Low profile tire blow-outs & wheel damage
 

Anyone have tire blow outs & wheel damage with low profile 18” or 19” tires?

I've been running 19s with 35 sidewall. Never blew out a tire but I've bent my rims like 6 times in the last 3 years. 2 of which were bad enough the tires leaked air. Gotta pay to play :B

Attachment 440308

In 50+ years of driving, I've never had a blow-out with any tire.

Wife once had two blow-outs at the same time. But that was because she apparently thought the curb was part of the road. She got behind on her steering. :o:

My dad managed to blow out a 55 sidewall tire ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

all the time : nails , bent wheels , more nails and more bent wheels. hate it so much
18s Amg

Never had blow out...
had flats though with any tire... heck my lawn mower has one...

I am more careful when driving the MB with low profile ties...
Looking for potholes, curbs, bumps, junk on road...

Not a big fan but not in mood to buy smaller wheels which I am not sure would fit over brakes.

When my community was in its building/expansion stage 20 years ago, my cars picked up construction nails regularly. No blow-outs but slow leaks only, usually discovered when going to the garaged car in the morning (overnight leak-downs).

I became pretty adept at plugging my own flat tires before going to work. I still have the kit, but haven't needed to use it in years.

Don't have any bent rims, yet (that I know of). But like others, I watch the road ahead like a hawk.

I have 18” and suffered rim damage on both front and back on one side but no blowouts. Didn’t even know about it until I started noticing poor ride quality and vibrations in car on highway (thought the car was getting old). It was a pain to get the wheels back in shape.
Now I've had slow leaks due to nails in other cars (not low profile- which has nothing to do with it).
I’m kind of wary of low profile tires now even though they look nice and sharp.

Only one blowout last year in Indiana that put a golf ball on the sidewall but was able to get to the dealership on the tire for a replacement (didn’t blowout but was very very close). In all honesty the hit probably should’ve fractured the rim, it was that bad. Only bent it.

Lots of bent rims (18 AMG wheels). Or just not able to fix them properly, I can’t tell anymore.

Look at any used W212 and review the carfax history. Wheel repair is like the #1 entry for this series. Chasing vibrations and wheel repair, go hand in hand.

I feel your pain bud. I have a 2013 E550 that had 18” AMG OEM rims on it. After 2 blow outs and having the rims welded 5 times, I recycled them and bought aftermarket replicas. Not sure if they’re just bad rims or maybe the suspension components were worn out. This is my first car with aromatic suspension so maybe that’s the cause. It’s not absorbing the shock very well. I e had many cars with 18” and 19” wheels and have never had any issues until my AMG wheels.

Solid looking ride! Where did you get that trunk spoiler? I believe my rear diffuser is the same as yours and I will be attacking that this evening with a buddy by using your advice and taking the bumper off!

I bought my 2014 E250 with AMG wheels made in Czech Republic. 1 was already welded, when 2 other had big cracks (strange since no bend visible), so I sold the good one on ebay and make garden hose hangers from other.
I suspect the Czech made weak alloy.

Constantly. Went through 9 wheels in 2 years. It's getting to be a budgeted monthly expense. Back in about December I bought a full set of aftermarket cheapo "reproduction" wheels and while I did crack one on an especially egregious pothole, they seem to hold up a little better.

Nope, just had wheels refurbished after 6 years on the car (18's) and as straight as a dye and no punctures or blow outs in the 3 years I have had it. Roads in the UK are not the best for potholes either.

What was the reason behind the question? Had an issue yourself, or thinking of running on 18's or 19's

There does seem to be some noise around some of the wheels on the AMG models (proper AMG not the Sport models) suffering from cracking.

I got it off ebay pre-painted for like $99. I dunno how long the paint will last at that price but it was so cheap I'll just buy a new one when the time comes. The color isn't a perfect match but it's hard to tell.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Painted-For...AAAOSwCkZZSLm6

Awesome, I was looking at the painted jbspeed one for a while but I like the styling of this one much better, next mod after the exhaust for sure!

With 18s, we had two blowouts (right side both!) in the rain at night ...the water obscured the potholes, and it was a nasty hole due to dang Caltrans road construction! Cost me tires (did all 4 as I was prob within a year of replacing), and it put a few scars in the rim, though glad neither were bend or cracked! Stinks! Keep tires inflated on the high side (I use 36f/40r) to help mitigate damage, but low sidewalls just is what it is!

Edward

I've had three failures with the aftermarket winter set-up and midwest pot holes. All fronts with 245/40 18's.

My Mrs just experienced her first 'blowout'. Her situation was a bit more drastic than most, hit a curb swerving to avoid a late night accident on a fairly fast moving street. Both tie-rods, driver side steering knuckle bent, wheel bearing, caliper bracket bent and a cracked rotor up front. The rear suffered just the rim...warning, not for the faint below:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...328d23470b.jpg
Front Driver
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...caa3d4b06d.jpg
Rear Driver

OUCHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Yikes, glad she's ok, that was frightful!

Low Profile Tires
 

19 inch Continental low profile tires were recommended for my Mazda by the dealer. Just had my oil changed and in 5,000 MI they managed to wreck every single rim. Two weeks later I had to replace another one. Now I have a slow leak in one tire but I'm so sick of going to the shop and ordering rims that I'd rather just put air in it weekly. If you're thinking of buying them don't! They only have 10,000 miles on them and I don't know what to do. Also three have gone flat from very tiny bumps.

There is only so much you can blame on the size.
After mentioned above bad AMG wheels, I put on my W212 classic 18" monoblocks, who have to be at least 20 years old. German made by Lorinser. I have them for about 10 years, used on 4 cars and no problems, even I am 1 of the last to slow at potholes.
So here are the pictures of my W212 on wheels 4 times her age and proper use of new, Czech-made alloys.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...37d3734c6e.jpg

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...ef527d41e2.jpg

its not the rim diameter as much as the profile series. on W212's, the standard 17" wheels are /45, the 18" are /40 and the 19% are /35. having owned many older cars I frankly preferred when 'low profile' meant /60, and /50 wheels were for race tracks. the lower the profile percentage, the more critical tire pressure is and the more likely pinch flats and rim failures on hitting potholes and crevices in the road. this current trend towards all rim, no tire may look good on the showroom floor, but its awful on real world roads that aren't race track smooth.

btw, in the RTW (rest of the world), the standard W212 wheel is a 16", I don't remember offhand, but I bet it is a 235/50R16. now its certainly possible that some US models got bigger brakes that wouldn't fit in a 16" wheel, that I don't know, but if they fit, they would be an excellent choice for winter wheels.

you do have to be quite careful with what rims you use, I've run into situations where (with a older Volvo) only SOME 15" wheels fit a specific car, others where too thick, too small of an ID, depending on which brakes you had. this was on a car that *came* with standard 15" wheels and optional 16" basically, the 15's that didn't fit on that specific car had the right offset and bolt pattern, but were the optional +1 wheel for an earlier model so didn't have the correct inside clearance.

facelift W212 with factory 16's...
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...836f8ae818.jpg

Yes, US models do get bigger brakes with bigger engines.
I already check that on my E250 Bluetec, the 16" wheels I have left from W211 will fit, but member having 350 engines reported bigger brakes.