availablechptr

I took delivery of my 2020 GLS and I took it to a shop to do my PPF + ceramic coating, the shop said that both of my front wheels have this (yellow thing) and they think it needs to be removed.

Do you guys know anything about this? Much appreciated.

Quick update: Detail shop says it's from when the car was shipped to prevent it from moving. They said it stops the shocks during shipping. I'm waiting to hear back from the dealer as they said they are looking into it. Either way, not happy,

wolds

Yeah those look exactly like the shipping blocks they use to keep it from compressing fully during transit. Dealer is supposed to remove them during the pre delivery inspection among other obvious things on a check list like tire pressure, battery charge, etc.

This was a common problem on a different brand car I bought a few years ago where the cars were shipped by boat from Australia. These were red and I still have them. 😅

nc211

Yep, that’s exactly what they are indeed. The dealer messed up with not removing them. Same thing happened to several VW GTI’s back in 2015 when they were coming from the new factory in Mexico by train to the US.

unless if you hit a major bump, off-road or something along those lines that would require the suspension to travel a decent amount and quickly - you’re probably fine. They’ll remove them and you should be good. The tires likely absorbed most of the movement. Only things that would be stressed the most would be the shock tower mounts and control arm bushings - things that had to absorb more of the bumps that the suspension travel was supposed to but couldn’t. The car will probably feel like a 1985 Cadillac to you now in comparison.

they're used to keep the vehicle as stable as possible during shipping, be it boat or train or truck. But don’t worry about it, the car was bouncing around during shipment as well, so highly doubtful you did any damage to it in the short amount of time you’ve had it. Some GTI owners didn’t realize they still had their blocks on for well past 20,000 miles before they finally realized it (mainly in the back tires).

availablechptr

Thank you for the response - that is indeed very helpful. The dealership never followed up with me as to why or apologize. Lo and behold - the Mercedes survey showed up asking the whole process went. Gee, I wonder what I would say.

wolds

I had an issue last year that I was itching to get a survey for over the weekend, but Monday morning the Service Manager reached out directly and got me fixed up with no delays. As a result, my overall feedback would have been positive anyway, but I did not receive the survey.

If they didn't bother to follow up, take that shot lol!

availablechptr

Haha, I'm glad your experience went well. For me, it's not so much that they have to do anything since my detail shop already took it out; it should be more of an apology and even that, I am not getting after the salesperson said he will take a look into it and went MIA for nearly a week now. They said a survey is coming within 7 days and in the meantime, I could write to them with concerns and I did just that. I said that being treated like this is not a standard I would expect from buying the "S class of SUVs."