Alex Argent
Active Member
Approximately 6 months back I acquired some brand new 15" AMG Type 2 alloys (the genuine thing - MB logo and part nos stamped inside) off of eBay. The reasons I elected to stick with 15" wheels were; 1) I had renewed the tyres about 3 months beforehand therefore only 3-4,000 miles on them, and 2) they were a lot less expensive than 16" or 17" wheels. Also another sweetener was that I managed to sell the old 'Elegance' alloys on eBay for £100, less tyres of course! Total net outlay = £200.
All that I elected to buy extra was a set of 4 locking bolts from the stealer, and whilst I was there, thought it best to get a complete new set of wheel bolts, appropriate for those wheels and my specific model vehicle. Additional outlay = £80 ish.
Took the new wheels down to my local ATS who swapped tyres, balanced new wheels and fitted. As the offset (ET37) was exactly the same as the old wheels I really wasn't expecting any problems, and there weren't any.......................then!
Last week I bought new brake discs and pads all round from Euro Car Parts, the ATE versions with exactly the same MB spec (I believe that ATE make MB's brake parts in any case) - about half the cost of the stealer. However, I did get hold of some new caliper pins, bracket retaining bolts and disc retention bolts, all from the latter.
Yesterday morning, started on replacing same, having proverbially told wifey "it's just a couple of hours job". 4 hours later I had just managed to get the old front discs off, using a mini sledge hammer to accomplish the task. The rest was fairly straight forward, although trying to squeeze the piston back into the caliper arm so that the new pads fitted over the disc was a bit of a nightmare. And that was where the fun stopped!
On replacing the wheels and tightening wheel bolts, they just wouldn't turn. My immediate thoughts were that the new 'meatier' pads were just tight against the disc. However - shock horror
- further investigation revealed that the inside of the wheels were actually fouling the body of the brake caliper. Because the new pads are about an inch 'thicker' than the old ones, the entire caliper arm had moved forward to its maximum travel position, thereby causing the impingement. As the pads wear,the caliper arm slowly moves backwards to effectively leave more room between it and the inside of the roadwheel. Of course, at the time the new wheels were fitted the pad wear was probably at about 75%, and the problem didn't even exist (then).
So, down to the local emporium for some 5mm spacers, which at £20 per pair seemed reasonable. What I hadn't thought about at that stage was that the 'new' bolts I had bought from MB a few months back were obviously going to be 5mm too short. In fact, I could only get about 2.5 turns on the bolts once they bit, which is clearly unsatisfactory. All of today has been spent at 3 different MB stealerships in an attempt to purchase some longer bolts. Easy? Regrettably not. All I seemed to get was "what's the chassis no.?", what's the reference number stamped on the AMG wheels?", "what model is it again?", and so it goes on
. All they appeared to be interested in is looking on a damned computer screen looking for the parts that they think should fit! What they kept coming back with was exactly the same as what I already have - which I could have told them before they started because that's all the information they had when I first ordered them. Anyway, I asked all of them whether they couldn't just look on the stores shelves to find anything resembling the one I had taken as a pattern, but about 5mm to 7mm longer. "Sorry Sir, we need to have a part number to look up the correct bolt". Anyway, by this time I was beginning to get a tad frustrated, and the car was still sitting on the drive in several pieces, so I decided to go home to at least finish the main part of the job - the new brake discs/pads and leave the wheel bolts problem a further day.
This story has gone on for far too long however, the moral of this story is if anyone fits retrofit wheels to their cars, even if they are original OEM equipment like mine were, it's best to check that everything fits perfectly prior to going ahead, espcially when it's something as absurd (and potentially dangerous) as brake part fouling.
Maybe MB would have forseen this problem, had they been involved at all in the fitting, which they weren't. Certainly I think that ATS should have seen the pads were low when the wheels were fitted, therefore leading to a potential problem at renewal, but at the end of the day for those of us who save a few bob by doing the 'seemingly' simple jobs ourselves, we must be prepared to envisage every and any eventuality, as ultimately it's us who are responsible for our own actions!
The ironic thing is that had I gone for 16" wheels, none of this would have occurred as the additional half-inch clearance over the caliper would have prevented any fouling.
To end on a more positive note, here's a link to an excellent web site I found earlier that has (or can get) virtually any wheel bolts for any wheel and any car. They charge £8.00 delivery but at least I should have them in the morning!
http://www.needforspeed.co.uk/pages/sbv_pl.asp?Vehicle=UV___01&PartType=SWA05
If only MB dealers could be that efficient at times and be a little more 'user-friendly'!
Thanks for listening!!
Ciao
Alex
All that I elected to buy extra was a set of 4 locking bolts from the stealer, and whilst I was there, thought it best to get a complete new set of wheel bolts, appropriate for those wheels and my specific model vehicle. Additional outlay = £80 ish.
Took the new wheels down to my local ATS who swapped tyres, balanced new wheels and fitted. As the offset (ET37) was exactly the same as the old wheels I really wasn't expecting any problems, and there weren't any.......................then!
Last week I bought new brake discs and pads all round from Euro Car Parts, the ATE versions with exactly the same MB spec (I believe that ATE make MB's brake parts in any case) - about half the cost of the stealer. However, I did get hold of some new caliper pins, bracket retaining bolts and disc retention bolts, all from the latter.
Yesterday morning, started on replacing same, having proverbially told wifey "it's just a couple of hours job". 4 hours later I had just managed to get the old front discs off, using a mini sledge hammer to accomplish the task. The rest was fairly straight forward, although trying to squeeze the piston back into the caliper arm so that the new pads fitted over the disc was a bit of a nightmare. And that was where the fun stopped!
On replacing the wheels and tightening wheel bolts, they just wouldn't turn. My immediate thoughts were that the new 'meatier' pads were just tight against the disc. However - shock horror
- further investigation revealed that the inside of the wheels were actually fouling the body of the brake caliper. Because the new pads are about an inch 'thicker' than the old ones, the entire caliper arm had moved forward to its maximum travel position, thereby causing the impingement. As the pads wear,the caliper arm slowly moves backwards to effectively leave more room between it and the inside of the roadwheel. Of course, at the time the new wheels were fitted the pad wear was probably at about 75%, and the problem didn't even exist (then).So, down to the local emporium for some 5mm spacers, which at £20 per pair seemed reasonable. What I hadn't thought about at that stage was that the 'new' bolts I had bought from MB a few months back were obviously going to be 5mm too short. In fact, I could only get about 2.5 turns on the bolts once they bit, which is clearly unsatisfactory. All of today has been spent at 3 different MB stealerships in an attempt to purchase some longer bolts. Easy? Regrettably not. All I seemed to get was "what's the chassis no.?", what's the reference number stamped on the AMG wheels?", "what model is it again?", and so it goes on
. All they appeared to be interested in is looking on a damned computer screen looking for the parts that they think should fit! What they kept coming back with was exactly the same as what I already have - which I could have told them before they started because that's all the information they had when I first ordered them. Anyway, I asked all of them whether they couldn't just look on the stores shelves to find anything resembling the one I had taken as a pattern, but about 5mm to 7mm longer. "Sorry Sir, we need to have a part number to look up the correct bolt". Anyway, by this time I was beginning to get a tad frustrated, and the car was still sitting on the drive in several pieces, so I decided to go home to at least finish the main part of the job - the new brake discs/pads and leave the wheel bolts problem a further day.This story has gone on for far too long however, the moral of this story is if anyone fits retrofit wheels to their cars, even if they are original OEM equipment like mine were, it's best to check that everything fits perfectly prior to going ahead, espcially when it's something as absurd (and potentially dangerous) as brake part fouling.
Maybe MB would have forseen this problem, had they been involved at all in the fitting, which they weren't. Certainly I think that ATS should have seen the pads were low when the wheels were fitted, therefore leading to a potential problem at renewal, but at the end of the day for those of us who save a few bob by doing the 'seemingly' simple jobs ourselves, we must be prepared to envisage every and any eventuality, as ultimately it's us who are responsible for our own actions!
The ironic thing is that had I gone for 16" wheels, none of this would have occurred as the additional half-inch clearance over the caliper would have prevented any fouling.
To end on a more positive note, here's a link to an excellent web site I found earlier that has (or can get) virtually any wheel bolts for any wheel and any car. They charge £8.00 delivery but at least I should have them in the morning!
http://www.needforspeed.co.uk/pages/sbv_pl.asp?Vehicle=UV___01&PartType=SWA05
If only MB dealers could be that efficient at times and be a little more 'user-friendly'!
Thanks for listening!!
Ciao
Alex
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