drawde

i have a small hole in my front passenger side sidewall it's not bigger than a couple mm but i know repairing the sidewall is not a good idea. these are on my winter tires btw.

winter in NNJ is coming to a close but the weather's been kind of unpredictable.. i'm thinking if i should:

• order a new tire now? - i will be running these winters next year again if i can. i installed all 4 on November 23 so there's a few months of use on em, and keep in mind that my work commute is about 70 miles roundtrip. i haven't checked the fronts but if the rears are still OK i'm thinking the fronts are more than OK. with the small possibly of only one or two snowfalls left this season (if that) is it worth it to order another tire now? at this point it definitely has some mileage on the other front tire. i know snow tires tend to last longer but i'm guessing i should replace both fronts as the wear would be very different?
  EDIT: apparently dunlop wintersport 3d's in 235/40/18 are OOS in most places. should i buy different winter tires for the front? will this be a problem? eventually i would change the rears to match but i'd hate to waste perfectly good tires.
  
• put on my summer tires? - i have some used PSS for the front i was planning on putting back on anyway, they still have a lot of life left. i would need new rears though. too early to put them back on?

ZephyrAMG

Need to get matching fronts if you get front replaced. I would slap on the summers and get new fronts down the line. It might be a little sacrifice to get rid of the non punctured front even though there might be tread left but its best to match new and new...

Haven't seen pics of your car recently with all your mods. Would like to see how it looks like...

drawde

thanks, i was kinda leaning towards that. and unless they discontinue the winter sport 3d, maybe they'll have my size when the next winter rolls around. if it snows again between now and spring it's not a big deal to use a different car.

as for the pics, the car is a damn mess this year being the first year i've used it throughout the winter. it's a dirty, salty mess but i loved every minute (minus today lol). detail time is right around the corner maybe i'll throw up some pics

drawde

the hole in my tire was the least of my worries apparently. turns out i also have a crack in one of my rims. list price for a new rim at the dealer is $995. i was looking at used/refinished rims and i'm looking somewhere around 500-600 after shipping probably, but most of the sites i'm seeing decent reviews for don't have it in stock. but at the higher end of this range i think i'd rather go new anyway.

i can also go through my insurance and hope my rates don't go up too much but i'm thinking they won't go up to enough to make up the difference so i'm thinking this is a viable option to consider.

but before i get the ball rolling on that, i took some pics of that crack in my rim.. do you guys think this is repairable? i'm all for it if it can be done safely. at least i know what i'm getting into vs buying a rim with some unknown sources that might've had worse cracks than this at some point.

sorry for potato quality.

Zeee_Q

I would just get a new rim from the dealership or some other source. Personally, I don't trust some of the repairs I have seen and I would hate to have the rim fail on me when driving if I'm pushing the car. The car's worth far more than the savings from the rim.

ecohen2

I have my original tires that came on my c63 507 that i would be willing to sell cheap if you want. I replaced them with all seasons for the time being.. They have about 2000 miles which were the break in miles, so they are in excellent shape..

drawde

i inderstand this 100%. but i'm thinking if the weld were to fail over time, that i would have only a leak like i have now and not the whole rim blowing up in a million pieces while i'm driving.

ZephyrAMG

Just buy one new wheel or buy a set as spare. It's actually not that expensive for peace of mind. The fracture you have is actually not a big deal, repairing would be easy. But there are several members here selling OEM 18" wheels and you could just get a set at a good price.

Lots of people here keep their wheels mint so you will get a essentially new one...

drawde

yeah, i've been searching through the classifieds as well, much of them sold already. a couple older posts are probably sold but i have sent PMs anyway. i've been searching online auctions (ebay, craigslist) and i'm finding some sites that have them but either they're not in stock when i call them or i can't seem to get much reviews for these sites. i might go with the dealer just to get rid of the headache lol

drawde

a local shop today recommended another shop who could fix my rim, they welded it for me and i was in and out before i knew it. the shop was very clean and seems like they definitely know what they're doing. i've been looking online for people who had cracked rims and repaired and it looks like mixed feelings all around. but at 10% the cost of a new rim, it's not anything to sneeze at.

i will still be keeping an eye out on the classifieds or getting a new set sooner rather than later, but what do you guys think? should be good or is it a ticking bomb? anyone else have a crack like mine repaired?

edit: also i'm pretty sure everyone on mbworld who had a thread about a cracked rims has a PM from me now lol so i will have some real world results to share! lol