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A couple of days ago when I went out to my garage, my FR tire was flat. I did a visual check and everything looked fine so I aired-up the tire and rolled out. Within a few minutes I started losing pressure (slowly), no surprise.
As it turns out I was planning to go to a tire shop anyway, since I needed to get my wheels rebalanced.
The tire was fine but the wheel is cracked and leaking air through the crack! I wish I took a picture at the time at the tire shop but I was more concerned about taking care of the issue. It's cracked from the outer inboard lip running towards the hub (north-south) and about 2 inches long.
Of course I'm thinking how this could have happened. I haven't had any hard hits lately and the only thing I can think of is about a month ago I hit a nasty pothole in a construction area. It was such a hard hit, I pulled over as soon as I could and checked all I could and everything looked fine.
I'm assuming that pothole may have been the initial cause of the crack and it has slowly grown until it got past the tire bead to where it now leaks air. It could have also been cracked when I bought it, no way to know for sure.
I bought this car only a couple of months ago and I ordinarily refuse all the extra crap from dealers, but in this case, they offered an attractive aftermarket wheel and tire warranty package and I went for it. Now I'm glad I did. (or so we'll see)
The tire shop is working with the warranty company and my local MB dealer to replace the FR wheel with OEM.
My primary reason for posting this is to share my experience with the aftermarket wheel warranty and I hope all goes well and I can leave a favorable report!
I had recently experienced the same (on front passenger oem cross spokes forged). A hairline crack at the back side of wheel (losing 4 psi in 12 hrs span). No protection plan and shop fixed the crack by rewelding. $115 fix and no issue since.
I had recently experienced the same (on front passenger oem cross spokes forged). A hairline crack at the back side of wheel (losing 4 psi in 12 hrs span). No protection plan and shop fixed the crack by rewelding. $115 fix and no issue since.
Ah, okay. Sorry to hear, good to know there's another viable and economical option.
I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be with welding it, but I don't have any data to back up that concern, I assume it's fine.
I have the same 20inch wheels and I installed the S-class oversized tires.
F: 245/40/20
R: 275/35/20
This improved the looks, handling, comfort, noise, and provided additional protection to the wheels.
This is not something I would do myself as I enjoy hard cornering and any changes I make would be to increase that ability, but this is great advice for anyone looking for a bit more comfortable ride and some added wheel protection.
Success! The new wheel and old tire is mounted and balanced. All is good in my world again.
The warranty came through big time. They not only covered the cost of the wheel, but covered the entire expense, mounting, balancing, tax included. I did not spend a penny. Awesome.
The cost of the wheel from MB was $1068.
I can definitely recommend truWarranty as a great wheel and tire warranty policy company!
After some time pondering cause and effect, I'm thinking that my run-flat tires (which I hate BTW) may have contributed to the wheel cracking. Not to say it could not happen with a standard tire, but I would think that the stiffer sidewalls and harder compounds of the run-flats allow more energy to be transferred to the wheel, whereas a standard tire sidewall would be able to absorb and dissipate more energy compared to a run-flat. All else being equal, it's only logical that a stiffer side-walled tire will allow more force to be applied to the wheel.
This makes me wonder out of all the MB OEM wheels that have cracked, what percentage were run-flat tires compared to standard tires.
Last edited by Keith66; 07-24-2023 at 04:43 PM.
Reason: spelling
After some time pondering cause and effect, I'm thinking that my run-flat tires (which I hate BTW) may have contributed to the wheel cracking. Not to say it could not happen with a standard tire, but I would think that the stiffer sidewalls and harder compounds of the run-flats allow more energy to be transferred to the wheel, whereas a standard tire sidewall would be able to absorb and dissipate more energy compared to a run-flat. All else being equal, it's only logical that a stiffer side-walled tire will allow more force to be applied to the wheel.
This makes me wonder out of all the MB OEM wheels that have cracked, what percentage were run-flat tires compared to standard tires.
Glad it worked out Keith. Pretty awesome you did have the wheel and tire package! I always skipped that stuff too but do have tire coverage through Discount Tire
KIC!
Holy sheet! I guess my train of thought was on the right track.
The economist part of my brain was thinking these Goodyear run-flats have half the life still in them, so might as well run them out before replacing. But now I think the wiser choice is to just order some standard PS's and end the suffering.
Glad it worked out Keith. Pretty awesome you did have the wheel and tire package! I always skipped that stuff too but do have tire coverage through Discount Tire
KIC!
Thanks brother! This warranty situation almost feels like wasting money buying lotto tickets for 20 years and finally hitting some numbers, lol.
Holy sheet! I guess my train of thought was on the right track.
The economist part of my brain was thinking these Goodyear run-flats have half the life still in them, so might as well run them out before replacing. But now I think the wiser choice is to just order some standard PS's and end the suffering.
Thanks for the info dude!
Ya with the terrible tread life, the terrible ride quality and the fear of blowout (higher tendency due to the stiffer sidewalls and how easily these run-flats bubble) oh and probably the worse handling compared to say PS4s, getting rid of them was a wise decision you made indeed.
07-16-2023, 01:42 PM
