so I'm driving into work... :)
Thread Starter
Member
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 101
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From: Virginia Beach, VA
2001 CLK 320
so I'm driving into work... :)
Bright and early Wednesday after putting new rims on the night before. (AMG five spokes from a 2003 CLK500 off of ebay). Stylin and profilin'! 
Hey,some of us don't have 14k to spend on rims. 
Anywhooooo....
Kicked up by a truck or something, this chunk o' concrete about the size of a grape fruit shoots diagonally towards me from the right. There isn't even time to blink, much less move. It flys under the car and BAM!!!flubflubflubflubflub... so I pull over to the right and get off the road. Scary moment there, but okay.
Here's where it starts to get fun. I don't have the bolts for the spare!!!
So I try and reuse the ones from the regular tire. You know, there IS a reasons they give you a smaller seperate set of bolts for the spare. It keeps the spare rim from locking against the freakin Caliper! 
Sigh.. tow truck time and off to the stealership we go. Of course the tire and wheel are a loss. Takes them three days to get to the car and now, this morning, they inform me that a new wheel and rim is about 1100.00.
/me blinks. Yeah, okay, umm.. tirerack sells the rim for 385. That's quite a bit of markup from 385 to 950 dollars! I'l be getting one from Tirerack and a wheel to boot because you guys want 180.00 for an OEM wheel? Are you on CRACK?!?!
Moral of the story is two fold. One, go check you have your spare bolts. Two, Tirerack is your friend!
Regards,
-Bouncer-
PS: Man that service consultant got snippy when I told him I was getting a rim from Tirerack. Stupid SOB's coulda had all my business with the car, (for warranty work at least) Now? I'll find another shop! I hear Autohaus up in Yorktown is a good place.
Hey,some of us don't have 14k to spend on rims. Anywhooooo....Kicked up by a truck or something, this chunk o' concrete about the size of a grape fruit shoots diagonally towards me from the right. There isn't even time to blink, much less move. It flys under the car and BAM!!!flubflubflubflubflub... so I pull over to the right and get off the road. Scary moment there, but okay.
Here's where it starts to get fun. I don't have the bolts for the spare!!!
So I try and reuse the ones from the regular tire. You know, there IS a reasons they give you a smaller seperate set of bolts for the spare. It keeps the spare rim from locking against the freakin Caliper! Sigh.. tow truck time and off to the stealership we go. Of course the tire and wheel are a loss. Takes them three days to get to the car and now, this morning, they inform me that a new wheel and rim is about 1100.00.
/me blinks. Yeah, okay, umm.. tirerack sells the rim for 385. That's quite a bit of markup from 385 to 950 dollars! I'l be getting one from Tirerack and a wheel to boot because you guys want 180.00 for an OEM wheel? Are you on CRACK?!?!
Moral of the story is two fold. One, go check you have your spare bolts. Two, Tirerack is your friend!
Regards,
-Bouncer-
PS: Man that service consultant got snippy when I told him I was getting a rim from Tirerack. Stupid SOB's coulda had all my business with the car, (for warranty work at least) Now? I'll find another shop! I hear Autohaus up in Yorktown is a good place.
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 450
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Aww that's a pretty sucky story...and it really does sound like your stealership foks are only out to make as much money off of you as possible.
Funnily enough, when I needed a spare OEM wheel from my Dealership parts guy, the first thing he suggested was to check tire rack since they're so much cheaper than getting them from the dealership. Now that's what I call honesty.
Funnily enough, when I needed a spare OEM wheel from my Dealership parts guy, the first thing he suggested was to check tire rack since they're so much cheaper than getting them from the dealership. Now that's what I call honesty.
Thread Starter
Member
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 101
Likes: 0
From: Virginia Beach, VA
2001 CLK 320
The best part is.. I had put the rims on the car less than 12hrs before!
Arrggh!!! ..who says the almighty doesn't have a sense of humor!
I'm not all that torqued about things though, because.. that piece of concrete.. if it had come through the windshield instead of under the car.. I dunno if I'd be sitting here whining about a wheel. At all.
3ft higher off the ground and it would've.
So I'm not that torqued about a wheel.
-Bouncer-
ps: I think it depends in part upon the service consultant. I used to have a different one (who left after she had her baby) and she was just awesome nice and knew she'd make more in the long term by working with me as opposed to trying to treat me like someone who deserves to be fleeced. This guy is.. ugh.
Arrggh!!! ..who says the almighty doesn't have a sense of humor!
I'm not all that torqued about things though, because.. that piece of concrete.. if it had come through the windshield instead of under the car.. I dunno if I'd be sitting here whining about a wheel. At all.
3ft higher off the ground and it would've.
So I'm not that torqued about a wheel.
-Bouncer-
ps: I think it depends in part upon the service consultant. I used to have a different one (who left after she had her baby) and she was just awesome nice and knew she'd make more in the long term by working with me as opposed to trying to treat me like someone who deserves to be fleeced. This guy is.. ugh.
Last edited by Bouncer; May 15, 2004 at 09:23 AM.
