kaunain13

My Mercedes dealership said not to have new wheels and tires put on from a different company like goodyear because they could mess up the balance and damage the axel. I thought that sounded like bs and they just want to install it themselves to make money.

Has anyone had any problems installing wheels and tires from places other than the dealership?

Btw the rims are 19inch HRE and the tires are michelin PSS 235 and 265.

Thanks

AMGangster

They are BS'n you.

Fung63

LOL that is so much BS I can smell it from here

my suggestion is to run / drive far away from this dealer... go find another one. if they are lying to you to make that 40 bucks... who knows what they are capable of when a real service comes up haha...

pretty bold of them really... to even suggest that... wow... they must think you have zero knowledge in cars

CoolBDPhenom03

Catch them on hidden camera and post on YT. And watch the crap storm it brings.

rory breaker

Yup!!!!

SheryarYO

to be fair, my friend took his car to a discount tire place and they ended up breaking 2 of his tpms sensors before finally realizing they didn't know what they were doing.

that being said, just make sure you don't go to a cheap place like that and you should definitely be fine.

kaunain13

Yah the goodyear guy said they may have issues with the tpms sensors and said I would be better off going to the dealership. Either way I thought the dealership had no idea what they were saying and I guess they didn't haha.

2012C63AMG

In a way they are correct. People often buy cheap replica oversized rims. The extra weight and size can lead to damage either premature wear or complete failure.

Example if you put crap 22 inch rims on your AMG that are heavy, and down the road your bushings are worn out or something wrong with the suspension they wont warranty you. Now if you put HRE or BBS or something that is nice weights less than stock and isnt overside, and a suspension part failed then they would have a hard time proving a high quality rim damaged it.

speed7

wow thats awesome.. love dealerships... total BS.

ed4

Largely laughable, no matter how empathetic or eloquent the advice was given.

BerBer63

Never went to a dealership that knew what they were talking about or selling...100% retarded

Higgs Boson

lets all keep this in perspective. there are many things a dealership employee knows but cannot say or recommend for legal reasons. mercedes Benz as well as the dealerships independent owners have the potential for legal trouble if an employee recommends or endorses things like aftermarket parts, be they wheels or DVD player enabling devices while driving etc..... no one at a dealership will say to install something non mercedes. it doesn't mean they don't know or they really think on a personal level you will mess up your car. they are obligated to stick to the book.

people come on forums and talk bad about the dealers but rest assured, the same dealer employee has hre wheels and has an enabled DVD player on the highway, lol. hell, a supercharger, too, why not.....

food for thought.

Fung63

yes... MB employees should not 'endorse' outside MB stuff due to legal issues (although, I've seen a few occasions they have... ie renntech)... however, this scenario is a bit different in that they are trying to instill fear, uncertainty and doubt into OP.... thats what we are laughing about.

they are not doing the.. yes go get xyz from abc company... rather dont go to abc because they can mess up your car.

Higgs Boson

I understand that's what we like to laugh about in car forums. one must remember that service advisors and most car sales people are not performance enthusiasts and simply may not know. personally, I am not sure why anyone would talk about anything like this with a dealership employee at all! a dealership is there to provide an outlet for the purchase of the car and perform the factory recommended maintenance and warranty repair. if someone wants to go outside that book it's on their own.

BlackOmega

^this.
That's not true either. According to the Magnussen Moss act, you can modify your car without voiding the warranty. This puts the burden of proof on the company and not the owner.

Also, in order for wheels to damage suspension components, or make them fail completely, they'd need to be entirely wrong for the car. i.e. wrong offset. even then it'd put more of a strain on bearings than suspension.
The weight difference is so minimal between rims, it's not like our cars have some ultra-leggera's or something, that a few pounds here and there won't matter.
It's not legal reasons, it's to keep their job. If their employer found out that they're sending customers to another company to have work done, they'd be out on their ***. Also note that service advisers are paid on commission, so of course they're going to want you to come to them.

Legality has nothing to do with it.

ghiaguy

did they top off your headlight fluid before you left?

Higgs Boson

oh really? what do you do for a living that qualifies you to make this or any of your statements?

_timothy

that doesnt happen until service C with the flux capacity swap out

hyperion667

that might have been a bad batch of workers: I will only go to Discount Tire! I bring my cls, e and my 997 to them and trust them completely, and if something was to go wrong, they'd get me coffee while I wait for it to be fixed......
I've spent at least 30K there in the last few years.....tires AND wheels....

but to the OP, yes! that dealer is so full of ****e they should be exposed and shown for the business they really are!
you have the power as a consumer

hyperion667

LOL....

my favorite is still the blinker fluid

_timothy

I have to agree w you, there is a legal position. if an MB tech/manager/etc recommends a 3rd party for any kind of work, a reasonable person defined by a judge/jury may find there was an implied warranty attached to the recommendation. could be wrong,not a lawyer, just a genius.

Fung63

agree with this too. definitely legal implications on MBs part.

thats why on tv stations we see the disclaimers of 'the views of this show is in now way representative of xyz station...'

BlackOmega

Well let's see here. First, I am a certified mechanic. Second, I have worked as a service adviser, parts manager and have managed a few shops. I have worked for dealerships and independent shops since I was 14 (in my 30's now).

So this is what qualifies me to make these statements.

I'm a genius too buddy boy. I have an IQ of 143. And no, this wasn't taken by some BS online thing either.

It is NOT against the law for a dealership to outsource anything, including labor.

If it's warranty work, the parts do have to be genuine, but the person installing said parts DOES NOT have to even be employed by the manufacturer as long as they are qualified to do the repairs. i.e certified mechanic, bodyman, etc.

See above.

I'll give you an example. In the 90's, Chevrolet put a Mobil 1 emblem under the hood of its Corvettes that stated that if you use any other oil besides Mobil 1, you would void the warranty.
They were sued and they lost. The ruling stated that if the consumer is required to use a certain product and cannot use an alternative brand that meets the minimum spec, Chevrolet was obligated to provide the product and the service free of charge. Hence they stopped installing that emblem.
Mobil 1 is crap compared to most other synthetics. Even Castrol Syntec (edge as I believe it's called now), beat's it hands down. It's not as good as Redline, Amsoil or Royal purple, but it's damn close and is $5 cheaper than the racing brands.

The only legal ramification that would be present in the original posters statement was that he was BLATANTLY LIED to.

_timothy

black omega, you're missing the point. i never said its illegal or legal. i am stating that they likely would not recommend a third party for liability purposes. if there is catastrophic failure for anything suspension related and it has been modified in any way, the dealer is probably going to reject your warranty claim. you can quote MM all you want -- legal precedence is totally worthless until you get to court. furthermore, this is a really gray area. no one, including you, is in the position to say what will occur under hypothetical conditions. the reality, in my opinion (as you have stated yours), is that if a dealer recommends a 3rd party for outside work and it results in failure, they could be liable in the same way that they would be liable when they outsource directly to a third party.

(and yes, obviously, the dealer employees might also get canned for sending business away from said dealer)

BlackOmega

While you're right that you wouldn't get anywhere until you got to court, however, the burden of proof is on the manufacturer to prove that the modification is what caused said failure. Most vehicles can run +/- size wheels and tires. Even on my AMG that has 18's, it is recommended that I run a much smaller tire for the winter (17x7.5 IIRC) with 235/45/17's. Note this is assuming that the aftermarket wheels have the proper offset.

It's next to impossible that an aftermarket wheel can cause suspension damage, provided the fitment is correct for the application. Even if you have WAY negative offset (wheel sticks out past the fender), the most it would cause is accelerated bearing wear since the load isn't centralized on bearing anymore.

Regardless, if the dealer recommends an outside source for work (not warranty or outsourced) they assume NO responsibility since they didn't touch the vehicle physically.
Now if they outsource the work (in or out of warranty) and the DEALER charges you for it (you'll never even know they outsourced it), THAT's when the dealer assumes responsibility.