BlackMamba24

Ok, so I picked up my new 2008 S550 today...i've been working on this deal for a good two months, so I was obviously pretty excited about this...they had to order it and it finally came in on tuesday night...Ok, so I get there and the guy is really excited...we go to look at it and the first thing that hits me is the wheels aren't right...they weren't the standard 18" 9 spokes, but rather a 18" 7 spoke...the guy apparently didn't even realize it until I told him...he wasn't sure what to do...

finally after an hour of waiting around I told him to swap the wheels from another new S550 with these...he has to clear it with the manager and whatever...anyways, they are supposed to close at 5pm today...its like 4:45pm at the point that they clear it with the manager...he comes back to me to tell me that ill have to come back monday to get the car cause the mechanics or whatever are leaving...im not too thrilled about it, obviously...then they finally say they'll do it today...so they do...while they are doing it the guy comes back to me to tell me that the wheels they initially had on the car were Optional wheels that cost like 1,200 dollars...mercedes, he says, must have run out of the standard wheel and swapped them for no cost with these option wheels...i didn't buy that because on the window sticker it said nothing about this and still said that the car should have come with the 9 spoke wheels...

im still confused as to where these wheels came from and why they would have come that way...no other s class on the lot had these option wheels...i hated them...ok, so here is my problem...everything was fine when i drove the car off the lot (typical)...but i bring the car home and park it on my driveway and the Tire Pressure Monitor Inactive comes on the screen...i am totally fuming...this annoying issue with the tire monitor is why i hated the 2004 s class...i got rid of that crap because of the electrical issues and now this car has it too...i just got this car...that 2004 sclass took 3 years to develop the tire monitor issue and this 2008 car has the problem from day one...i honestly think it happened when they swapped the wheels (is this possible)??

also, the parktronic works in the front when im getting close to things, but when i reverse i see in the rearview those two lights light up but they are just yellow and it doesn't seem to be affected by close objects...im not sure what the deal with that is, but the lights just stay on yellow and don't increase or beep like the front monitor was doing...im assuming i was close enough to an object for that rear monitor to be engaged...i think this may be an issue as well...let me know what your thoughts are on these two problems...im very annoyed and irritated right now because obviously once i got home, the dealership was closed so i couldn't talk to anyone...and they are closed on the weekend...

their were only 11 miles on the car when i picked it so its brand new obviously...vin# matched up...everything was legit, but the wheels were screwed up and now this monitor issue and the rear parktronic problem...please help me with this and give me a heads up as to what you guys think might be the issue...thanks...

Diesel Benz

Considering your wheels, I would look at the car data card, the wheel type should be stated there, it does not have to be an option. Could it be that the standard wheel has just changed lately? Of course if you were expecting other wheels and documents were showing those when you did the order, then you should be free to select one or the other.

Since they swapped the wheels, the tyre pressure monitor needs to be reactivated to force it learn the new wheel sensors. I assume this is a standard feature in the US, then those wheels from the S550 must also have sensors? It may take some time before the car learns the new sensors but it would not do it automatically, you have to use the IC menu.

Are you sure about the rear parktronic sensors, I'd suggest putting the car on reverse and asking someone to walk just behind the car. Perhaps you did not dear to drive close enough some objects, with a new car like this it would not be a surprise. If there was an issue, it should give a warning and indicate that with the led display (which they did not do in your case).

I wish you luck with the wheels and hope the other two issues were none actually.

BlackMamba24

Thanks Diesel Benz...where exactly do I look for the car data card...where would this be located. Let me know, thanks.

Diesel Benz

Sorry for not explaining better, I'm not sure if the US "window sticker" would have this info but the EPC (MB Electronic Parts Catalog) would have every detail necessary to know what exactly your car was made of when it left the factory.

Since you are from the US, you can actually subscribe for free for this service. If you don't want to go through the (small) effort, a forum member with EPC access could print you your data card (you would need to PM your VIN). I'm not sure if I would be able to find your car as I have access to the Euro service only.

http://www.startekinfo.com/StarTek/index.jsp

BlackMamba24

thanks for the link, Diesel Benz...im a bit confused as to how to use it though...where do i put my VIN # in to check this information?...i clicked on the link that you provided but it says that i have to put in my credit card number to register, is this right?...

Diesel Benz

Yes you have to let them have your credit card info, you don't have to pay though (like I do ). It used to be free for US, I assume it still is.

Once you have registered and can login in to the service, you can give your VIN and you get an option to pull your data card.

AsianML

I just remembered konigstiger can give you your datacard for free!! Send him a PM with your email address and VIN requesting a datacard and he'll send one. I got one and it was pretty neat reading all of the codes.

AsianML

Why do you Europeans have to pay?

BlackMamba24

as for the parktronic...i still don't know whats up with reverse...the two yellow lights come on, but nothing else happens...i haven't had anyone walk behind me, but i did back up again today on my drive and i think i was close enough to something to at least get more than one dot on the thing...the front parktronic works well...its just the rear...let me know if you guys have any suggestions...

One other thing with the tire pressure monitor thing...i reset it, like you said so that it would learn the new pressures...the yellow deflated tire symbol is still up on the display, but there is no error message that comes up anymore upon restart and there is no message in the message area under service anymore, which there was before...when i start the car it beeps and the yellow deflated tire flashes, but no message comes up anymore (which it did before), but the symbol isn't going away...do you think the system is still learning the new pressures, or is this something else...let me know on this too, thanks.

ajm0623

mate - just take it to the friggin' dealer on monday, and he'll make it awlright. you paid $100,000 for the car. avail yourself of the services that come with that kind of vig and what the dealer will provide you for 4 yrs/ 50,000 miles. cheers.

trumpet1

Like ajm said, I wouldn't worry about it . Just get it to the dealer and let them take care of this.
Sounds like this wheel issue isn't resolved anyway.

BlackMamba24

I agree with you guys saying i should take it in...its just very annoying to get the car and the first day have an issue with it...obviously i was assuming this new S Class was a huge improvement over the w220 in terms of any electrical issues...this may be an isolated case and not a big deal, but its still an issue and it bugs me because my last s class had this exact problem...the tire monitor is such a unless thing to begin with if you regularly check your pressure in the first place...do you guys think that this issue is related to the fact that they changed my tires and wheels? The TPMS is on each wheel, so at least they are there...

BlackMamba24

Update...i forgot to mention in the last message...my parktronic works...i guess you guys were right about me not being close enough to anything on the reverse...so that worked which is good...so basically the only issue is the tpms...i really wish that symbol would go away, but it won't...ill update on monday when i call the dealer...

AustinGuy

Wow! Getting the wrong wheels..... that's got to be right up there with all the other head-scratchers

Do you have any pics? I don't even see the 18" 7-spoke wheel listed as an option under "build your own" on the MB site.

These are the wheels that should have been on your car....

BlackMamba24

^^Yeah, that's exactly what i thought...so when i went to pick it up on friday and saw 18" 7 split spoke wheels on the car (which, in my opinion were absolutely hideous...they looked like large c class wheels) i was floored...i told my sales guy immediately and he was confused as to what to do...i don't have pictures because I had them swap the wheels with another new s class on the lot so now that car has the weird wheels...ill probably have to be heading back to the dealership early next week so ill take a picture of those other wheels while im there just so you guys can see them...i looked everywhere for pictures of those wheels online thinking someone else may have them, but i came up empty...one thing that was interesting is that in the new brochure for the 2008 s class...in the back of that catalog it does mention the 18" 7 split spoke wheels as a NO COST option (not the $1200 they were saying it was)...so im assuming for some odd reason, they put those on the car instead...

I now have the wheels that are in that picture you posted above, which I like much better...im just so irritated by the tpms, i can't even handle it.

Diesel Benz

I believe it was not free for the US either at the time Konigstiger pulled data cards for those who had not bought the service (or could not use if from where they work).

I mean pulling a data card does not cost any extra once you have subscribed to the service (on-line EPC), it is just that subscription is free for US car owners while it isn't in Europe. How could MB sell cars so cheap for you if they did not make us pay for everything .

Diesel Benz

It is still not clear to me how did you try to teach in the new sensors. Just resetting from the instrument cluster menu is not enough. You have to drive the car for a while (user manual probably tells details).

Of course the dealer should have done all this for you.

I did not see a confirmation that all US S550 cars would be equipped with TPMS sensors. If yes, like I assume, then no need to check the valves from the wheels if they look like those for TPMS sensors.

And you should not be worried about the trouble with TPMS, a new system from Siemens is used these days and this should be trouble free, the previous one did have a few issues.

BlackMamba24

does anyone know exactly how i should try to "teach" in the new sensors...i did reset the sensor by going to service in the instrument cluster and going down to tire pressue and then clicking the down arrow to recalibrate new pressue. Nothing really happens, though. Even after doing this I have not been able to ever see a screen that shows the car and each tire pressure. I don't get that screen.

boylston

Good luck with the new car. The initial inconvenience should be more than offset by the pleasures you'll get from it later.

Interestingly, I was at my dealer's Friday and I saw the split 7's for the first time. It's probably what we'll see on the 09's. I don't find them objectionable but glad you've gotten what you wanted.

AsianML

Do you guys have any pictures of the split 7-spoke?

nitromilt

I picked up my new s550 4matic sport a couple weeks ago before i took it home had a set of "20 Avarus wheels and Perilli tires put on.Dealer said will show a tps code for awhile till the new sensors and computer get in sync with each other.Well left the dealer,drove 4 miles ate lunch and drove another 75 miles home.Shut car off and started looking thru 750+ page owners manual,got tired of that decide to go for a little ride,started car drove away and no tps code anywhere and was reading correct tire pressures.So my whole experience was about 80 miles and less than 2 hours.Only have a total of 190 miles on the car but so far so good.

BlackMamba24

Thanks for the reply, Nitromilt...well, hopefully thats the issue...did you do anything special to recalibrate while you were driving or did you just let it do its thing? Its weird because when i first drove the car home (5miles) no tpms code...i get on my drive and pull up and put it in park and tpms comes on the main instrument cluster saying the tpms is inactive.

I park it in the garage, and start it up later in the day and go to service on the instrument cluster and click on tire pressure and click down to recalibrate (not sure what the exact choice was) and then the tpms error message goes away, but the little yellow symbol remains. I have never been able to view the actual tire pressures on the instrument cluster, that appears to not be an option for me at this point...just yesterday i drove it a couple of miles and went to recalibrate again and still the yellow symbol remains...then i drove it up on the driveway again and the error message showed up...and the yellow tire symbol was still there too...so far i have 23 miles on the car (i've driven it 12 miles so far) and maybe a half hour total over the last two days...im just really disappointed right now because I just wanted to be error free for a while...i had heard such great things about the new s class...i just wasn't expecting this...ill call the dealer tomorrow...hopefully i will have some good news come next week...

nitromilt

I know what your feeling,its nice to experience the new car thing and everything working as it should.I do know i can get my tire pressures anytime i want them so i dont understand why you cant.But as far as the tps deal goes i didnt reset a thing.Was told it would read inoperative for awhile,but would correct its self soon.My happened to take 80miles and less than 2 hours.It may have taken less if maybe i would have stopped somewhere before driving home,dont really know.Hang in there i will all work out and it will be one of,if not the best car you have ever had....THINK POSITIVE.

Diesel Benz

Are you sure nobody from a tyre shop did not reset TPMS? Or did you change the tyres at home?

The user manual says TPMS has to be reset when wheels or sensors are changed. But this could also be for the purpose of calibrating the sensors to the actual tyre pressure.

Beru sensors did not accept new sensors without a reset. This is already to be sure that the car does not start reading sensors from a car next to it (long shot, but MB used to be thinking all options, often a bit too much when complexity could have been avoided). I should probably try to read more about these new Siemens sensors, perhaps the car is built to automatically recognize new sensors. But again, reset should be used because the car is likely otherwise using incorrect tyre pressure warning levels (warning threshold is not fixed, it is adapted to the actual tyre pressures at each wheel).

BlackMamba24

Thanks Nitromilt...im trying to think postive but its just a very frustrating situation because i wanted to be error free for a while...that yellow tire symbol absolutely pisses me off. I can't stand it...first thing tomorrow morning im calling that dealership...hopefully its a quick fix.

Diesel Benz, thanks for posting that information. The dealership changed the tires. I'm just wondering if there is something that they needed to do after changing the tires that they forgot to do which is causing this issue. The wheels have the tpms on them so i don't know.

The message I am getting as an error is: Tire Pressure Monitor Inoperative.

I click ok and it clears, but the yellow tire symbol stays in the upper right corner next to the speedometer in the instrument cluster. I can then click over to Service in the cluster and then click ok and it brings up three options: Messages (which in this case shows that there is one, at times, but then sometimes it shows zero messages) under that it says Tire Pressure and under that it says some other option...anyways, when i go down to tire pressure and click on it, it says use current pressure or i can hit the down arrow and it says reactivate or recalibrate tire pressures. I click ok on that and then nothing really happens...the yellow tire pressure symbol remains and i can't ever see a car with the numbers next to each tire. That never shows up. So that's where i'm at now...

I'll post tomorrow when i finally talk to them. I really hope this is a quick and permanent fix.