Tiberius

Well. Finally picked up the car this afternoon.

What a beautiful machine.

Unfortunately, my enjoyment was short lived. Driving home I notice when I take my foot off the accel. a roar from what seems like the tires. Less pronounced on accel. but still there.

Then it gets worse and worse. Becomes a "thumping sound seems to be coming from the tires but who knows. Thought I actually had a flat tire. Pulled off - all tires LOOK ok - but definitely SOMETHING wrong.

Had to call roadside assistance (and of course called my sales guy). Car towed (flatbed) back to dealer.

What a pain in the ***! Now I get to wait until tomorrow to find out whats wrong.

Symptoms sound familiar to anyone? Flat spots on tires maybe? But why would it get increasingly worse?

FIXEDupW209

sorry to hear that man. Hopefully you wont get a bad apple and all will be well. Smart move contacting your salesman, hopefully they will fix it for you so you can start enjoying your beast.

ThemisN

youre kidding! geez, thats horrible. I hope Catena makes it right. Keep me posted!

imthduke

May be those wonderful Conti tires. What was MB thinking when they decided to go with those? Maybe thinking...how can we save a buck, these wont last long anyway?

Hope for you sake that's all it is.

Pbglas

If they were fiddling around with the brakes at the VPC, I wonder if brakes had something to do with it.l

LYSHOLM

i'll bet it is the terrible conti 2's....i had the same troubles

Tiberius

Well - its apparently NOT the tires.

When I left the dealer, the car was driving fine (no thumps noticed). I had stopped at a mall a few miles away and parked under the deck a decent distance from the entrance and ran in to find an ATM (needed some cash for the tolls since no EZ pass in the new car). I was inside less than 10 minutes.

Apparently, according to the dealer, someone may have tried to steal one of my wheels. Several of the lugs had been wrenched off!! Thank god I still had a couple on.

Guess its possible this was a dealer caused problem, but given there was admittedly NO issue driving out of the dealer, combined with the fact that I did stop and park the car (though admittedly not for long) combined with the fact that it at least seems to me unlikely that only one of the wheels would just naturally be loose I'm willing to believe the explanation.

But who knows? I cant really prove either. Bottom line, car is ok.

Feel dumb I didnt look at the lugs, but I was so convinced it was the tires and just the stress of the situation mustve caused me to overlook.

Geez! I guess if thats the worst thing that happens while I have the E55, I should be grateful.

ThemisN

jeez...and i used to go to a lot of the restauarants around menlo park mall, and I never had anything like that happen to me. Maybe ill go park my car and see if anything happens. 30 day trade in!

norb

I can believe that someone tried to steal your wheels. They are worth over $2K. The tires on the otherhand aren't worth jack.

SJT03CLK

Scary situation if the lugs were all really loose! That reminds me of the movie, "Chaning Lanes" where Ben Affleck's character drives a CLK430 and Samuel Jackson's character takes the lugs out of his car. Not a good situation!

imthduke

So a lug tried to steal the wheels and removed the lugs,...that doesn't sound like NJ

I have liked in two foreign countries in my life...Vietnam and NJ

Just kidding....I did live in Wayne NJ for a time...the restaurants there are awesome.

Glad you got that problemo worked out with minor issues.

ima55r2

If you have a good salesman, you should be able to get some free things from him, like wheel locks.

Tiberius

yes - wheel locks were forthcoming.

without a doubt i thought immediately of changing lanes when i found out.

for the record was impressed by MB roadside assistance.

IluvS500

glad it all worked out . Now its time to enjoy the new beast

Pbglas

We are all releived on your behalf!

Happenned to me once -- many years ago. I suspected vandalism.

Anyway, all's well that ends well.

Tiberius

Got car back last night>

Everything fine. Absolutely LOVE it. Will really get a chance to enjoy for first time over the weekend.

MBE55AMG

Good to hear that, T. Hope all goes well and no one ever attempts to ****** your wheels again.

MadC32

glad to hear your car is okay.. I can tell how you felt..

take care,

-alex

Tiberius

Many thanks for all the well wishes.

From what I understand this is a growing trend. These guys will basically case malls (especially during hours where there is typically less security - during the week) looking for targets. Once they see a car pull into lot that is an attractive target, they follow and if it gets parked in an good spot (i.e. good cover), one person follows driver in (communicating by cell to confim driver is still in th mall) while others go to work.

Pretty scary.

tjcMBE55AMG

I'll cross Menlo Park mall off my list! (Although my 18" monoblocks are worth a lot less).

The kids f@*!ing steal my AMG valve caps, too. Next time you see them on bike tires just slash them for me OK?


TJC

AMGe55

Glad you and your car are ok. Congrats and enjoy the beast.