Andy B

I've just received a message to say Mercedes are unable to build my GLC43 with the 21" inch wheels as they are currently unavailable. They also say the 20" wheels are unavailable, so it's the 19's and nothing else.

Has as anyone else been told this? I have a December build slot and now have to decide if I let that go in the hope the wheels are available in a month or two, but currently Mercedes are unable to confirm when they will be available again. To be honest this would be a deal breaker for me as I love the car with the bigger wheels and with the air suspension I don't think the ride quality is too compromised.

Not it a happy customer at the moment!!

sti-tom

We tried putting our order in early September here in Canada. They said the wheels were unavailable and that they couldn't even enter our order because of that. A couple of weeks ago they were finally able to submit the order with the 21s, but delivery won't be until March. My wife is not a happy camper as we sold our GL350 over a month ago before the warranty ran out and now she is stuck driving my F150 until the new GLC43 shows up.

Andy B

Do you know when your build slot is?

If necessary I'll cancel my December one and wait for a slot next year if the wheels are likely to be available then.

Many thanks

sti-tom

I am not positive but I think it is January.

Andy B

Thanks. I'll have another conversation about it tomorrow

Widman

I also ordered the 43 AMG this month with 21" wheels, the dealer was to modify their Nov allocation to my specs and then confirmed that the wheels were delayed till Jan, but then later called back and made an allocation swap with another dealer who had 21" and swapped with the 20". Still waiting to see when it will be built this month, so am expecting a Jan delivery.

gobiman

Oh dear! Not good.
I'm not surprised. I ordered and really like the 19s as standard here in the UK but for the last 3 months I've struggled to find pictures of the car online with them - at least half are wearing 21s, the rest 20s.
I suspect that they have been caught out by the popularity - they look good and the upgrade price is modest. Most of the dealer cars for sale here and in Germany are wearing them. Also I see that the new E43 (starting to build in December) has them. It may be a different size/offset but certainly the same style and probably the same supplier - now working flat out!
Good luck - don't forget car tax changes here (for the worse) in April

rexgold

Glad I got mine then in time.. they do look good on the car... Is it just that they haven't made enough of them or is there something else to do with this??

dejongj

Is there a choice of colour for the North America market? In the UK we have two different 21" wheel options.

Andy B

Ok, here's what I've found out today.

My broker, as I will lease the car through my business, has spoken to the MB dealer he's using, in Cambridge I believe, and has been told that Mercedes UK are unable to give any idea when the 21" wheels will be available again. However from the conversation he had with the dealer they have indicated they would expect them to be available again early in the new year.

We we have decided to play safe and go for a March build slot for April delivery. This isn't too bad for me as my current lease deal runs until March anyway and I can always extend that a month.

Would have been been nice to get the car early but I'd rather wait and get the spec I want and not compromise. I will be interested to hear anyone else's experience with ordering these wheels and even more interested to hear when they are available again! The interminable wait just got a little longer so will be very keen to hear the thoughts and see the pics of those lucky enough to already be proud owners!!

MaxFactor

Be careful what you wish for.

21" are great looking, but the worse drive. Looks are subjective but the drive is what it is. Forward and reverse acute manoeuvres at low speed (reversing out of your drive, turning in a multi-storey, parking generally) sends shockwaves through the steering as the pent up friction is released in a series of severe popping thuds. What will that do to the components after a couple of years? The steering has a reluctance to self-centre, you need a good bit of elbow power to unwind the steering. Bad news entering a new road from a turning at speed. And on concrete sections of the motorway at 70 mph you have to shout to be heard over the screaming noise.
(Note the 43 has some slight different steering components to the other variants. Also note worse case is when the tyres are cold).

In anticipation of those who’ll say “what did you expect”, I’d say well I’m no expert - but not this. The drive characteristics of these wheels/tyres might be ok on a track car but are just wrong for what is a premium road car, for me.

Of course the driving I’m talking about is just a small % of the overall journey and many will be happy to tolerate this characteristic for the overall experience of a 43 on the best looking wheels.

I’d appreciate hearing feedback from any 43 drivers on 20” wheels.

Max

gobiman

I'm more interested in comfort and went with the 19s which I like the look of.
However I did notice that both UK test cars (auto express and autocar) were on 19s - did make me wonder if MB didn't fancy 21s on UK roads.

dejongj

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the comfort of the 21" wheels. For Pete's sake it's got airmatic suspension with lots of different settings and it is an AMG

The last three years were also on 21" wheels and no issues what so ever on my Mercedes.

However I do have the "crabbing" on this GLC43 AMG which is not acceptable and not normal. It is going in on Tuesday to my local AMG Performancr workshop for an investigation. To me it feels like gearbox wind which I used to get on dry roads with my old mechanical gearboxes. I did not experience this on my test drive on a diesel version with 21" wheels. I'm wondering whether it is the AMG software on the gearbox doing this. And possibly the true reason why 21" wheels are in short supply

Andy B

Hey Dejongj, you could be on to something there as I'm told Mercedes have been very vague as to the reason why the wheels are currently unavailable and the dealer has certainly been unable to give an explanation.

Now it could be they've proved to be very popular and thier suplier can't keep up with demand, on the other hand......

Hopefully all will become clear.

dejongj

I'll update on Tuesday...

rexgold

I agree with the issue of crabbing and this is the only issue I have found to be the problem. I do agree that it may cause a problem when getting into or out of a tight corner.. when I test drove a GLC 43 AMG with the 20" wheels, it was the same effect.. the crabbing was very much present so don't believe this is due to the size of the wheels..

I notice it very little when the tyres are warmed up.. it has just made me little more aware of how I make the turns. Apart from that, I have no issues with the ride at all.. loving the car though...

dejongj

The crabbing seems to become less for me. Yesterday I took it into a multi-storey carpark and it was non existent. I'm wondering whether the tyres are super sticky when new....Just thinking out loud...

I'm still taking it in tomorrow. Oh and it passed the granny test yesterday as well. She found it smoother than her Vauxhall Astra on 15" wheels

Andy B

It's worth keeping in mind that MB said the 20" wheels are also unavailable. I see bi-colour 20's are the same size as 21's (not profile, obvioulsy) so I do wonder if there is a problem with this wheel size causing technical issues, i.e. the crabbing and difficulty turning in tight areas.

Will also be interested to hear if anyone has difficulty ordering an AMG Line version with Night Pack as that specs the bi-colour 20's

rexgold

Hi @dejongj, any updates on this???

dejongj

Sorry, haven't had the chance to go in. Work got in the way, planning to go Friday afternoon now. It is becoming less and less noticeable now, I think the tyres are just super sticky...

Andy B

Have this morning had confirmation that my AMG43 now has a confirmed build slot in January for March delivery, and it's to my full spec, including the 21's 😄😄.

Seems very odd that only a week ago no-one knew what was happening but now all is ok, not that I'm complaining!

SawyerB

I tried ordering a 2017 AMG 43 in Cali and wanted to order the 21" AMG split wheels with black accents. When the dealer went to OK the order an error message read that we needed to choose a certain tire which we did but still received the same message. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thank you.

mleun481

I ordered a GLC43 and selected the 21" AMG Twin 5-Spoke Wheels w/ Black Accents (code 684). The only thing that was mandatory was selecting Summer High Performance Tires (R01). You still got an error when you chose those tires?

Philamg

When I ordered a GLC in December, I was told if I wanted 20 inch wheels it would put the order back 3 months as they weren't available.
I saw a GLC 43 coupe at the dealers today that had the 21 inch wheels on.

SawyerB

Thanks so much. Odd, I watched him select code 684 and then he did receive the warning it was mandatory to select Summer Tires code R01. When he did that he kept getting the same error. I actually called MB and they were so kind as to build it on the dealer web site over the phone and was able to build it with these wheels so we are thinking it was just an error at the time. I am going to try again at the dealer this Thursday. Thank you for the quick response and conrats on the new purchase. I can't wait to have my order completed.