Corrosion already!!

[glojo]

After 18 months of VERY light use (just under 9000 miles) the wheels on our 211 have started to corrode. This picture highlights the worse wheel but all four are being monitored and will hopefully be replaced prior to the expiration of the warranty.

If your wheels look like this and the car is still under warranty, nip down to your local dealer and have them look at all four wheels.

Good luck,
John

 

[Shude]

After 18 months of VERY light use (just under 9000 miles) the wheels on our 211 have started to corrode.

Corrosion is due to time rather than use surely? You might find that lack of use encourages corrosion in some cases!

If the stealership swaps them you will probably get refurbished replacements that belonged to some other W211 owner with corroded wheels

 

[pammy]

John - why are they not just replacing them now? I wouldn;t be happy with a hopefully before the warranty expires timescale.

I had this on Edna's wheels and they were replaced immediately.

 

[Pietre]

Well my Brabus wheels are well corroded, but as I paid cash and cant find the receipt, Brabus will not replace my Monoblocs. Doesnt help that the importer went bust and there is now a new importer. Not bad for less than a year old.

 

[Flash]

I would submit warranty claim now. That is serious corrosion and will no doubt get far more worse over time and if u leave it towards the end of the warranty period then claim may/most likely will drag on (as a couple of similar alloys/wheels warranty claims have on this forum been made within the valid warranty period but admin/processing lead to delays and claim was refused...). Exactly the same has happened with a number of bodywork claims.

Less headache to get warranty claim made ASAP in my opinion...

 

[glojo]

John - why are they not just replacing them now? I wouldn;t be happy with a hopefully before the warranty expires timescale.

I had this on Edna's wheels and they were replaced immediately.

Hi Pammy,
What condition were your wheels in compared to mine? This is the very worse of the four and one is not showing any signs at all.

It is possible that the dealership are hoping that all four will corrode before the warranty expires? I am sure they are not doing anything that is not in my best interest, but I will not let them walk all over me.

I understand what Shude is saying, but perhaps disagree! The car and wheels are regularly polished and the vehicle lives in a heated garage.

I do accept that the low mileage is not good for the mechanical bits, but bodywork\wheels all have a nice coating of wax and are well maintained?

Bye for now,
John

 

[andy_cyp]

Exactly the same thing happened on a friends 211/e320 cdi, dealer replaced them within a fourtnight.

 

[pammy]

mine were nowhere near as bad as that John!

I can't see why they would corrode with not being used much - I'd go back and "encourage" them to replace now!

 

[glojo]

mine were nowhere near as bad as that John!

I can't see why they would corrode with not being used much - I'd go back and "encourage" them to replace now!

Right!!
The Service Team Manager is coming down to see me tomorrow to give me a Valetting Kit. (The car was returned to me valetted, but with a grease stain on the door sill)

I will have a chat with him then about this and also show him your post?? If you don't want that, then please say and I will respect your decision.

I am certainly not worried about them avoiding, or ducking out of this situation. I don't want to renew one wheel now, and then another in a few months time, then another etc. However, if this one has corroded in 18 months then how long will the next one last?

Thanks for the advice and I will corner the chap tomorrow evening.

Don't forget the picture is fairly zoomed in, so the corrosion is certainly exaggarated, but it is still there and it is corrosion.

Half of me says I do not want refurbished wheels, but if they are refurbished, is the alloy put on properly? Again I will check with the foreman tomorrow.

As an aside 'Alfie' mentioned flying a Mercedes-Benz flag. I asked, but the Team Manager in turn asked the Managing Director who was worried about 'Breach of Copyright?' so was not able to offer me one.

Oh well, back to the drawing board,
Regards,
John

 

[Shude]

Half of me says I do not want refurbished wheels, but if they are refurbished, is the alloy put on properly? Again I will check with the foreman tomorrow.

Firstly you may get no choice in the matter, secondly from what I have heard/read the refurbs may be better quality than from the factory. Factory rims are made on a production line, refurbs are hand-finished by a human!

 

[Flash]

Firstly you may get no choice in the matter, secondly from what I have heard/read the refurbs may be better quality than from the factory. Factory rims are made on a production line, refurbs are hand-finished by a human!

I personally would not want refurbs.... (which is MB policy though).

I have seen the qulaity of some refurbed MB alloys from MB and finish was no where near as good as OEM factory ones.

 

[Flyer]

Been down this road myself. The corrosion is due to water getting under the lacquer. My original wheels suffered from this, but were much worse than yours John. MB replaced them with, as Shude says, a refurbished set (which weren't as shiny).

They are refurbished by Pristine. I was at my dealers ordering some bits and I saw a stack of wheels all labelled Pristine; asked the counter chap and he confirmed that they were customer wheels that had been refurbished.

The refurbed wheels also corroded, despite only washing with water. Don't know why MB wheels (and wheel nuts!) suffer like this; my g/f's Astra wheels are immaculate 2 years on apart from the kerb scrapes.

MB excuse no. 34: The salt in the air that comes from living on the coast can cause alloy wheels to corrode.



Andrew

 

[pammy]

mine were/are refurbs and they are as good if not better than the originals. They've been on much longer then the originals and are still as good as new.

 

[glojo]

Been down this road myself. The corrosion is due to water getting under the lacquer. My original wheels suffered from this, but were much worse than yours John. MB replaced them with, as Shude says, a refurbished set (which weren't as shiny).

The refurbed wheels also corroded, despite only washing with water. Don't know why MB wheels (and wheel nuts!) suffer like this;

Thank you very much and it certainly confirms what has been said, I was hoping the refurbished wheels might be better.

Were your wheels the twin spokes?

Regards,
John

 

[Flyer]

Were your wheels the twin spokes?

No, they were these (seen recently on a new E and also S class, for some reason):

 

[SimonsMerc]

John, be very careful here. Part of the wording on the warranty says something to the effect that you must deal with corrosion as soon as you find it, otherwise they will not be liable. Get something in writing from them that they prefer to wait...

 

[glojo]

John, be very careful here. Part of the wording on the warranty says something to the effect that you must deal with corrosion as soon as you find it, otherwise they will not be liable. Get something in writing from them that they prefer to wait...

Hi Simon,
Thanks for the advice, an action has been raised on the car's file and I will be bending the Service Manager's ear tomorrow.

Pammy appears to have struck lucky with her refurbished wheels, but I am beginning to understand the dealers motive's. At a guess Merrcedes-Benz will not replace wheels that do not appear corroded? (I can understand that)

From some of these posts it looks like there is a chance that refurbished wheels are a slightly different colour? If this is the case then it will be in the dealers interest to replace all four to keep me (the customer) happy. So they are perhaps waiting for the dreaded furry stuff to appear on all four wheels? I will not accept different colour wheels and I will be putting that snippet in writing when the car eventually goes in to get the wheels replaced.

They can indeed mention the sea air, but that is a pathetic attempt and is merely suggesting they have used shoddy materials that are not capable of withstanding the elements. (I wish we had never wasted valuable time and polish on the wretched things)

Hi Andrew,
Thanks for the picture has your car been keyed?

Regards,
John

 

[Flyer]

From some of these posts it looks like there is a chance that refurbished wheels are a slightly different colour?

I think that it is inevitable that refurbed wheels will have a different finish. Clearly, you will need a full set doing.

Thanks for the picture has your car been keyed?

It had been . That's an old photo (about three years ); it was the best one I had showing the wheels. Don't have them on now though; they're sat in the garage waiting to be sold (when I get the time ).

From what you have said in the past, your dealer sounds like they understand customer service. Your expectation is that they will replace all four wheels ... no doubt they'll exceed that

 

[glojo]

From what you have said in the past, your dealer sounds like they understand customer service. Your expectation is that they will replace all four wheels ... no doubt they'll exceed that

Four wheels will suffice Thanks to this excellent thread I have far more knowledge than a few hours ago. I can understand the dealer requesting a delay, and I will definitely insist on all four wheels being replaced, thanks to your excellent points.

The Service Team Manager is due here tomorrow at about 7pm so I will get some idea then of what they plan.

Regards,
John

 

[mcsailing]

wheels

glojo i had the same problem with the same wheels on my w211 and they replaced them straight away