mercar

What are good aftermarket/replica brands to replace OEMs on AMG? (mine is S55 from 2006). I hit a pothole pretty bad and I think I might have to replace one of my wheels/rims. The I had have to weld each of my wheel/rim at least once in past 12 months.

My fronts are 19 x 8.5 with 44mm offset and rears are 19 x 9.5 with 46mm offset. Most of my search shows that the wheel size for S55 is 18 inches. Since I bought mine used, I don't know if my car originally came with 19 inch rims.

I don't want to spend too much on rims. I have been searching on the net for last two three hours and I see a wide range from few hundred dollars for set of 4 to more than $4000. I would like to keep my cost for set of four below $1000. Is it possible to get good reasonable quality rims for that price. I drive around 20K to 25K miles a year. And I am afraid of investing a lot in the rims as I am afraid that they will develop cracks (like my present OEM ones).

Thanks for help.

mercar

After a lot of research I have narrowed down to Vossen VFS1, Rohana RF2 and Miro F25. The last two are rotary form forged and the Vossen is flow formed. Miros is fairly new has been launched recently. Rohana are pricing out cheapest at approximately $1550, the Miro at $1750 and the Vossen VSF1 at $2200 to $2300. I checked the prices at couple of online stores.

I also see a listing for new original AMG wheels which are exact match for existing OEM wheels on the car (specifications wise). The style is slightly different. (existing ones on the car is 5 double spoke, while one available is 5 spoke as well. Both are two piece forged. The new AMG wheels (manufactured by BBS)being sold online (they came off a car from the same year as mine when it had less than 10K miles on it) are certainly much heavier than aftermarket ones (the Miro is 21lbs and I think AMG is in high 20s to almost 30lbs if I recall)

My car did originally come with 19" staggered wheels from the factory (confirmed by reading the description on the driver side door panel).

That narrows down my search. Now I am wondering whether to but the AMG being sold online (with less than 10K miles and in mint condition) or go for aftermarket wheels!

maw1124

Good AMG 2-pc 19" generally go for about $900 new, I don't know what use (not interested). My general thought has been it's a $5k proposition for this car. The only thing I'd replace the OEM ones with are HRE or O.Z. (Superleggera III).

Do you need front or rear? Just one or all 4?

What are you driving in, a war zone?

maw

Mike@Vossen

FYI, the process st technically Flow Formed and different companies re-named it to different things (rotary forged, flow forged, etc etc).

Our wheels are also hub-centric for Mercedes Benz cars!

mercar

Might as well be war zone I do drive a lot and the city streets in San Francisco are not that friendly to these low profile tires

I found today that the originals were cast. They are heavy too. A couple of wheel shops have told me that they get a lot of these AMG wheels in for repairs. It is always a crack on the inside. Go figure!

There are originals available on eBay for $2K, barely used. The manufacturing technology has come a long way (esp price wise). The low pressure cast flow form wheels from companies like BBS and Vossen are lighter with more strength than the original casts, at reasonable price points. The low pressure casts can also be had at below $500 per wheel price from BBS and others.

maw1124

I hear you. I think that's all correct. If I ever have a problem with mine, it'll be interesting to see if I go OEM. I've just not found anything else that looks "right" on these. I do like the Superlegerra III, but they're not cheap.

maw