SparksterC43

I recently purchased a 2008 SL600 with Vossen wheels. While detailing the car I noticed a soft spot on the dish of one of the rear wheels. I contacted the dealer and they confirmed the soft spot and suggested I call Vossen. I then sent pics to Vossen and did not get a reply. After a couple of weeks I finally got someone on the phone who informed me that these soft spots have been seen before and that my wheels have been discontinued. He said that tow truck straps had caused them in the past. I questioned how wheels could possible become delaminated by tow truck straps and his answer was that they are discontinued. If their quality control processes are so bad then I suggest that no one who drives a a high performance Mercedes ever consider using wheels from this manufacturer. I have had many high performance vehicles with wheels by Brabus. BBS renntech etc and have never seen this kind of poor manufacturing process before. That combined with the lack of product support is quite scary. At the least I would have thought that they would want to know what happened with the wheel. When I offered to send it back so they could figure it out, they refused

If you ever consider driving your cars faster than 100. Never by Vossen wheels!

overZealous1

soft spot?

WHTEVO

Sounds like he is talking about the paint/ finish bubbling?

Aaron

overZealous1

i hardly think it is right to blast a wheel company because you have the finish lifting on what is obviously an older wheel that you know no history about. they could have been refinished by previous owner with a rattle can or rechromed or whatever issue you are having with the finish.
do you feel they owe you (not original purchaser) to refinish the wheels? possibly previous owner drove the car in snow and ice conditions with graveled roads and salt? that is plenty to rock chip them and compromise the finish. one chip and the alum will corrode underneath.
what seriously did you expect them to do? suck it up and look at the positive side that you can now have them refinished any way you like.

bigben320e

+1

I have had Vossen's before, had a cracked rim, they replaced without a question. Either he is expecting something beyond reason or something is missing from this story.

slownrusty

There is no way I would allow to a tow truck driver to anchor down my car by strapping through the wheel.

SparksterC43

First it is not a finish issue. The metal on the dish of the wheel has gone soft. (see attached pic) as verified by Nissan (who sells these wheels) Second, there has never been an indication of any damage caused by a tow truck driver (that was insinuated by Vossen with no evidence to back it up) It is a manufacturing defect that makes it unsafe to drive on a performance vehicle. This car has had the ultimate in care (the reason I purchased it) I have Brabus, AMG and BBS wheels on my other vehicles that are much older than these Vossens and have never had any type of metal fatigue or defects that are exhibited on the Vossen wheel. My neighbor had a discoloration in the metal of his Brabus wheel and they paid to have him return it so they could see what was going on in an effort to maintain strict quality standards. It appears that there are no such standards in place at Vossen, so if you are going to drive your car at speeds that my SL600 is capable of going, then I am going to have wheels that I can trust to not come apart!

Infamous 1

Vossen like a few other companies use a false lip that is polished aluminum. The structure of the actual wheel is fine but the false lip is bent.

overZealous1

+1. that does look like a false lip. you could have hit a pothole and lightly bent the lip of the wheel itself and that torqued the false lip.
i just feel you are going about it badly by your thread title and blaiming the wheel manufacturer. if it is a false lip on there, the wheel would be a cast type alum wheel. definately not the strongest to start off with and put on a 4400lb car with stiff suspension.

Sharkster

For what I know, there's no governmental controlled review of rims that are introduced into the market in the US. Is that true? In Germany, every wheel that is going to be sold within the country needs to undergo objective testing procedures to get approved.

I always wondered how people can trust in e.g. AMG replica wheels (or any other rim from whatever manufacturer) that are not neutrally tested/reviewed before being offered for sale... To me, this is a serious issue, especially for wheels on high performance cars.

alx

agreed. this looks like a pothole damage.

bigben320e

Put these two together, and viola! Problem solved.

+1

I really started questioning any rims after seeing cracked wheels, and wheels flying apart that were forged let alone cast/tilt cast. However, OEM MB rims are cast themselves...

BobLibSL55

That second pic looks like its got some curb rash on the side of the wheel right under the problem area.

Mike@Vossen

Yesterday the O.P called us basically blaming us for a problem that is not a defect on our end as he is the 2nd owner. We still investigated the situation and it was crystal clear to us this was not a problem on our end but a wheel that had been damaged after purchase. We also informed him we do not make this wheel anymore, it is discontinued. We got threatened that there would be internet posting about a problem that was not ours and be blamed for it.

Thus this thread. Look everyone on MBWorld knows we stand behind our products, we have resolved the few issues we have ever had without question. We have even gone above and beyond in situations where we took care of the customer where maybe the dealer should have done their due diligence. We have elevated customer service for wheel companies and are used as an example of how to ensure your customers are beyond pleased.

It is great the O.P got a new vehicle with Vossen's but they were used, no one knows how they got damaged and it is 100% not a defect or quality issue. It is also completely inaccurate to say that Vossen wheels are unsafe and to tell people "beware". Anyone can talk to members here about their Vossen Wheels experience and driving them in all sorts of conditions. We have videos of the wheels being tracked, dragged and even drifted.

I hope the O.P finds a wheel that will satisfy him.

Thank you.

Mike

ScottW911

I think everyone has had their say on this one.

As for my opinion, I am not aware of many companies that offer any warranty (defect or otherwise) to a second owner of a product.

With that, this thread has run its course.