so, i acquired this 2006 vintage cl55 two years ago. from the sfo benz dealer. car had one owner[lessee].

car had chrome plated wheels. and they show up on the monroney. so, i assume that m-b fitted them as an oe fitment, even though benz is not a fan of chrome plated wheels. and neither is the tuv. could only be used for export vehicles, i think.

these are two piece wheels. they were manufactured by cromodora who tells me that they supplied them to benz for these 2006 amg 215 series cars.

for only that model year[true?].

6-7 years later, they are all leaking. seems to be typical of chrome plated wheels[i.e., chrome plate begins to flake off, leaving voids in the sealing bead].

i have benzophiles that try to tell me that m-b would never have fitted chrome-plated wheels. i don't know about that opinion. my research tells me that in the 2006 model year for the cl55amg, cl65amg that benz did to that. t or f?

anyhoo, i have to replace all of them. they have all become leakers. right rear worse than the others.

these amg wheels had these offsets....fronts: an ET of 44. rears: an ET of 46.

tire rack offers wheels for this car, but none that i would acquire with similar offset specs.

those that i might acquire, OZ's, seem to only offer ET 35.

can i use wheels of this different offset spec?

all ears.

 

alloywheelsdirect.net could supply me AMG non-chrome plated versions of the chrome-plated cromodoras that m-b fitted to this car in the 2006 model year.

$2000 more competitive than the m-b dealer price. even with airfreight.

i mentioned this to a mbusa tech rep that i have known for many years.

what a surprise. today he called me and said mbusa has decided to beat that price because of my 40 years of owning benzes.

i am smiling.

 

need i say more? why did m-b fit two-piece wheels to the cl55amg?

what is the rationale for the two-piece wheel designs?