jposhea3

Folks,

I just discovered (a few hours after taking delivery of the car) a minor scrape/curbing on one of the E500 stock wheels.

I was trying to quickly splash/sponge off the snow/slush from the drive home from the dealer and snagged on the damage.

It seems like there's a plastic coating on the wheel that is abraded - is there something I should spritz on this thing to preclude anything bad from happening to the underlying wheel, and some way to more permanently address the roughness?

There's a thread on the W211 E-class forum about how this car was delivered to me with 48 miles on it, vs the more normal 12-18, so I'm going to chase the General Manager of the dealer tomorrow - I missed this on the walkaround since we were out in sleet and snow and freezing rain.

But if I'm stuck with the wheel I'd like to know how I should care for it.

thanks
-james

etenn

James-

Hopefully the dealer will just put on a new wheel for you.
That would be the best solution for them and for you. I am sure they will fix the blame on you on the way home with the car. But, they should as a goodwill policy, give you a new wheel.

I agree with your answer regarding why someone driving your car around is a big deal. A special order car is yours...not the dealers..and no one should be driving it for any reason except to prepare it for you. That does not require 50 miles.

Good Luck

Ed

Kar don

they should definitely replace the wheel or fix it. That plastic coating you are talking about, is it very thin? I suspect that is the clearcoat peeling off. Once the clearcoat beings wearing in one spot the whole wheel is done for. Clearcoat doesnt adhere as well to metal as it does to paint, and the E500 wheel is a polished metal finish and then clearcoated. I would go yell at them.

jposhea3

I've got a call in to the sales manager, we'll see what he says when he returns his voicemail.

Herewith the damage:

jposhea3

detail shot

pearlude

I had the same thing happen to me and the dealer Fletcher Jones in Newport Beach won't accept responsibility for it. The reason the wheels got scratched is because you have low profile tires and it rubs against the rails when they wash your car before returning it to u. If you notice, the scratch is on the driver's side. Anyways, Fletcher Jones in Newport Beach sucks!

jposhea3

the dealer fixed my rim and I washed the car yesterday (challenging in NYC winter) - the wheels look *much* nicer when clean :-)

off to see AlBoston at Westwood-MB in Mass for the boston detailing get-together this weekend!

jwmciti

Hi from NY-
there is an incredible place in farmingdale ny that fixes rims right back to the orig specs.

Actually it is the place the BMW and MB sends the rims out to be fixed. While u hopefully do not need it now-
Its excellent to know they exist.
U drop the rim off before 5pm its a hige warehouse-
they come in at night
set the specs -paint- clear coat- buff out the nicks- weld etc

for like 130 per tire.

they did an AMAZING job on my wifes BMW-
I will try yo find the receipt-
send an email to me

jwmciti@yahoo.com