Well,

Guess i learned my lesson! I bought a set of CLS AMG knockoff's for my E. These are the same rims that are on the Saks 5th ave.

Anyway, in 20+ years, i've never had to replace a rim. I bought these, and within 6 months, i replaced one, and now have 2 that don't balance (and they don't have a mark on them!).

Anyway - i used to think you guys that bought the name brand rims were nuts given the price difference, i now stand corrected!

BTW - my rims came from lake Shore Wheel & Tire. Amazing how they don't return a single email when i asked them simple questions like have they had these issues w/ these rims from other customers or not. And also - for all that crap about where the rims are made, these are made in Italy. My tire shop here says the problem with a lot of these knock-offs is the alloy is weak...guess i know that now!

I really like the look of this rim on the car but will NOT spend $1200+ for 4 rims so....

If anyone wants a set of lightly used Avon M550's 245/40/R18 tires for a good price, PM me, i will include shipping. I plan on removing the rims prior to shipment but if anyone wants them for a spare or something let me konw as well.

Aceman

 

The advice in the title of your post would be equally good without the "... from EBay" part.

 

The problem with the rims is, they are not straight right from the start. Many replica wheels have a minor egg shape to them. My friend which sells replica wheels told me first hand that more then 60% off all the wheels he has are kinda egg shaped.

 

yup. my coworker bought a set of replica M rims for his BMW. After a season of traveling in the street of DC, two of his rims developed multiple hairline cracks that didn't pass the Virginia annual safety inspection. There were cracks behind the wheels so he couldn't see them unless the rims are off the car.

 

Thanks for the sound advice!

 

not to mention they are f##king heavy!!

 

there cast, cast=trash

 

If they're not cast, how else are they made??? machined???

Aceman

 

forged...

 

whoever told you cast rims are trash is clearly a moron. A high pressure casting is very strong...

 

forged

 

i should have elaborated, the 600$ wheels you see on ebay are trash, as most wheels are cast anyway

 

I also learn the same lesson : do not buy REPLICA, look alike AMG, BRABUS rims.... the strenght of the cast from the replica NEVER as good as the real thing, the look is good, beside that it's s...k. I spend more money for the real rims, but I can replace the rim if needed (if it can not fix). A couple year ago, I bought a set 17 inch REPLICA AMG 6, within month, the rim bend, back to the same place I bought the rim : they said SORRY, we ONLY sell rims in set (or at least in pair, but NOT a single rim), repair the rim ($60.00), it does not hold air (pump air every other day). I bought a set of REAL AMG which need to refinish (I have it chrome instead), throw out the replica (put on Recycle for $100.00 not ONE phone call). 2 1/2 years now, not a bend, no curb rash, no loss of air. If you like the look for the look alike rims, go for it, if you want the rims look good , quality & last : go for the brand name (I had set of FALKEN torque rims, they are very good rim) AMG, BRABUS, LORINSER are the way to go for you MB.

 

I also learn the same lesson : do not buy REPLICA, look alike AMG, BRABUS rims.... the strenght of the cast from the replica NEVER as good as the real thing, the look is good, beside that it's s...k. I spend more money for the real rims, but I can replace the rim if needed (if it can not fix). A couple year ago, I bought a set 17 inch REPLICA AMG 6, within month, the rim bend, back to the same place I bought the rim : they said SORRY, we ONLY sell rims in set (or at least in pair, but NOT a single rim), repair the rim ($60.00), it does not hold air (pump air every other day). I bought a set of REAL AMG which need to refinish (I have it chrome instead), throw out the replica (put on Recycle for $100.00 not ONE phone call). 2 1/2 years now, not a bend, no curb rash, no loss of air. If you like the look for the look alike rims, go for it, if you want the rims look good , quality & last : go for the brand name (I had set of FALKEN torque rims, they are very good rim) AMG, BRABUS, LORINSER are the way to go for you MB.

 

I agree.. WHy do most people blame Ebay when they got something they didn;t like.??

I'm sure this vendor does not have a 100% good feeback. If he did he shouldn;t after this transaction.
I don't repersent Ebay or anything, but you have to study who you are dealing with when you buy from someone. there are usually signs to show if they are selling something worthwhile, or if they do good business. read recent and past feedbacks....Ebay get's blamed for a lot of peoples misfortunes when it's the individuals failure to do proper research most of the time. Not saying this happened here, but I'm just speaking in general.

On a side note, I've had rims that my benz just didn't like. There are many reasons. One is the center bore. 66.56 is the magic number.Forget about clims of being hubcentric. If they do not have a good center bore, then forget about it. balancing them looks okay on the machine but you will have issues with Highspeed vibration. Especially on the W211 body. Don't ask me why, it's just like that.Seems to be amplified on that body for some reason.

The Second thing is the tires. AVON? is that a generic tire? Well even a slightly "oval" rim as the other poster put it, can balance to zero. Balancing has more to do with the tires that it does the rim "normally" so if you have a wheel that "won't balance" on the machine, how about the tires??

 

i agree. i bought many items from Ebay and most if not all were in good to excellent condition.

Now regarding the specific situation here, feedback can be left only in a small time window. I am sure the seller got positive response from a buyer because the rims look beautiful and shiny. The rims might fall apart in a year time and the buyer has no recourse with Ebay or its feedback system.

So just beware that you get what you pay for.

 

Most balance issues are with the tires. I've seen many a set of aftermarket wheel/tire combinations and for some reason the cheap wheels always come with cheap tires, go figure. Also, I have done many sets of O.E.M. wheels with lesser rubber on them and they always require more weight to balance than factory benz tires. Not only are they a pita to balance, but the noise/vibrations are rediculous.

 

Pick a supplier with a good E-Bay score. If a supplier gets 99% chances are they do not want to tarnish their hard earned scores. Problems come with individual sellers and you have to go for arbitration - big irritation.

If you want to keep your MB for a long time it is worth a good set of rims. My own wheel-tire package purchase has arrived at my garage and I shall let you know if my supplier is good or not.

 

I did some research on Tirerack about a year ago and the AVON came up very high in the value and satisfaction polls. I believe their claim to fame is in road racing.

 

Yea..heres a pic of some Brabus replicas off a customers ride. From one pot hole on the freeway, this rim split into two, ate the tire, and caused serious scrapes to the suspension. The other rim bent, deflated and ate the other tire as well. The cost of quality wheels is nothing compared to having cheap rims blow out on you leaving you sideways on the freeway.

 

OK, where's GOOD and reasonably priced place to buy the AMG wheels like the ones on the special edition cure cancer E350?

 

Maybe some of you guys need to go back and read aceman's original title. He wasn't dissing eBay, or blaming eBay...he was politely cautioning us to not be tempted by cheap knock-off rims on eBay. He didn't say "Don't buy any rims on eBay" nor did he ever incinuate that eBay screwed him. He admitted to being lured in to buying somes guys junk off eBay and wanted the rest of us to learn from his mistake.

 

eBay has some genuine rims as well... you pay for what you get!

I once bought some knock-offs from eBay and they were excellent (got all four rims and tires for what the dealership wanted one corner)

Having said that, you can tell they arent as good as oe. Not as bright, not sanded off properly etc.

I bought them to sell that car easier and it worked! eBay can save ya life sometimes

my 2cents.

 

Jschade,

Thankyou for actually reading my post - You hit the nail right on the head. If anything i was blaming myself for being tempted by the price and hoping to help others tempted to do the same as I had done. I was in no way stating indirectly or directly this is Ebay's fault (unless the two posters honestly believe that i think Ebay sent their QC department to LWT to check the rims and knew they were garbage prior to allowing the sale on ebay ). And technically - i saw the rims on Ebay, when to the LWT website, called them, and bought them directly at the "buy it now" price for those who who want to get technical.

If you're buying no-name rims, the lesson i've learned is be careful. The vendor i purchased from had good feedback (98.6%) and was using tires that tirerack rated highly, so i bought the set. Unfortunately it just didn't work out well for me.

Aceman

 

hey Aceman. i just wanted to thank you for clearing up the (should i buy, should i not buy, should i risk it, etc...) mb wheel replica issue-- this is exactly what's been lingering in my mind for weeks now!


sry kinda
my story: i purchased some aftermarket wheels (19x8.5 ADRs 35et). i thought the wheels & tires (hankooks) were a good price $1660 (cheap compared to brabus, lorinser, hre) and that it would save me money.. loved the sporty look it provided. but they needed a 10mm spacer for the front wheels to clear the calipers. the spacers they used weren't hubcentric so vibrations were prevalent traveling speeds of 60+mph. i was told to purchase hubcentric spacers to solve that problem.

but... buying hubcentric spacers have been a nightmare for me. and of course, they were all purchased on ebay.

no i'm not blaming ebay either, just saying where i purchased them. i saved money buying from ebay. which is, imo, the #1 reason why people buy from ebay in the first place.

bought eurotech hubcentric spacers... also bought h&r hubentric spacers part# 2055665... none of them seem to fit the hub. i was certain the h&r spacers would work, but i was wrong. i don't know why they don't fit. they came off a C55 which has the same exact center bore as a C32, right?

i've taken the car to a local performance shop called "Carboy" located here in houston and had to get alignment done, so i took it to an alignment shop (sw alignment) and both could not get the spacers to fit on the hub. so i'm lost and have given up.

this whole hubcentric spacer thing just isn't working for me. so i've decided to accept my loss and just buy new wheels. so i put my factory 17" amg wheels back on b/c i could not deal with the vibration any longer!.. this lead to the whole 'should i buy replicas or should i not' issue -- so thanks again aceman for sharing your story. i believe you've saved me much hurt in the future.

normally, i wouldn't buy replicas, b/c i like quality and i do believe "you get what you pay for". but i also do agree with the notion... that saving money and getting the same "look" is sometimes really really really appealing...

and reading aceman's post just kinda reminds you of the whole quality vs practicality thing. in this case.. and how could i have forgotten, a quality car like the c32 should deserve quality wheels. eh? but man i just wish i could save some money!

in my case, trying to save some money has just made me lose more money -- if i just bought the right wheels in the first place... ugh! now i'm down $1750, with three sets of hubcentric spacers that don't fit my car and a set of wheels and tires just sitting in my garage! a hard lesson learned for someone as stubborn as I!

btw, does anybody need some [2]10mm h&r hubcentric spacers? oh.. and [2]10mm and [2]15mm eurotech hubcentric spacers? oh yeah.. and some 19" ADRs + Hankook tires. was only used for a month and sry for such a long post...