Rotate/balance & Damaged Rim Question
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Junior Member
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 31
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2011 E350 Sport 4Matic
Rotate/balance & Damaged Rim Question
Would appreciate everyone's advice on this one.
A while back I damaged one of my rims on a pot hole (stupid DC-area roads). I had it repaired because I did not want to spend $800 on a new rim.
Today I went to get my wheels rotated and balanced (just had an A-service), and they called me and told me that the damaged rim was extremely wobbly. They asked if I felt any vibrations when I drive, and I said no. Had no idea there was even an issue. They said there was no point doing it until I had the rim fixed/replaced.
So my question is, how important is it to rotate and balance regularly? If I don't do it for the next two years let's say, is it just going to cause uneven tire wear or what?
If I do replace the rim, I think I will go with a re-manufactured one instead of a new one. Anyone have experience ordering such rims on-line, and if so, any recommended vendor (aside from ordering on eBay, where I've seen them listed for about $250)? I have the five-spoke OEM rims.
A while back I damaged one of my rims on a pot hole (stupid DC-area roads). I had it repaired because I did not want to spend $800 on a new rim.
Today I went to get my wheels rotated and balanced (just had an A-service), and they called me and told me that the damaged rim was extremely wobbly. They asked if I felt any vibrations when I drive, and I said no. Had no idea there was even an issue. They said there was no point doing it until I had the rim fixed/replaced.
So my question is, how important is it to rotate and balance regularly? If I don't do it for the next two years let's say, is it just going to cause uneven tire wear or what?
If I do replace the rim, I think I will go with a re-manufactured one instead of a new one. Anyone have experience ordering such rims on-line, and if so, any recommended vendor (aside from ordering on eBay, where I've seen them listed for about $250)? I have the five-spoke OEM rims.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 9,224
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From: V E G A S
1922 Ford Model T / no OBD
I never rotate my wheels period.
IMHO the recommendation is a trick to refuse warranty issue when thread wears faster than guaranty says.
On my dually truck- Ford made inner rims steel, so I can't rotate them even I would like and trucks actually need rotating since the front tires often have cupping on them.
When it comes to rims - W212 seems to have lot of problem with them. I bought 1 of my cars with AMG 18" wheels and at the time 3 of the Czech-made wheels already had damages on them. 2 had cracks with no visible damage, so I suspect inferior material quality.
I put 25 years old monobloks on my car. Problem solved.
IMHO the recommendation is a trick to refuse warranty issue when thread wears faster than guaranty says.
On my dually truck- Ford made inner rims steel, so I can't rotate them even I would like and trucks actually need rotating since the front tires often have cupping on them.
When it comes to rims - W212 seems to have lot of problem with them. I bought 1 of my cars with AMG 18" wheels and at the time 3 of the Czech-made wheels already had damages on them. 2 had cracks with no visible damage, so I suspect inferior material quality.
I put 25 years old monobloks on my car. Problem solved.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Feb 2014
Posts: 6,190
Likes: 1,550
From: MA
2008 E350 4Matic, 2011 E350 4matic
I've had mine bent back. The W212 rims seem to be a bit more money now than the W211 rims. I guess as the car ages, the price of the rims go down. I've gotten both oem refurbished rims and replica rims. They might both be the same as the oem rims also bent/cracked and right now I ended up with replica rims and so far they haven't bent/cracked yet, but that may just be a matter of time as I've had them for less than a year. Cost $115 around here to bend them back. My W211 rims were around $140 for a replica so I did that instead of getting one bent back. But the W212 rims are still over $200 on eBay so I've had two bent back so far. It was causing a vibration so that's why I did it. If you can get it balanced so that you don't notice anything, then I wouldn't bother getting it bent back. Having it on the rear makes it less likely you will notice a vibration. If you find a vendor on eBay check out their website as it might be cheaper than their eBay ad.
