That's what sucks about Brabus and Rolex
When you rock em everyone thinks it's fake.

what's wrong w/ replicas...if they are made with good quality, works for me!!

Frank, it's just better IMO to use tested and true wheels from reputable manufactors.

true, but as i understand, the ones i use are from my bro's friend's factory in Taiwan and they do do a lot of testing before they start selling'em.

Mr Franko!
I am with lord Vader on his comment...
For those that use replicas, in this case like yourself (FrankW), from a cost stand point of view, the whole idea of a replica is that it will be cheaper... and it better be cheap!... lol... with all the horrid stories from real manufacturers like HRE's, iforged, etc, stories on the board where people had nothing but problems (which I really want to; still, give those manufactures the "benefit of the doubt" ). I can only imagine the nightmares with replicas!!! (if the "real brands" screw them up (at least as seen on the "horrid stories" on the boards..), what about the replicas!!!!)... oh noooo!!...

If the replicas, in this case for Mr Franko didn't have any problems, then concider yourself lucky!!!... bend on your knees and kiss the floor in front of car every time you get close to your car ... LOL.

I happen to like a certain brand(s) of wheels (AZEV, Anteras), infact, the wheels that I loved from AZEV, the Type B wheel is no longer built by them (AZEV) at all!!. Just for those that don't know what the AZEV Type B wheel looks like, here are a few pics:

(Pic taken in Dec or Jan 1995!.. back then the car featured in the picture, yup a Saturn!.. which is now in my home in Austria as part of the collection of cars.. --in our family, our collection has everything from luxury vehicles to my "college years" cars.. in this case, the 95 Saturn was replacing my "never working right" 1993 Corvette --...)


Front (Pic taken in 2000 while I was "car washing"... still the car doesn't look any different that back in 1995 when I bought it new huh?):


Rear close up (Pic taken in 2000):


Even with the real brand(s) I had problems where the wheels were drilled and once they were installed, sometimes they didn't fit properly (didn't clear the break calipers, etc) or the wheel had a defect... On the Anteras for the Navigator --2004 model year, so this "just happened"-- the actual tire preasure valve is at the center hub where the wheel log nuts are, the wheel is engineered to that one of the spokes has a circular openning that travels through the spoke itself to the actual wheel for the air to flow to inflate the tire. The wheel looks very nice cause you don't see a single tire air preasure valve in the wheel at all giving it a nice smooth look , though other "problems" appear with the Wireless Tire Preasure Monitoring System (WTPMS) sensors) etc... for those that are unfamiliar with the Anteras wheels here is a pic:



Wheelp!?...after the wheels were installed, one of the wheels, where one of the spokes met with the wheel itself there was a defect onthe wheel and air just leaked!!!.. and this is on a brand new wheel imported from Italy!... whelp???... though the problem was solved by CEC by drilling another wheel and replacing it with the defective one (the for a couple of days I had to have a brand new car with a flat tire in my garage)... again, I can only imagine what happens with replicas...

That is not to count on costs, time you spend researching the correct wheel and determining if the replica will work and so on... for those that spend the time to complete the research and DO get the correct replica wheel set that actually works.. my hat goes to all of them... (on the gathering we had on May 08th, 2004, I saw several cars from which the owners would tell me "those are replicas". If they those owners had not told me the wheels were replicas, I would have not noticed... what did impressed me was their price!!... a whole set for about 800 bucks!!... wow!!!.. sometimes a wheel set will cost me as high as 15 thousand! (depending where I bought the wheels, bringing shipping to the US, etc)

I apologize for posting pics of non M Bz cars... I just don't have the wheels displayed on M Benzes

Cheers!

Wiedermann

What made you buy a Saturn?? Just wondering

Mr Rareamg:
The Saturn replaced a much powerful car I had at the time (Corvette)... I just had too many problems with the vehicle so I changed it with one that "looked" like the Corvette (pop up headlights, and somewhat the shape as well) but just smaller. From those friends from college that saw the Saturn pics, at the beginning they thought it was my same Corvette!... (Corvette was in the same color too). If you have owned in the past a General Motors car you'll know this because of experience too, that a GM drives like a GM on ANY car.. just the Corvette has a lot more power to the little 4 cylinder Saturn ...

Shipping the Saturn back to Austria cost more than the car itself! (this happened in 2000 when I shipped the car back home) the ... though at home is more rare to see those.

As I mentioned on the boards before, since my family has always owned German made vehicles, for the "switch" was to the GM cars... no comparison on technology, handling or mechanics between German made cars and the "crowd" for sure!

Again, I am a bit freaked out to even see the pics I posted... it feels such a desecration on a M Benz forum!!.. so to all those out there, I just can ask for mercy!!!!

Mr Franko!

I never saw the pics of your smashed C32's rear... can you post them here just the pics???... is your car fixed???

Cheers

Wiedermann

Thanks for the reply Mr. Wiedermann.

Mr Rareamg:
what ended up happening with your spoiler??? ordered??? not ordered??? fitted? not fitted???...

Please let us know!!! (pics won't be bad at all!! )

Cheers!

Wiedermann

Mr. Wiedermann
The order has been placed through my Local dealership. Since it's a 2005 C class part they had to special order the part from Germany. I should receive the spoiler within the next 2 to 3 weeks. Once the spoiler installed I will take some pics.

What part of LA are you from? I will be in LA this weekend any C32 meeting going on?

Rareamg

Mr Rareamg:
Is good to hear you are coming to the LA area!... if I am not mistaken, you mentioned you have a brother or relatives in the all too known "LA area".. which means somewhere in the 30 million population area you will be!!...lol.

I live closer to Santa Barbara (Ventura County), particularly in the city of Thousand Oaks. If you will be in town and you think you might have some time, I'd be glad to meet with you, then I get the chance to see that rare AMG of yours!!! .

Also, unless I am mistaken again, I think you wanted to upgrade those fog lights in your car to Xenons... whelp??? if you are in town and we can coordinate like to meet, then I just take you to the shop where I did the work on the Xenon Fog lights (the shop is in the city of Woodland Hills, about 23 miles east from where I live)

I don't think any AMG meets are for this weekend.. though the next weekend, I was having a "mini" meet with several people from the forum including one moderator!!!

Let me know what's your schedule like, where will you be??? hopefully where you are going is not 200 miles away from where I am... lol

Cheers!

Wiedermann

Appreciate the invite, will see how the weekends goes. I will see if i'm in your neck of the woods.

Hey Guys,
Here's the correct part number for the 2005 C Class spoiler

Part #B66883010

Dealer quote $791.04 painted and installed. That's a lot for a Small A$$ Spoiler.

Let me know if you guys think it's worth it???

Thanks,
Rareamg...

i'd go with the carlsson/lorinser one instead.

Do you have a pic??? and cost?

thanks,

I like it, Stock Benz or Brabus for me.

Brabus does not make one..

Let us know how it fits!

thought u already ordered it?

that's pretty expensive for some small a$$ parts.

When the first part came in it was the standard spoiler. So they did some reasearch on the correct part. So i'm debating if I should order it. Don't know if I want to spend that much money on a spoiler.

Mr RareAMG:
$700 bucks is nothing compaired to the $2000.00 (US dollars) I paid for as you said (Mr RareAMG) "Small A$$ Spoiler"... lol ... and that is the "problem" with M Benz parts... they are available, but when you do find them, they are not cheap... (you guys have seen my little spoiler, though is an OEM part, the price I think is a "bit" high for a part so small... the cost of the spoiler included match painted, installation was an additional I think 300 bucks due to the fact the car had already been shipped to the US and I was in Switzerland buying the spoiler )

I say, go for it, spend the 1000 bucks or so on the part... and just pray that it fits on your car.. lol

Wiedermann

Dam you got ripped off.... I would sue them jk. I will take some time to think about it don't know if I have 800 bucks to throw away.

Well, if you REALLY want it ASAP, that is the price that you have to pay (especially you're buying from the dealership directly). Being the first few ones to obtain any new products are always the most expensive, same case applies to cell phones, DVD players, etc etc.

If you can hold off for a while and give me some time. I can definitely get them at a cheaper price. Its really up to you.

Mr RareAMG:
LOL... I can say, that is the difference on buying OEM Mercedes Benz parts in Europe vs buying them here in the US ... that is one of the reasons I try to avoid purchasing parts in Europe (not to count shipping sometimes is more expensive than the parts themselves!... especally on odd size parts, like the spoiler!.. )

Wiedermann

Will do Mr Harris, let me know when you expect/receive the part. I'm not in a hurry to pay 800 bucks...

Thanks,
Rareamg