.
So if your next car cracked several alloys on those same roads, with your same driving style, what then?Th number of tyres that the OP has trashed does imply this is something other than (or maybe in addition to..) just defective rims, but defective rims DO exist. The problem is always proving it.
Nickyboy said:
As said, why would Mercedes pay?
You've managed to hit the potholes and damage the wheels/tyres, i've managed 20 years driving without damaging either so how on earth have you managed 6 tyres and 2 wheels in barely a year?
Oh pYou've managed to hit the potholes and damage the wheels/tyres, i've managed 20 years driving without damaging either so how on earth have you managed 6 tyres and 2 wheels in barely a year?
s off!Different parts of the country are affected more than others when it comes to potholes and Theres no reason not to have a nice car with nice FACTORY wheels.
Roads ARE NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE!
OP i feel for you, I have had problems too but its not mercedes fault. Our roads are s
tSurprised nobodies mentioned actually taking action against whoever is responsible for maintenance of the road where the damaged occurred.
Urban roads its the local authority not sure for trunk roads and motorways(highway agency?)
Sons done it twice for 19" BMW wheels. !st one took nearly 2 years to get payout and think you have to get evidence that the Authority knew about the pothole and he took photos of them shortly after damage was done.
(Obviously not possible on a Motorway). Sure if you google it you will find procedure. .Paid out above £1500 in total local authority passed him round houses for 1st claim on second he just said cough up or small claims court.
May be too late now to do anything but at least you will know what to do next time.
Having said that think I would have just bought smaller dia wheels/.tyres with non runflats and left Merc. ones in garage until car had to be handed back.
Edit- then flog smaller dia. wheels and tyres on Ebay/gumtree
Urban roads its the local authority not sure for trunk roads and motorways(highway agency?)
Sons done it twice for 19" BMW wheels. !st one took nearly 2 years to get payout and think you have to get evidence that the Authority knew about the pothole and he took photos of them shortly after damage was done.
(Obviously not possible on a Motorway). Sure if you google it you will find procedure. .Paid out above £1500 in total local authority passed him round houses for 1st claim on second he just said cough up or small claims court.
May be too late now to do anything but at least you will know what to do next time.
Having said that think I would have just bought smaller dia wheels/.tyres with non runflats and left Merc. ones in garage until car had to be handed back.
Edit- then flog smaller dia. wheels and tyres on Ebay/gumtree
Edited by twokcc on Thursday 19th July 13:08
XMT said:
Oh ps off!
Different parts of the country are affected more than others when it comes to potholes and Theres no reason not to have a nice car with nice FACTORY wheels.
Roads ARE NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE!
OP i feel for you, I have had problems too but its not mercedes fault. Our roads are st
Yes, it IS a good reason not to buy something on ridiculous 35 profile rubber.s off!Different parts of the country are affected more than others when it comes to potholes and Theres no reason not to have a nice car with nice FACTORY wheels.
Roads ARE NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE!
OP i feel for you, I have had problems too but its not mercedes fault. Our roads are s
tAre our roads s
t? Perhaps. But this is hardly a surprise, nor is it anything particularly new, and you'd whinge like buggery at the tax rises needed to put the kind of investment you want in to them.TooMany2cvs said:
Are our roads st? Perhaps. But this is hardly a surprise, nor is it anything particularly new, and you'd whinge like buggery at the tax rises needed to put the kind of investment you want in to them.
Would any such tax rises be necessary if the government spent all of our existing road taxes purely on the roads?t? Perhaps. But this is hardly a surprise, nor is it anything particularly new, and you'd whinge like buggery at the tax rises needed to put the kind of investment you want in to them.disad-vantage-d said:
TooMany2cvs said:
Are our roads st? Perhaps. But this is hardly a surprise, nor is it anything particularly new, and you'd whinge like buggery at the tax rises needed to put the kind of investment you want in to them.
Would any such tax rises be necessary if the government spent all of our existing road taxes purely on the roads?t? Perhaps. But this is hardly a surprise, nor is it anything particularly new, and you'd whinge like buggery at the tax rises needed to put the kind of investment you want in to them.disad-vantage-d said:
TooMany2cvs said:
Are our roads st? Perhaps. But this is hardly a surprise, nor is it anything particularly new, and you'd whinge like buggery at the tax rises needed to put the kind of investment you want in to them.
Would any such tax rises be necessary if the government spent all of our existing road taxes purely on the roads?t? Perhaps. But this is hardly a surprise, nor is it anything particularly new, and you'd whinge like buggery at the tax rises needed to put the kind of investment you want in to them.XMT said:
Roads ARE NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE!....Our roads are st
Barring landslides, collapsed sewers, being washed away and the like, the roads are perfectly fit for purpose. Whether they are as good as they should be, people drive appropriately or buy appropriate vehicles is a different matter.tSuspect that the 30% profile is not the key issue. Think it a combination of this low profile coupled with runflat technology.
Many of us know that runflats dissipate energy (impact or shock) in a different way to conventional compound/structure.
Would take a punt that the cracks were on the inside of the affected alloy wheels.
OP - would hazard a guess that your spec of car comes in 18" also. Why not buy a set eg off of Ebay and buy decent rubber. Would be amazed if the car was not type approved with 18s also. The tyres on the AT may be specials.
Many of us know that runflats dissipate energy (impact or shock) in a different way to conventional compound/structure.
Would take a punt that the cracks were on the inside of the affected alloy wheels.
OP - would hazard a guess that your spec of car comes in 18" also. Why not buy a set eg off of Ebay and buy decent rubber. Would be amazed if the car was not type approved with 18s also. The tyres on the AT may be specials.
foxbody-87 said:
havoc said:
The UK retail arm of the mfrs know full well what UK roads are like. But their marketing departments insist on pushing oversized alloys so as to make more money.
I'd say the mfrs DO have a responsibility, quite frankly.
(And yes, the councils and HA have arguably greater responsibility)
Manufacturers sell what the public demand, and the public demand huge wheels that are totally impractical. I would not entertain low-profile tyres given the road quality where I live, but many do and inevitably you see their wheels mashed to buggery (if you can see past the encrusted brake dust). That said, if nobody complained about damaged wheels the council would be even less inclined to do anything!I'd say the mfrs DO have a responsibility, quite frankly.
(And yes, the councils and HA have arguably greater responsibility)
...and then the marketing and advertising guys insist on photos with the optional bigger wheel on (and demonstrators loaded with options) as "they look better", and the salesmen up-selling (to hit targets) by suggesting resale will be harmed if you spec the (often s
te looking) smaller wheels....so by the time the customer submits their order form they've been 'nudged' on several different occasions by the corporate machine.
The other part of the problem is damper design...or rather lack thereof by a lot of manufacturers. Look at e.g. Alpina, who can do witchcraft with apparently ridiculous rubber-band tyres, for an example of how to do damper tuning properly. Then look at the Audi of 5-10 years ago for an example of how not to even come close. Or Vauxhall since...well, almost ever.
havoc said:
Erm, that'll be because stylists create concepts with even sillier wheels...
Actually, you missed the first step. Many of these trends start from the aftermarket, 'style leaders', attention seekers and the like, manufacturers then capitalise on them when they become sufficiently profitable. As the comment above, people don't have to be stupid/unimaginative/sheep-like enough to jump on the bandwagon unless they want to.
T5R+ said:
Suspect that the 30% profile is not the key issue. Think it a combination of this low profile coupled with runflat technology.
Many of us know that runflats dissipate energy (impact or shock) in a different way to conventional compound/structure.
Would take a punt that the cracks were on the inside of the affected alloy wheels.
OP - would hazard a guess that your spec of car comes in 18" also. Why not buy a set eg off of Ebay and buy decent rubber. Would be amazed if the car was not type approved with 18s also. The tyres on the AT may be specials.
Indeed the crack is always on the inside of the affected wheel. Many of us know that runflats dissipate energy (impact or shock) in a different way to conventional compound/structure.
Would take a punt that the cracks were on the inside of the affected alloy wheels.
OP - would hazard a guess that your spec of car comes in 18" also. Why not buy a set eg off of Ebay and buy decent rubber. Would be amazed if the car was not type approved with 18s also. The tyres on the AT may be specials.
Not sure where i would stand in terms of the warranty by putting wheels Ive bought off ebay. My other concern with ebay is that some of the sellers are buying cracked alloys, getting them repaired and tarting them up and then selling them on.
At the end of the day why should i have to go through all this hassle. I'm astounded the dealership haven't even asked to look at the damage. It really is the quality of customer service you'd expect from a budget airline rather than a supposedly high end car manufacturer. Its particularly annoying when i get the salesman phoning me periodically checking I'm happy with my vehicle. When i explain I'm not, he says he'll pass my comments onto the service manager, then i hear nothing!!
keelbyfish said:
At the end of the day why should i have to go through all this hassle.
Well, you say "an E-Class with AMG alloys" - but the only one that comes with 20" as standard is the E63S. Even the vanilla E63 is "only" on 19"... So is that what we're talking about, or is this an option that you actively chose because of cosmetic reasons?TooMany2cvs said:
keelbyfish said:
At the end of the day why should i have to go through all this hassle.
Well, you say "an E-Class with AMG alloys" - but the only one that comes with 20" as standard is the E63S. Even the vanilla E63 is "only" on 19"... So is that what we're talking about, or is this an option that you actively chose because of cosmetic reasons?Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff