Last Friday down in San Diego on my way back to the Bay Area, as I merged on to 8 from 805 , car started vibrating. I sensed it was a flat tire. A few seconds later as I started to slow down, the vibrations got worse and then a series of really loud banging. I managed to pull over into the right area immediately. Since C32s didn't have a spare tire, I figured it's time to use the gooey stuff and use the air pump. As I started to fill in the tire, I noticed the brake rotor was not centered with the rim!! Meaning the wheel was no longer mounted onto the car. And the brake rotor cracking the inner drum of the wheel.
I managed to have the car towed and luckily spotted this shop with Audi, BMW and MB logos on his shop sign.
But, since it was mid-afternoon Friday, a holiday the next day and Sunday the following, Popov the mechanic couldn't do anything.
Stuck in San diego for three nights!
Monday mid-morning, I get a call from Popov, the car's ready to go with a stock C class
16" rim and tire. Got home 9:00 P.M.
The Brabus monoblock S replica is a goner and beyond repair. Anyone selling their's?

 

those same replicas are prone for cracking, freind of mine had two cracks develop in one rim in less than a year. Good thing he replaced his

 

omg! i'm glad to hear you are ok! that could have been very dangerous!

 

Glad you are ok, that looks crazy. Wouldn't a wheel crack be like a hairline fracture and not chunks coming off like that?

 

As soon as the bolts sheared off, with the wheel no place to go but inside the wheel well, the suspension sprung open since the wheel was no longer connected. I suspect the brake rotor came down on the rim and cracked it as I slowed down and came to a complete stop.
I was doing 60 mph and slowed down to around 55 to merge left on I-8 when the vibrations started.
I'm curious if powder coating weakened the material since it was sand blasted and then baked.

why it sheared off is still a mystery. One crazy thought is that someone wanted to rip the wheels of but then realized it had a wheel lock and decided to takeoff! Or could have been overtorqued.

I was with my wife and her parents. The kids were in an Oddesey van and my in-laws were able to fit in and head home to the Bay Area.
Thanks for the concern.

 

What kind of wheel bolts did you use?

 

Whoa, glad you and your family were OK Doug!
Good luck with follow up repairs.

 

I made sure they were the right ones cone versus ball (acorn).
I was able to remove what was left of the bolts that sheared off and they were at least half inch long.

 

goo to hear ur safe.

 

wow, thats no good! glad to hear you and the family are ok though!

 

Had that happen to me before.
Wheels were overtorqued by another shop and bolts were stripped. Rim fell off in my driveway and car came to rest on the brake hub. Replaced the wheel hub for $ 120. Of course the shop claimed no fault on their own and i had to fix at my own expense.

I dont know why MB and other Euro makes use wheel bolts instead of lugs.
Is there an advantage?

 

Glad to hear your ok to! I had an issue with replica wheels to. Some are soft and can crack or break easy. I had one loose the lip on hwy 80 out of San Fran on my way home. Got stuck for a couple of days trying to get a wheel to fit to get me home. None of the Mercedes dealers where any help down there. It was a forum sponser that helped me out at the time. I went with a full size spare after that. And now my c55 has a spare that works with big brakes so Im good.

 

WOW!

I'm always on the lookout for man holes, I mean pot holes...whenever i'm in Frisco. Luckily San Jose isn't too bad.

 

What I meant was what brand were they? Are they chrome?

 

Yup, they were chromed. I used the same bolts from my old Giovannas (the chrome bolts came with the installation of my then new Giovannas).

 

Holy....wow. This is why I take BART to SF lol. But yeah I remember someone on here before didn't believe me that this stuff happens on Bay Area freeways too lol.

But the bolt shearing thing sounded like that RX-7 that was autocrossing with the wrong size lugs on his wheels: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyMDNzhfwn0

Guess it pays to make sure you have the right size and decent quality parts.

 

Well that explained why your bolts sheared off. They were probably chinese made chrome bolts. The thing about chromed dipped bolt is that during the chome process, it weakened the metal. Overtime and over torque will cause them to snap. Get some quality bolts like RAD or none chrome bolts.

 

holy ****....glad you are alright.

like 1Lop2K5C said. I've had chrome bolt snapped off as well (when taking off the wheel). learned to not use them. I rather deal with the surface rust on my RAD bolts.

as far as replica wheels or not. any authentic wheels would've done the same thing under those stress.

as I said in the other thread. often people think spacers cause these type of bolts breaking off, but they completely disregard the importance of the quality bolts.