I saw my life flash before my eyes today when my Aftermarket Brabus Wheels pops off while I was doing 80mph on the 405frwy! Either somebody was trying to steal one of my wheels and did'nt finish the job or the shop that installed my wheels screwed up and used the wrong lugs. One other possibility is that it is a factory defect because the wheel lugs were rusted out when the wheel shop tried to install my wheels and had to rethread the lug fittings with a power drill. I don't know who is responsible for this accident yet but it sure isn't me.

I was skating on my rear left brake rotor across 4 lanes of the freeway and luckily barely made it to the right shoulder while my wheel/tire went racing down the fast lane past me and into the center divider.

The wheel blew up my fender, rear bumper and side skirt while my entire suspension, brakes, muffler, exhaust, differentials, axles and arms broke or snapped off into pieces and laid strewn across the a quarter-mile stretch of the 405 fwy! You should have seen the other cars all swerving to try and avoid hitting me, my fugitive wheel or all the broken pieces on the road.

The Flatbed truck pulled it up ramp and further destroyed my carbon fiber front lip and did further damage to my car's underside. He brought it to MB Long Beach where the Service Manager immediately denied warranty coverage for what happened although it looked like the lugs snapped off the rotors due to the rust. I don't understand why there was so much rust on all my rotor lugs since my car is a 2006 model.

Due to all the damage to my car, it looks like I am going to repair the fenders with a wide-body so that they will fit 315's in the back and 275's in the front.
I will also be forced to replace the damaged differential with the Quaife ATB and of course upgrade the entire suspension. Since the brake rotors were ground down to a nub I will have to replace them with 8 piston brembos. Finally my mufflers and exhausts were flattened and will now be replaced with High flow-cats and Kleemann exhaust system. My baby may be injured but not dead. I WILL rebuild him to be stronger, faster, better.

Either MB, my Wheel seller/installer or my insurance company will pay for all this and I will just pay the difference between the stock/OEM parts and the upgraded parts listed above. I guess I'm not so sad after all. There is always a silver lining to every dark cloud!

 

wow. glad youre okay. now you get to upgrade

 

WHOA! Sorry to hear what happened Robert. Glad you came out of it unscathed.

Is there a possiblilty of insurance totalling the car?

 

Whoa. Just be glad you're alive and no one was hurt. Your entire rear axle, suspension, sway bars are probably bent, along with the other stuff. That is a lot to replace. You should ask to total the car and be done with it. Get an E55 and call it quits on the C55. Good luck trying to get MB to cover any part of the car with all the aftermarket stuff on it. We all pay a price when we mod. Were your aftermarket Brabus rims fake? Unless they were torqued down properly I don't see how they can just pop off even with rusted lug bolts. Unless your installer stripped the threads off of them with the "power drill." You sure they didn't torque it down to 65 ft/lbs with a proper torque wrench instead of an impact wrench. Sounds fishy.

 

OMG! That is terrible! I cannot even imagine what the car looked like with a wheel flying off!

Don't tell me you need ANOTHER CF lip!?!? LOL would this be what? #6 ot 7? LOL!

Good luck with the repairs, glad you were not hurt.

 

The wheel shop had to rethread the lug fittings on a 2006 car because they were rusted out? Bull****! Something very, very wrong here. Have a competant engineer check all your other wheels for damage to so called "rethreaded" lug fittings. Good luck with the claims.

 

I agree. Something had to go terribly wrong to lose a wheel, and the fact that someone claimed to "rethread" your hub makes it likely that they screwed up. You can't "rethread" hubs, unless you go with oversized lugs -- which you would never do. You would replace hubs.

Sounds to me, though, like you're not too worried about the cost, and more excited to start rebuilding. Either way, the shop that last installed the wheels appears to have screwed up.

 

When the shop rethreaded all FOUR hubs because they claimed they were rusted, I think they stripped the original threads or made the holes too big. The shop also replaced the factory lugs with Chromed lugs. The MB tech claimed that the Chromed lugs could have caused the lugs to slip off. Does anyone know if the threads are also chromed?

 

I have crome lugs and dont have any problems. they must have stripped it when they used the Impact gun. they should have hand tight it first then used a torqe wench people are just to lazy and thinking using a impact gun is good enough! thats why I just dont trust people wprking on my car if I do I have to double check before I drive off

 

Those A-holes are gonna pay regardless of what my insurance does! Now I'm sure I'll have to change all four hubs and the brakes along with them. If they don't take care of my deductible, damaged wheel/rims and replace all the drill-ed/rethreaded hubs(maybe brakes) then I will ask the Insurance company to go after them through Subragation for the entire repair or possibly totaled car value! Plus my premiums are going to go up because of this claim!

 

WOW!
at least you walked away with no injuries...same thing happend to my little bro in his EVO excepts he flipped three times, broke thru the center divider and ended up three lane in on the other side. He too walked away without a scratch!
Now lets go with that wide body!

 

A tricycle.

 

First and foremost, glad to hear you are okay. Now, due the the severity of this accident, do you really feel it is worth rebuilding? IMHO, an E55 replacement doesn't sound too bad at this point.

 

I called the wheel shop owner (Name soon to be disclosed) and he refused to pay my $500 deductible in exchange for me not revealing his company to the insurance investigator.

I told him that the insurance company AND myself will come after him for 100x more than that once the investigation is completed. He insists that either somebody was trying to steal my wheels or it is a factory defect. Do you believe either?

When I take them to court it won't just be for the deductible but for the trauma, stress and punitive damages for risking my life and others. The insurance company will hit them with the cost of all the damages AND also punitive damages.

They are about as stubborn as HPS.

 

I heard that the amount of damage would have to greater than 75% of the car's market value before they total it. Based on a value of say $45K it would mean that the repairs need to exceed $33K. If it is totaled (Bent Frame) then I would probably look at a CLK63, M5 or RS6 and make up the difference or just go with a 2004 E55 and make up a little less, then buy a Busa (on sale now for $10.8K OTD and give my new Ducati to the wifey)and really get my Speed On!.

 

Crazy story. It's good to know that you are ok though.

I agree with what others have said... if possible, you should total the car. Unless your C55 has been parked underwater, I can't imagine that much rust existing on the hubs. Someone messed up and your life was at risk.

Goodluck with everything.

 

My advice is: ask Vadim if he can find you a used CPO E55.

Sorry to hear this, but you don't seem to have much luck with your C55. Maybe it's time to upgrade.

 

I dont think the bolts rusted. They were over stretched, cracked and the rust just finished the job.

Whoever attached the wheels last is negligent for giving you a car that was not roadworthy.

Rethreading a hub is a crock. There is no way in the world that a foreign object which is not welded or physically attached to the original material can possibly hope to withstand this kind of road usage.

You need a lawyer !

 

Glad to hear you're OK - you must be one of the luckiest unlucky guys around to walk away unhurt.

The situation with the fitter does sound fishy. Good luck with sorting it out.

 

OMFG!!!! that some crazy stuff!!!!! glad your ok....maybe some one was trying to steal your wheel the night before ?

 

wow, thats terrible. glad we didnt lose a fellow mbworlder! glad to see you are taking a positive approach to what happened. im just waiting for stuff on my car to start "failing" so i can replace it w/ cooler stuff.... i just hope i dont ever get into anything like you did.

glad you're alive! (and modding)

-j0hn

 

I invision AMGSC saying that he is going to sue the wheel shop, but instead he begins development of his own enlarged hubs

 

nuts.

 

Yes, the speculation states that it might be the nuts at cause, perhaps something else though.

 

Oh my God!!!!

I am glad you are OK.

I had a similar situation back in 1986.

My old man had an old Ford 428 Torino.

Had his brakes done a day before.

We are at the stop light.

I see a wheel roll down to my right.

"Hey Dad! Does not this wheel, that just rolled by us, looks like a "mag" I got you a month ago???????"

"Hmmmmmmmm, son. I think you are right............. he moans at me - as he gets out from driver seat, at the same time the car starts to tilt to it's rear right."

To make long story short, shop used wrong lug nuts on the rear passenger side wheel. All of them broke off.




It sounds to me like this is what happened to you.

I am very glad that you did not pay for the shop's mistake with your body parts or your life.


I will be glad to be of any assistance to you.

I just got 2006 E55 Kleeman K2 in trade.

And she is FAST!!!