EUROwnd

I recently found some stress cracks in my rear drivers wheel on my 2009. I am gonna just buy all new rims and I am wanting to go aftermarket. I don't have the performance package so my wheels are 18s, I found a set of 4 wheels that are 18s but not specifically for the amg. I was wondering if the rear wheels are a different width than the front wheels or can I just buy a matching set of 18s?

abcut973

8x18 ET45 Front
9x18 ET54 Rear

EUROwnd

Any recommendations for where to get wheels??

AMG893

Where are you located?

Niktel

I am selling my oem 18s if you are interested... they have brand new PSS with less than 300 miles on them.

rentzington

sonic tuning has a post up with a BF sale, the renn wheels are really cheap right now.

avery.whss

@ OP



All rims crack eventually ...my rims run around $2,000 a piece and they still show wear of any other rim I'm pretty careful with my rims too but there will be 1 time you rekt them, accept it and move on, thankfully you can get stuff like cracks fixed and curb for usually <$200

Hell my tires are the worst, i don't even do many launches, infact I've launched my car like <5 times but my tires still wear out in <3-4 months lol...25 series for the win

ToXicXxX

Just make sure whoever fixes it is highly recommended. Part of what our shop does is high end wheels, and of coarse mount and balance. I just had a wheel last week off a Porsche Cayman that had been cheaply welded on a crack, and lots of slag was left behind, it could not be balanced (the Hunter was saying something like 12oz total weight, and kept changing where it wanted it).

Ingenieur

OT
When you weld a wheel crack do you grind a fillet and fill or just lay a bead and smooth?

Cozy

In regard to a cracked rim, I just discovered that both my rears (19's) are cracked; I only noticed because the tyre went flat but I also took all wheels off for a full detail.

One wheel had previously been crack repaired once and the other, twice! I bought this car from a main dealer so no way should they have let it out like that...unless they were the ones who had them repaired to be cheap.

Anyway, my dealer didn't even argue when I asked them yesterday for a new set of rims; they just paid up so it may be worth asking even if your car is an '09.

Diabolis

Repairing *cracked* alloy rims (as opposed to just slight curb rash) is IMHO the dumbest thing you can do. Toss the damn things in the garbage and get a new set. Even if you don't value your own life, think of others on the road that you could kill when the "repaired" rim lets go and disintegrates at speed. Welding it changes the metal structure of the wheel and severely compromises the structural integrity.

And just for the record, ever since I started buying good-quality forged rims and not structuarally weakening them by aftermarket powder-coating, I haven't cracked a single one despite heavy use on pothole-ridden streets and on the track. Get yourself a good set of forged HRE, DPE or Fikse wheels (it's too bad the Kinesis of old is no longer around - their power-coater f***ed up and it pretty much killed the comany), don't powder-coat them or keep them in a hot oven at home, and they won't crack and will last you for the life of the car. It also helps if you actually have some rubber on them inflated at the right pressure instead of a stretched rubber band that in some people's minds passes for a tire. 20" wheels on a C63 is not a good idea even if your rims are made of the strongest unobtanium.

GRP

OEM 19's seem to have a hstory of failing. You rarely read about a cracked OEM 18.

In the 19's in particular I suspect many people simply do not run enough pressure - you should be running at a minimum just under 40lb pressure.

Alloy rim repairs for cracks should only ever be undertaken by a wheel expert. Most cracks can be repaired but an expert repairer will not undertake the repair if there is any risk of failure. If the crack runs through a load bearing area it is likely to fail following repair. How do I know this - I have a beautiful BBS 2 piece rim that has a crack through the radius where the tyre sits - there is no question it can be welded and made functional however the wheel experts will not touch the job as they are of the strong opnion it is lethally unsafe.

Diabolis

Yes, the OEM 19s do have a tendency to crack - because they're cast and because people run pressures that are much too low to prevent the rim from hitting the pavement at the smallest bump. On the 19s for normal street driving you should be running at least 44 psi cold, not 40. 40 psi is the right minimum cold pressure for the OEM 18s. This is the tire pressure label form a C63 that shipped with 19s:



Welding an alloy rim is not a good idea under any cirsumstances. At the very least, the repair is going to weaken the area around it and this is where you'll get the next failure, which may be catastrophic. I have a good friend who for many years worked for Rolls-Royce Aerospace analyzing stress and fatigue fractures in aluminium alloys. There's a reason why they don't weld airplanes together.

Ingenieur

DFAA document on welding https://www.faa.gov/regulations_poli...a/ama_Ch05.pdf
It is used extensively in aircraft
Blanket statements rarely supply
It is the right connection method for the application
Bolted
Adhesive/bonding
Riveted
And yes welding

As far as wheels it depends on the type of damage
Fatigue related no
Impact of the right shape and location yes

Saying that any repaired wheel is rolling death is hyperbole

Ingenieur

btw
There are government regulations that apply to wheel reair
DOT has guidelines and so does Canada

"Wheel Repair Act of British Columbia" was put into place, and from this Interior Wheel Repair became ICBC Certified and BC government approved to repair accident damaged wheels

Diabolis

You are correct in that aluminium welding in general is an accepted practice for many applications (like my motorcycle frame), and while you're also correct about alloy rim repair regulations in BC, it doesn't mean that it is advisable. The regualtions were created mainly for the insurance indistry, and welding a 14" wheel that goes on a Toyota Corolla that will never accelerate from 0 to 60 in under 20 seconds and/or exceed 65 mph is a little differnt from welding a wheel that goes on a 500 hp C63. There are DOT-approved R-compound tires that you can buy and legally put on your car, but that stil doesn't make them a safe choice for daily driving on the road. It's the same with wheels. I personally wouldn't go anywhere near a repaired wheel on a car that will exceed 200 km/h, which the C63 easily does. Over the past 15 years I've seen a few wheel failures at the track and I know first-hand what they resulted in, so on this issue I am going to stick to my opinion that it is not a good idea regardless of whether it's legal or not.