"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." - Lucius Annaeus Seneca
A while back I noticed that the left front wheel on the S600 kept losing air, and eventually discovered that it was cracked.
The interim fix was to fill the tire with a can of Slime tire repair fluid. The slime has surprisingly held the air in quite well - there has been no need to add any air at all since the slime was applied. Great stuff! However, that's not the kind of thing that should be considered a permanent repair.
I scoured a few M-B forums and eBay looking for replacement wheels. What I found was not encouraging: Nasty, beat-up rims that belonged on a scrap heap, or complete sets of rims in good condition at astronomical prices.
Finally I found a place online that seemed to have what I needed. Stockwheels.com
They promised to send a rebuilt rim with any finish I needed - some of these wheels came with chrome, while others were finished in silver paint. I placed the order, then was informed that my wheel was off to be chrome-plated. Apparently they wait for the customer to place the order before applying the finish.
It arrived today. Most exciting to see if it was the correct rim and the correct finish.
It was very nicely packed, and the finish is absolutely gorgeous. I'm quite pleased. It was not cheap, however - not that I had a lot of choice in the availability or price. This was the only place I found that seemed to be selling a decent rim. Yeah, ouch.
People pay this kind of money to replace perfectly good stock rims with after-market rims all the time. Why they do this, I have no idea. At least I was able to get away with purchasing only what was needed, and still stick with the OEM wheels.
Next up, I need to get it to the tire shop, switch out the bad rim, and see if they can finally get the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) working again. The new sending units do not seem to be communicating with the car, no matter what I try.
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