Hi All,

I am new to the forum as I purchased my first Mercedes 6 months ago, a 2012 C63 AMG Coupe with the upgraded 19inch multi-spoke alloys. I love the car and will not be going back to Audi or BMW, i think Mercedes have finally got a good stable of cars at last!

The only thing which has now spoiled my Mercedes ownership experience thus far is an alloy wheel issue. Approx 1 month ago i had a rear tyre changed only to be told by the fitter that there was a small hair line crack on the inside of the alloy, a few weeks later the tyre kept loosing about 0.3 PSI in 24hrs I had the alloy examined again to find more cracks had appeared.

I flagged the issue to Mercedes dealership in Essex Loughton, they took car for 4 days and examined all 4 alloys to find both rears had cracks. They informed Mercedes who said that it is not a defect and will not replace or contribute as goodwill toward cost of new alloys at £500 each. I feel this is totally wrong, I have had the car for 6 months, it is still well within warranty and there is no explanation as to how these wheels have come to be cracked in such a short space of time!

I have heard of a few people that have had similar problems with the same alloys and was wondering if this is a common problem and what I can do in relation to Mercedes taking responsibility?

My friend's easily driven E63 running on 18s has bent 3 rims in two years. Luckily he has wheel/tire insurance.

Regardless, wheels shouldn't be that easy to damage through daily driving. Problem is they are notoriously stingy as goes "goodwill". I agree they should pay at least half but i don't fancy your chances.

You gotta be persuasive when you're dealing with them... If not claim it on your insurance...

Seeing You are in London, I would try different Mercedes Dealers in your area.
Some are more helpful than others when dealing with warranty issues.
Good luck !

Seems like a common problem. I've had my wheels crack 3 times with hairline cracks on the inside lip of both rear wheels. I have the 18". While I'm convinced this is a manufacturing defect (or flawed by design), I've found it very effective and inexpensive to have my wheels welded at around $100 a weld. Find a good welder and avoid a headache with the dealership. I've seen been over inflating my tires by couple of PSI and so far so good.

That seems like a good suggestion, however i think I'm going to pursue Mercedes and AMG until i know I'm at a dead end. In the time being i just ordered 1 new alloy from ebay for £200, i hope it is o.k when it arrives, fingers crossed.

Sorry to hear about your problems... I guess w/o tire/wheels warranty, they will deny any claims you will make.

It's crazy to know how expensive those wheels are & they are only cast. At that price, MB should have forged them for extra strength.

Two Hundred Pounds for an O.E. M.B. 19" multispoke is A BARGAIN....so you've done well there.
However, if there is no sign of any impact damage on your wheel, I reckon that Mercedes should bear that as a warranty issue.
Cheers, Pickles.

Sounds rather like a possible defect to me. I've been told that TUV regulations push wheel mfrs toward making a wheel that bends vs. one that cracks or fractures, due to the potentially catastrophic nature of high speed accidents where a wheel breaks. Still, I'm surprised to hear of cracks being characterized as commonplace in either the OE 18's or 19's.

FWIW I have modular Hamanns on the M5. I've bent two rims on those crazy L.A. potholes but looking at the way they bent with the tire off it's hard to imagine them ever cracking.

I just had the same exact problem with my 19's
The rear rim cracked in 5 different places, I didnt hit any pot holes or anything of that nature, the dealer doesn't want to cover anything and quoted me 1250 before taxes for one single rim.

I've only had the car for 6 months, after reading your story, I'm
Convinced its a manufacturing defect.

I agree I believe Mercedes know they have a major issue on their hands with these alloys but accepting or admitting these alloys are defective will open the flood gates to hundreds probably thousands of costly claims dating back to vehicles that are out of warranty.

I have a good relationship with my local dealership which is not a franchise but a direct Mercedes dealership. The service manager just went through the motions to cover themselves from getting bad customer service feedback, by contacting Mercedes and then AMG who just disregarded my claim. The service manager did seem embarrassed by the outcome and advised me off the record to take it further.

Tomorrow I am going to contact the Motor Codes Association to seek advice and hopefully get them to apply some pressure (pardon the pun) on Mecedes and AMG. Hopefully they have other similar cases recorded on their database.

I think everyone who has had this problem needs to flag to an independent motor regulator, I think it's the only way Mercedes will pay attention!

the real problem is, that these rims are expensive, and if they are made like **** and theres a possibility of them cracking again then I don't want them any more, I didn't buy this car to buy rims every 6 months... thats ridiculous!

perhaps buying an after market set might be a better idea.

i cracked my 19 incher years ago. welded and moved on

I agree it is ridiculous, seems like me and you both have had the same experience as your car is also only 6 months old. I'm not prepared to purchase new rims every 6 months or less, in-fact tyres were the only thing I was expecting to replace.

I was toying with the idea of aftermarket rims, seen a couple I liked on eBay, pretty cheap but not sure how good they are. I want a rim with a split rim look but not split rim money or an alloy with that concaved look. Does anyone know how 20" rims are on a C63 or should I avoid??

How long ago did you get them welded and how have they held up? Was it the rear alloy?

No doubt this is the real reason the OEM 19s are not an option in the US.

Is this only a European issue or is this in the USA as well?

The 19" AMG 16 V spoke wheels' tendency to crack is one of the main reasons the wheels are not offered in the US. Too many liability issues.

Hi Morte,

That's interesting, is this something Mercedes Benz publicly admitted in the U.S? If so where and when was this statement made, as if this where the case this would be enough ammunition for us in Europe to gain compensated for defective alloys.

I doubt that MBNA has an official statement about why they don't bring the 19" OEM into the USA. This is forum talk. Not really sure where it originated, just speculation or basis in fact. I believe you can order the wheels through a dealer at a high cost you just cannot option them on a new car.

I have the black matte multi spoke that comes on the edition 1 . Got the car in september '11 and 3 of them are already cracked .Had them welded and yesterday one of them cracked ( not the welded crack but somewhere else on the same wheel ) . I went to see my dealer this morning and apparently it's normal

That's outrageous, 3 cracked rims and they say this is "Normal", i do not expect to pay £60k for a car and the rims crack after a short time they shouldn't crack at all.

The update with mine is I have made contact with Motor Codes and they have emailed me a few organisations who can run independent tests on my two cracked alloys to see if it is a manufacturer defect, if they deem it to be a manufacturer defect Motor Codes will then help me peruse Mercedes to replace the alloys. Long winded I know but I'm not letting this go.

I received my new alloy from ebay, perfect condition but the off set is slightly out as it's for a S class, I have it on the car at the moment seems to be good but I hope the off set won't cause problems.

Was also thinking of purchasing some after market rims, want deep dish split rim look alloys. How will the car ride on 20's on these London roads??? or should i stick with 19's??

If you're cracking your 19's with 30 profile tires in the back, you're not helping your situation by going with 20's and 25 profiles out back. It appears your roads aren't that good, maybe you should start looking at 18's.