Anyone else having issues with bent rims?
 

I had bent a couple rims while still in Florida and had a little bit of shake coming from the rear of my Wagon. Had them repaired before I left to head back up to New England. I could see how they got bent originally as I hit a big pothole on the side of the road a few months back. The car was driving great for the trip back as in addition I'd replaced the tires with the Michelins. To my horror, I hit a big pot hole in Jersey right after going through a 15 mph hour toll booth and the car is once again vibrating on the highway, guess either one or two rims are now bent again. I thought about just putting aftermarket rims on the car at this point but think I'll just try to fix them again. I have the 19 inch rims on my wagon. Seems these rims are kinda soft. I think most cars would have took these jolts and not bent rims. I run around 38 PSI in the tires (cold) so not like i'm not running enough PSI. Never did like these lower profile tires and bigger rims. For areas that have bumpy roads it can be a disaster. I've thought about buying one aftermarket rim that looks sort of like the factory rim so that I can put that on with a tire and run the wheel to the rim repair guy. The alternative is taking it to the dealer and every time I do that it's like 6 to 800 bucks where as if I do it the way I'm thinking I can get rim repaired for around 150 bucks and then I'll save that spare new rim in my garage for future rim bending incidents. I guess it's just gonna be a part of owning one of these cars. I hate to go full aftermarket at this point, I do like the way the factory rims look.

This was thoroughly on my mind when I ordered my 2019 wagon. My 2018 wagon had the 19 inch twin spoke AMG wheels. I liked them well enough with the Pirelli’s and the ride was smoother than I expected (both wagons have the full air suspension), but I thought I’d get a little better bent rim protection by going with 18 inch wheels. For winter wheels I wonder if I can get 17 inchers. I see they have them in Europe, but the brake caliper clearance is pretty tight with the 18 inch wheels and I don’t know if 17s will fit.

I have the 18" 5 spoke wheels on my CAB, and they handle the potholes extremely well so far. It stands to reason as you go up in rim size, that the expectation of wheel and rim damage also increases. Perhaps your best bet is to get some 18's down the line in your future.

I think 18 inch is the smallest you can have on the v6 models because of the larger brakes. 18 inch is standard on v6 models.

My CLS53 is at the dealership since Thursday waiting for all four rims to be repaired. Our roads have been horrible this Winter and 20" wheels with low profile tires are not recommended in the great white north. I'm an old guy and have been driving a very long, long time. This is the first time that I have a bent rim, let alone four. I have blown one snow tire and my wife one also on her car. That's also a first. Please don't tell me I have to drive an SUV with truck tires. I would rather sell my car and go UBER.

in general aftermarket rims are very soft, unless u pay top $$$

Fixed it for you.

Non-forged MB wheels are a mixed bag with many models proving to be quite fragile. I will never voluntarily up-option MB wheels again. There are plenty of flow formed aftermarket wheels that are stronger and better looking than OEM.

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I ordered a set of aftermarket Wheels today. They are called the "Mandrus Milleniums" They are made with Mercedes cars in mind and you can even take the center cap off the stock rims and it will fit on these rims. They are not cheap at 2100 for 4 but a lot less than the stock rims. I figured the way it's going I'd keep getting bent stock rims so I figured I'd give these a shot. Plus I kinda like chrome rims, these will dress up the car a little bit.

Whoever said it said it best: 18 inch wheels. The rest is just for show. Slower, heavier, less durable and less comfortable

They are beautiful looking wheels, but whatever you do, be careful of road rash! Chrome wheels are almost impossible to fix.

I was thinking that good thing the tires have that rim protector. Gotta still be careful though. I just hope they are stronger than the stock rims. These massive bumps around here can be bad and you don’t always see them. I’ve driven my 10 year old Chevy truck a lot around here though and never had a bent rim.

I've never had a bent rim in over 60 years of driving throughout the US. I stick wit 18" rims.

I have the 18" rims and have still had multiple tire and wheel issues. This has been the worst car for tires and wheels that I've ever owned.

Agree. I had 18 inch rims on my 2012 E63 AMG wagon and all it took was one rut in the road across from where the New England patriots play on rt 1 foxboro and all 4 rims were bent. 2 tires cracked then too. Had all four rims fixed by the wheel guy who come s into the Benz dealer and bent them 3 or 4 times after so even the 18 inch wheels did not solve my issues.

I've had bent rims even on my 17 inch rims with 245/45/17 tires. It's basically those low profile tires. Probably have to go up to a 50 or 60 series to avoid it. No getting around it these days. But so far just bent rims which can be bent back on the 17's. I get bent and cracked rims on the 18's. The cracked ones you can't fix and just have to get a new wheel, or rather after you get it welded and bent back, you mind as well just get a new one.

I have the fools who thought baloney skin tires on cars looked cooled on my list of those who will be first against the wall in the revolution.

Ya, I've hit the same bumps with my Chevy Colorado Sport truck which has alloy rims with 235-50-18 inch tires and never bent a rim. That truck is 11 years old now and 60K miles.

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Got lucky with the wheels, turns out when I hit that bump in jersey on the way back to RI I must have lost a wheel balance weight and thats why the car was vibrating. Had all 4 wheels balance today and everything is fine right now. Trying to be extra careful with bumps as I know once wheels are re bent and repaired like two of mine just were in Florida they are a lot more prone to damage. These factory wheels I have are good looking wheels and I'm glad they are still usable.

Back in 2007 I had a Volvo S80 V8 with sport package and it had 18" wheels. I was living in Boston then and in fall hit a big pothole that bent one wheel and caused two tires to bubble from the impact.

What size wheels did you buy? They are nice looking.

I posted above that I lucked out this time. Weights got kicked off the rear wheels and threw them out of balance. When I left Florida for New England they were fine. When I hit a huge bump in Jersey that’s when it happened. So for now no new wheels. Was going to get 19s because I just got new tires but I think once these 19s are worn out and if I’m still thinking about rims then I may switch to 18s. The rims would be less money too. Those rims I posted above are beautiful rims imo in the chrome. Someday. I think this wagon my be one of those cars I just keep driving over 100k maybe 200k miles. That’s the most cost effective way with a good well built car like this. My main worry would be the darn air ride suspension in the back. I wish there was a way of not having got that like in the sedans or the cabs.

18" rims can be bent, pretty much as easily as 19" rims, if the pot hole is large enough. This is why I pay for the wheel and tire insurance.

Merc- I’ve got your same wheels. Currently at Viti and they’re saying all 4 are bent. I have not driven that far on these! As put a winter set within weeks after purchase- maybe 2 weeks in Dec- and 3-4 recently. The wheels looked perfect when I put them back on myself.

The wheel insurance should not be this nevessary- it’s poor design/control on MB’s part if we’re all having problems this soon. I avoid potholes (as much as possible) and am very road aware.

I did’t bend a rim in 30k miles on my Golf R with 19in and even thinner tires. And never on several BMWs.

Its all just unacceptable.

Yep, it's a problem. I might end up getting the above Mandrus Wheels after all, I've still got two bent rear wheels even though I thought the balancing took care of it, nope, still vibrates some on the highway. I just hate to spend like 2200 on wheels.

In fairness, the VW must weigh 1000 lbs less than the Mercedes. And someone also mentioned CT. Awful roads. Of course, there's also NY.

18 inch for this car is all that's needed. It's a heavy luxury car, not a track racer. Better ride and longevity.

I suspect you'll have the same issue with all large diameter wheels.

However, admittedly, I have replaced 2 wheels on my 911 with 18s. Roads in the northeast just stuck.

I've had a few wheels bent back. The guy who bends them back says that the OEM wheels tend to bend, but the aftermarket wheels tend to crack. He had a lot of aftermarket wheels in the shop which he couldn't fix that were cracked and some were missing big chunks.