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My lovely 2019 C63S Cabrio apparently has a cracked rim. (The dealer discovered this after the third consecutive flat tire on the same wheel.) I have 19" wheels all around, and the “base” grey rims, as pictured in this shot from the online build tool.
The local dealer wants about $1,800 to swap this out for a new one. Worse yet, it has to be shipped from Germany, and won’t get here for another week — and I have a long-planned road-trip that was supposed to start this coming weekend.
Thing is, I know nothing about wheels. I’ve never cared much what they look like (weird, I know), as long as they don’t look ridiculous. (In fact, now that I see the car in person, I’d probably prefer more-chromed rims than I have — I like the grey-plus-chrome look.) However, I care very much that I can still engage in “spirited” driving, and that I’m not going to die if I hit a high speed with the car. I see folks online (e.g., the Tire Rack) selling much cheaper wheels — some are below $100, and very few get anything close to $1,800. I could get a full set delivered and installed for less, and faster, than a single wheel from the dealer.
Other than if they look good, what differences are there among wheels? Why are some $100, and some $4,000? What makes sense to spend on, and what doesn’t?
More to the point: does it make sense for me to pay $1,800 (and delay my vacation) just to get a matching wheel? Or would I be just as happy with a much cheaper set?
It's all up to you man. Wheels price depends on the branding and how it is made. The 19in AMG wheels are forged which is when a big block of aluminum is water jet cut into a wheel whereas cheaper wheels are Cast, which is molten aluminum poured into a mold to take the shape of a wheel. Forged wheels are definitely more durable and mostly lighter than cast however, there is absolutely nothing wrong with cast wheels on our cars. You should look at aftermarket brands such as Vossen, Ferrada, Niche, Rotiform, and some HRE wheels. These are just some of the popular brands out there and and you can get a set of 4 for about $2500 or less, Cast wheels. Spirited driving should not be a problem at all and the wheel will make the car look better than stock depending on the wheel you choose lol. I would stay away from 100$ wheels or less branded wheels since IMO will look stupid on a $80k+ car. I previously had Vossen CVT wheels and they were amazing and looked timeless
2017 Mercedes-Benz AMG C63 Cabriolet, 2014 Ducati Multistrada 1200 S
Originally Posted by Ksun_w205
It's all up to you man. Wheels price depends on the branding and how it is made. The 19in AMG wheels are forged which is when a big block of aluminum is water jet cut into a wheel whereas cheaper wheels are Cast, which is molten aluminum poured into a mold to take the shape of a wheel. Forged wheels are definitely more durable and mostly lighter than cast however, there is absolutely nothing wrong with cast wheels on our cars. You should look at aftermarket brands such as Vossen, Ferrada, Niche, Rotiform, and some HRE wheels. These are just some of the popular brands out there and and you can get a set of 4 for about $2500 or less, Cast wheels. Spirited driving should not be a problem at all and the wheel will make the car look better than stock depending on the wheel you choose lol. I would stay away from 100$ wheels or less branded wheels since IMO will look stupid on a $80k+ car. I previously had Vossen CVT wheels and they were amazing and looked timeless
Mostly lighter? Forged wheels are a lot lighter. I took a set of cast Enkei wheels off my Ducati and put forged Marchesini wheels on and they are almost 5lbs lighter total weight than the cast wheels were.
Forged wheels are definitely more expensive though.
Mostly lighter? Forged wheels are a lot lighter. I took a set of cast Enkei wheels off my Ducati and put forged Marchesini wheels on and they are almost 5lbs lighter total weight than the cast wheels were.
Forged wheels are definitely more expensive though.
^ I meant to say always, typo. But you get the point lol. They are definitely way more expensive and IMO is overkill if you don't really care about wheels.
Last edited by Ksun_w205; Aug 10, 2020 at 11:07 PM.
Thing is, I know nothing about wheels. I’ve never cared much what they look like (weird, I know), as long as they don’t look ridiculous. (In fact, now that I see the car in person, I’d probably prefer more-chromed rims than I have —
Sorry I am confused... you say " in fact , now that I see the car in person " have you not seen this car before ?? if this is a new car, then the rims should be covered on warranty.. and i would also suspect, unless there is a huge curb rash on it, it would be something a GOOD MB dealer would warranty instead of charging.. ?
Sorry I am confused... you say " in fact , now that I see the car in person " have you not seen this car before ?? if this is a new car, then the rims should be covered on warranty.. and i would also suspect, unless there is a huge curb rash on it, it would be something a GOOD MB dealer would warranty instead of charging.. ?
Oh, I meant more like: when I ordered it, I hadn’t been able to see these wheels in real life anywhere, so I thought they would be nice. Once the car arrived (last year) and I could see them in person, I thought, “hmm, maybe I would’ve liked more-chrome wheels after all”. Sorry for the confusion!
Re: warranty — is it actually plausible that I could get it covered? I browsed through Google results a fair bit, and it doesn’t seem super-common…but maybe you’ve had experience with this?
When you cracked your OEM forged rim, what would have happened if you had aftermarket cast wheels on at that time?
I don’t even have any idea when or how I cracked the rim — I just discovered a flat tire a few months ago, had it replaced, then twice more had it start going flat again. On the third time, I pushed the dealership to figure out what the hell was going on…that’s when they discovered the cracked rim.
It's all up to you man. Wheels price depends on the branding and how it is made. The 19in AMG wheels are forged which is when a big block of aluminum is water jet cut into a wheel whereas cheaper wheels are Cast, which is molten aluminum poured into a mold to take the shape of a wheel. Forged wheels are definitely more durable and mostly lighter than cast however, there is absolutely nothing wrong with cast wheels on our cars. You should look at aftermarket brands such as Vossen, Ferrada, Niche, Rotiform, and some HRE wheels. These are just some of the popular brands out there and and you can get a set of 4 for about $2500 or less, Cast wheels. Spirited driving should not be a problem at all and the wheel will make the car look better than stock depending on the wheel you choose lol. I would stay away from 100$ wheels or less branded wheels since IMO will look stupid on a $80k+ car. I previously had Vossen CVT wheels and they were amazing and looked timeless
Thanks! This is super-helpful. If time weren’t a factor at all, I would definitely just wait for a replacement OEM wheel, rather than replacing all of them; however, given that’s going to take a while and cut into my planned vacation, I’m trying to figure out alternatives. I’ll take a look at some of the brands you mentioned, and see what they have!
There is no way a cracked wheel is going to be covered under warranty. Only way that happened is through user error
You might get resourceful and start looking on craigslist or Facebook marketplace to see if you get lucky on a wheel that's available now.If you're not picky about the wheels matching on your road trip, you could go pick up a cheap one now and the right size and have that fitted, and then just keep it as a spare or sell it when you're done. And you have the new wheel and stock by then. That's a lot of hassle but seems like there is not an easy way to meet new goal and time frame.
It's all up to you man. Wheels price depends on the branding and how it is made. The 19in AMG wheels are forged which is when a big block of aluminum is water jet cut into a wheel whereas cheaper wheels are Cast, which is molten aluminum poured into a mold to take the shape of a wheel. Forged wheels are definitely more durable and mostly lighter than cast however, there is absolutely nothing wrong with cast wheels on our cars. You should look at aftermarket brands such as Vossen, Ferrada, Niche, Rotiform, and some HRE wheels. These are just some of the popular brands out there and and you can get a set of 4 for about $2500 or less, Cast wheels. Spirited driving should not be a problem at all and the wheel will make the car look better than stock depending on the wheel you choose lol. I would stay away from 100$ wheels or less branded wheels since IMO will look stupid on a $80k+ car. I previously had Vossen CVT wheels and they were amazing and looked timeless
I dont think the standard wheels on that pic are forged AMG wheels...?! Only the upgraded cross-spoke and the likes are forged if my memory is correct. If not forged, $1800 is crazy...heck, even the cross-spoke forged are online sold for <$1000 a piece.
I'd recommend hopping on Ebay and see if you can source a used replacement wheel. I definitely would not recommend the cheap $100 cast wheels you're seeing, you'll crack those much easier/faster than you did your OEM AMG wheels.
In my city we have one great shop that is able to repair wheels with a crack, this is the only shop within a few hours drive that is able to do it professionally. Try a Google search for your area for "wheel repair", see if anything pops up
On my 1st AMG a tire shop damaged the wheel clear coat. They admitted fault and had me take the car to a specialty wheel repair shop (San Jose, California). That shop had to send the wheels to San Diego, California (applying clear coat requires EPA permits like auto body shops, only there are fewer shops that do wheels). For the week the work took they traded out my tires onto "rollers," spare MBZ wheels that they had just for this kind of situation. They were not pretty. Lots of curb rash and had probably been acquired when an original owner said "keep them" after replacing them.
Later I damaged one wheel and both fronts had curb rash so I had the same shop machine them. Again they put me on "rollers."
For that same car I later bought a second set of wheels used for $350 from a different tire shop that had sold a customer an upgrade set of new ones. I never used those and literally had to give them away to get rid of them after I traded in the car.
My points are, you may still be able to take your trip and save a lot of $$$.
This just happened to me....dealer quoted me $2400 for new amg wheel. A local wheel specialist said they repair these all the time including specialized welding, truing the wheel of warpped. All done in one day for $200.
Wheel performs like new again. There for sure has to be someone local to you that does this.
'17 AMG S63 Convertible, '17 AMG C63S Edition 1 Coupe
Stealership will quote you too much on a new rim. The wheels you have on your car are common; you can find them on Ebay (mint used or refinished) like this: https://www.ebay.com/i/254650556753 or you can find them remanufactured/refurbished to OEM specs at places like https://www.originalwheels.com/mercedes-wheels/ and https://www.stockwheels.com/ You should be able to get this wheel in mint condition for under $700 (and likely closer to $500-$600). Will save you the downtime, and I'd prefer a wheel that isn't cracked vs a repaired one on a performance vehicle...
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(The dealer discovered this after the third consecutive flat tire on the same wheel.) I have 19" wheels all around, and the “base” grey rims, as pictured in this shot from the online build tool.
