Am I going mad?

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Will

Hardcore MB Enthusiast
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Jan 21, 2003
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Location
Surrey
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GL63 AMG / 190E 2.5-16 / Porsche 911
Hi gang,

I recently bought a 1999 facelift E320 estate, with factory fitted 18" AMG wheels (it's on the datacard etc).

Got the car a couple of weeks ago, been sorting out a few small jobs etc. Given it a good cleanup etc.

A week or so back, I took the wheels in for refurbishment. Tyres fitted 265/35/18 tyres on the rear, 235/40/18s on the front.

I've had a fair few sets of AMG wheels, and it also sold the car for me, they fill the arches on the 210 nicely. Especially with the wider rears, the deeper dish is quite noticable.

Anyway - went to pick them up today, and the refurbishment place I was using were balancing the tyres as I arrived.

What I first thought when being handed the first wheel, was that they'd fitted a rear tyre to one of the front wheels. It bulged over noticably beyond the rim, which you don't get with the usual width wheels and tyres.

When I questioned it, they assure me that these were the wheels that I took in...

Now - not being silly, but I've had loads of MBs and loads of sets of AMG wheels, my first instinct was 'no way'. I took these wheels off the car personally, and would 110% have noticed. Especially the bulging 265 tyres on 8J rims.

Ask again to check - they reply that it's the only set of these wheels that they've done in the last week or so. And that they are definitely my wheels, and marked with my number etc.

I'm still really uneasy about it, but although 99.9% sure, 1 time in a 1000 you could be wrong.

Mention once more, and am assured that they are the ones.

Had to shoot off somewhere afterwards as I was out doing this at lunchtime.

Check the only online pics I have of my car/wheels later on, and am genuinely convinced that my wheels have been mixed up.

I look closely at the wheels, two of them are date stamped from 1999 (the year my car was made) and two are stamped from 1996.

Ring them back and pop down there again (they're not exactly local). They are supposed to be marked up with order numbers on the inside of the rims (under the tyres). They remove a tyre - no markings.

Then the office girl reckons that they've called the only other customer who had this type of wheels in for refurb at the same time, who says that they've sure they've been given the right wheels - so they did do another set during the same week or same time :doh:

I'm genuinely not a fussy person, and we all make mistakes sometimes. But bearing in mind that I know my MBs pretty well, and it is my personal car, and I took the wheels off myself - I'm pretty convinced that I am not mistaken.

- The tyres are staggered (265/235), the rears stick out loads on 8Js
- The car is original, not retrofitted with these wheels. It's a 1999 car and two wheels are from 1996
- I remember them having wider rear rims - could have sworn. I've looked at them before taking them in for refurb, washed them and even removed them from the car myself. I *would* have noticed, 99.99% certain.

Difficult to prove, I've left the wheels there for the moment and they should be calling me after the weekend.

Hard to tell from a picture - will try and find some others, hopefully better ones soon:

E320WheelsPic.jpg


What does everyone else think - am I going mad, or have they made a mixup.

I'm guessing that being '96 date stamp wheels, they must have come from something like an early W210 E36 AMG or similar, otherwise someone will have a set of 18x9s all round. Or they had a set of 18x8s, and now have the wider rears. Have these other wheels been finished the same - same colour etc. Are they now on someone elses car with the wrong tyres on etc :(

Hopefully they sort it out ok (and I've not gone mad), but it might be a bit trickier if they can't get the other wheels back :wallbash:

Was hoping to fit them tomorrow.

Will
 
I'm sure your right mate, it's easy to doubt yourself and unfortunately with a lot of businesses these days mistakes like this happen all the time. Stand your ground and I hope it all gets sorted out in the end.
 
Looks to me like a genuine staggered setup from the pics. The dish looks deeper on the rears.

Nice car by the way :)
 
The rears look wider and notice how the tyres just have a straight vertical sidewall, not stretched or bulging.
 
Will:As it has been mentioned,the wheels on your picture clearly show wider rears
 
I agree, the rears are wider.
 
Cheers guys.

I was pretty much certain, but we can all make mistakes at times :eek:

I think the '99 and '96 date stamps, pics of the wheels + tyres just before removing them, my own memory and the staggered tyre sizes are quite hard to argue.

Have had a fair few sets of wheels done by these guys before without issue - hopefully they'll sort something out ASAP.

I do wonder though how they'll get my rear wheels back if they've been accidentally given to someone else. What if they're already fitted, tyres on, balanced etc? Or finished differently - painted all over instead of diamond-cut lip, different colour etc?

Will
 
I do wonder though how they'll get my rear wheels back if they've been accidentally given to someone else. What if they're already fitted, tyres on, balanced etc? Or finished differently - painted all over instead of diamond-cut lip, different colour etc?

Will

Not your problem.
 
Not your problem.

Yeah - I know, but a bit tricky.

18x9J AMG rears are going to be pretty expensive new, maybe a bit tricky to find two rear wheels used to refurb again within a sensible timeframe. Just thinking ahead.

Fortunately I've got the car on a spare set of 'slave' wheels, 2+ weeks already on axle stands would get awkward.
 
Surely the refurber can recover the ones they have sent out in error.
 
Surely the refurber can recover the ones they have sent out in error.

That's what I'd hope, but on Friday they claimed that the only other set they'd done (after saying that they had done no other sets at first :doh: ), the customer thought that they had the correct wheels...

If you'd collected your wheels aready, had tyres fitted and probably fitted them to your car, would you go out of your way to return some wheels that are more desirable than what you took in?

Or if they were refurbed to be sold on, as many people do - etc.

Just me thinking realistically, that's all.
 
If they can't recover them then unfortunately it's back to the 'Not your problem' line. They need to supply you wheels the same as the ones you took in.
 
As you have said Will, the other person if they have realised is probably thinking they've got a better set of wheels out of it. I agree with the others though, its not your problem and your due back what you put in (refurbished).
 

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