A207 wheels... bad design?

[LeeCP]

Am I just unlucky, or are these 7 twin-spoke wheels a terrible design inasmuch as they suffer damage or stone chips on the leading edge of each spoke?

 

[Fastcar155]

Am I just unlucky, or are these 7 twin-spoke wheels a terrible design inasmuch as they suffer damage or stone chips on the leading edge of each spoke?

Hi ,

I don't think you are unlucky but typical quality of Mercedes alloy wheels !

I wrote to Mercedes UK about my wheels and to precis the reply "Tough S!!t".

I have my wheels inspected each month to make sure the car is safe to drive / checking for cracking.

Had I been driving my C207 today the two front wheels would have failed when I drove over an unannounced "ramp" on an A road.

I was in my Mitsubishi 4x4 and the shock went through the car.

 

[Nifty65]

You are definitely not the unlucky one we all are. 10 Mercs over a thirty year period and every wheel and bolt has corroded badly. Like Boyband I have taken this up with MB but the reply is always the same. I managed to get bolts replaced under warranty but that's about it. MB's wheel quality is quite shocking IMHO.

I have a 30 year old car from a rival German manufacture and the original wheels are almost as good as the day the car left the showroom. There should be no reason to suspect the wheels are structurally unsound.

 

[tonysmb]

I can't comment on the OP's style of wheel, but I've had numerous MBs going back to the late 80s and the Mexican-hat alloys; I've had some bolts that I've repainted silver and the wheel caps have gone milky on a couple of cars but I've not had any issues with the actual wheels. When choosing the model I have, however, deliberately gone for the smaller diameter wheels in most cases, not that that should affect wheel build quality.

 

[baxlin]

Not had any real problems, but I did wonder if the person who designed the wheels on my Mercedes had ever tried to clean them...

 

[SpikyMikey]

To be fair to Mercedes, MB alloys don't seem to be any worse than any others: I've had a 3 Series Beemer with wheels obviously made of cheese (although previous generation runflats with absolutely no give in the sidewall were probably just as much the guilty party) and an Audi with BBS wheels that turned to aluminium oxide as you looked at them. The wheels on my S204 actually seem pretty good in comparison, albeit they've been refurbed with sensible powdercoat rather than the blingtastic diamond cut finish. At least they're still round and not ovoid.

 

[Scooby_Doo]

Might be photo quality but those wheels look as if they been sprayed silver , so it might be the paint chipping. I've had two "E" coupes with those 19"s and not had any chips. The original finish was diamond cut but they don't look diamond cut. Can't blame MB for resprayed wheels.

 

[Petrol Pete]

I think the problem is they have AMG on them and they are not fitted to an AMG I will fetch my tin hat.