818benz

Last month after heavy rains in CA, I drove slowly over a pothole that destroyed both my right tires. I was shocked because I noticed the pothole before and it wasn't too bad. My past cars have driven over way worse! Tires all had >7mm tread and inflated correctly.

The tow truck damaged the car and tried to deny it, so I had to have the dispatch company investigate. After going to leave an honest review on the tower's Yelp, I see another w206 owner had posted their experience from pothole damage!

Has anyone else had issues driving over potholes that normally wouldn't cause damage?

BenjaminKohl

Are you on 18 or 19 inch wheels?

818benz

Im on 18 inch 5 spoke with factory tires. The review I saw had 19 inch AMG multispokes.

W205C43PFL

​​​​​​​I was going to say to downsize but then I got surprised when you mentioned you have 18s, I mean even with run-flats 18s aren't supposed to be that vulnerable. What tire pressures were they inflated to?

bishop64

Maybe there is something nasty about that particular pothole what you did not notice?

Say, the exposed subbase could just somehow have some sharp aggregates and/or the exposed wire mesh with some pointy ends?

W205C43PFL

That is a good point.... I mean OP mentioned the other person complained about 19s damaging on potholes but then I wouldn't be surprised because they are 19s and also run-flats, but 18s was what I was surprised about, your point makes sense.

Dstopsie

I too hit a pothole on March 12th in Burbank. Never even saw it and it blew out my two right front tires. After my car was fixed I drove back to where I hit it and couldn’t even find the pothole because the city of burbank had patched it up and it wasn’t with the black tar stuff. I know it was a pothole thst I hit because the car something. I drove the car home on the run flat tire. I had it towed on a flat bed tow truck because they couldn’t use a regular tow truck. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the car itself and that’s why it’s hitting potholes, our streets in LA suck from all the rain damage. I’m super careful now when I drive constantly looking for potholes. Those two tires and alignment were $1200. This car sits lower than my 2020 C300 did for sure, and I think that is part of the problem with the tires blowing out. I used MBZ roadside assistance and they sent out the flatbed tow truck to take it to the dealer. I actually asked them if they were using a flatbed tow truck because I told them the car cannot be hooked to a regular tow truck. The interesting thing with using their service is that it will only tow you to a Mercedes-Benz dealer. They wouldn’t tow me to a tire store. If they would tow me there I would’ve had to pay for it to a tire store. But I wanted to take it to the dealer because I wanted to make sure there was no damage to the car itself from this pothole that I hit.

I have 19inch run flats AMG multispokes. Have had them on my last two C300’s and never had an issue. But then again LA hasnt had rains like this in years and I never hit a pothole like that before ever and I have been driving for 46 years here. I never had Goodyear tires before also. My other 19in run flats were Pirelli and Continental tires.

Dstopsie

I wonder if you saw my review - I have 19inch AMG multispoke

97supratt

I hit a pothole in Glendale on San Fernando rode and it popped the drivers side tire instantly. I sent the bill for the city!

We have the 19” AMG wheels. These tires or wheels are super sensitive.

818benz

Haha I believe it was your review! Gorgeous white with AMG package

Interesting - the pothole I hit was between Glendale/Burbank. Maybe they're just severe here.

818benz

I've also sent the city the bill and it was of course denied, so I have to drag to small claims if I want reimbursement. Now, I just drive slowly looking for potholes

97supratt

That is odd that they would deny the claim.

Dstopsie

thank you!! Yes. That’s my baby. Lol. I was so shocked when I hit that pothole. Never happeny to me before. I go to Keyes for service and they were inundated with people needing tires for hitting potholes. The good thing was they did my first year service and the recall for the SAM.

190Efan

It's important to try your best to not hit potholes because they can be so damaging. I certainly understand that that's not always possible. I've certainly hit my share and been very lucky to not blow a tire or worse, yet. I saw a news report the other day where a bad pothole caused a tractor-trailer going 70MPH to jackknife. Fortunately, the truck driver was not hurt. Potholes can damage much more than tires such as suspension which can be even more expensive to fix than replacing tires and a front end alignment. Any vehicle that's hit any bad potholes should have the suspension checked to be sure there's no damage to the suspension.

Dstopsie

thatis why I took my car to the dealer to get the tires. They gave me a good deal on them. I didn’t hit it intentionally, it was 630am and dark and the street wasn’t well lit. I think there is an issue with this car because it sits lower than my 2017 and 2020 C300 ever did. I have to go very slowly over speed bumps too because it scraps the bottom. My other cars were never like this.

818benz

I’m also coming from a 2020 w205 that has amg package and suspension lowered unlike my 2022. The the bottom of my w206 definitely scrapes over garages and spots the w205 doesn’t.

Dstopsie

yes!!! Me too. Drives me crazy. Plus those stupid sensors go off just going down my driveway. They need to raise the car a bit. I think it contributed to why my tires blew out.

giovane

I noticed what I hear scraping on my amg package C300 are just the front mudflaps. Not really an issue.

Dstopsie

thanks!! Good to know. Never knew what it was. Lol. Just is annoying that it happens as I never had that on my prior models.

190Efan

So sorry about this for you. It's lousy, Nasty potholes seem to be an issue everywhere. I would suggest trying to recoup your money by contacting the local government where the pothole is located so the pothole can be fixed and maybe they'll pay for your repairs. Going over speedbumps slowly is also always a good idea regardless of your vehicle's ride height because you can damage your suspension if you hit them at to high of a speed rate leading to costly suspension repairs..

AzurSL

Not a w206 owner, but currently an owner of a 2020 W205 C300 with the AMG line running the lowered stiffened sport suspension. I’m not shocked to hear of people bottoming out the new W206 with the AMG line suspension. My W205 bottoms out all the time on speed bumps too. These cars are obviously designed to buttery smooth German roads where potholes are a dime a dozen and speed bumps are half the size. They’re obviously not well suited for our pothole ridden Southern California roads that resemble off-road parks more than actual roads. I’ve never blown out a tire on my W205 but it did happen on a W212 many years back. I am EXTREMELY cautious with potholes. I knew the risk with this car and the trade off, but I did it because it handles so damn well. Apparently the W206 AMG line is supposed to ride smoother than the W205 AMG line did because they soften up the springs, but it doesn’t help that the new car sits half an inch lower than the W205 did, which is already really low. On both generations, the AMG line dropped the car about 0.6 of an inch, but overall in base and AMG form, the W206 is lower than the W205. I was just dropping someone off at the airport yesterday here in San Diego where our roads are some of the worst in the city and my W205 BARELY had the ground clearance to make it over some of these undulations, I know that in a W206 AMG line I would have been scraping all day long. It’s made even more dangerous when most people drive massive SUVs like suburbans and Land Cruisers and aren’t affected by the poor roads. They don’t bother to care about those who are affected and will ride your a$$ when going over speed bumps and undulations. Pick your poison, ripping your bumper and belly pan up, or risk getting hit by an entitled SUV who thinks the road belongs to them.

AzurSL

100% agree, open a case with your local government to get your tire replacement covered. Luckily for me, in San Diego it’s pretty easy to do so. Just go to your city’s website, find the road section and there should be an area that talks about getting wheel repair covered by them, just submit all the info they are looking for.

EDIT: just saw that OP’s claim was denied. Never seen that happen. I agree, definitely take them to small claims

W205C43PFL

Guess their intention was to make it look more sportier that way by lowered the car compared to previous generation as well.

W205C43PFL

Ouch ya I am pretty sure no one rather wants to get hit by an entitled SUV instead, the car is supposed to protect you after all...
Thanks for your comparison of the suspension of the amg line between both generations. They did it to make it look more sporty as you can tell.

AzurSL

Yeah and it does look great. Every time I go to one of my local dealers I’m shocked at how low the car is the ground, it looks really sleek. I see it especially when it’s parked next to a W205 which already looks low and sleek imo.