I have been thru the ringer on this one. Spent big $$$$ mounting and balancing....

The dealer doesn't like the R6 rim due to the spokes being kind of thick and it is hard to compensate for any weight toward the outside of the rim as the weights cannot be placed there.

I really wish I would have gone with AMG rims....at least the dealer couldn't use it as an excuse. I hate the finger pointing that has gone on.

I want to determine if it is Luke's problem before I drag him back into things. I may try to swap the tires/rims to see if there is any improvement by matching them up differently.

__________________
Bryan Harter
1992 500E Smoke Silver
2002 CLK55 AMG Cab Silver/Black
2001 Harley Fatboy - Pearl White
2004 F150 FX4 Silver/Grey
1969 GTO Liberty Blue
1956 F100 Black

Thanks for the picture, Bryan. Your car looks very nice, I've always liked the RS90! The R6 is very easy to keep clean and I agree, they look great against Smoke Silver.

Now, fire up that scanner

__________________
Glen Tokuhara
Beauty & the Beast and the wagon that could!

I had a similar multiple-cause problem, but it was resolved a little more easily. My vibration seemed to me to be driveshaft-related, as the vibration seemed to be faster than the wheel rotation. My vibration was evident from 45-65mph. My dealer diagnosed it as the front flex disc, which he replaced. The old part showed cracks. That took care of some of it. The next cause was a loose transmission insulation shroud which had fallen down to the point where it was rubbing on the top of the driveshaft. This required the removal of the transmission to replace, but was handled quite honorably by my dealer. That took care of most of it. What remained of the vibration seemed more tire-related (lower frequency). I bought a set of Evo II rims and Bridgestone Potenza S-03 tires (245/45-17), which were mounted up with minimal balancing required. Now the car is SMMMOOOOOOOTTHHHH!

Incidentally, I worked with a local tire dealer who matched internet pricing even though he had to special-order the wheels and the tires. He was happy to give my car extra care (it's the fourth set of tires and second set of rims I've bought from him for four different cars in two years). I read a lot about wheel balance problems on the wheel and tire forum, and showed my dealer suggestions on balancing MB rims with double cones on the wheel balancer, which he used successfully. I like to support local businesses!

Now I'm wondering about those cool aluminum driveshafts that the racers use on American hot rods. Can they be found for our cars? They save a lot of weight and are made to a high-performance specification.

__________________
Mark Stetson
1995 E320 Wagon Moonstone Grey/Parchment 106K mi.
2007 E63 AMG Graphite/designo 75K mi

I sent an Email to Luke to update him on the situation. He called and offered some help. The TireRack really should write a book on great customer service!

We tried to identify a plan to solve the problem in a logical manner. The dealers view on things is that it is foolish to change a design that MB and Porsche worked hard to engineer. They want me to install the OEM rims before they will do any more problem investigation with the car. They claim that the vibration is due to the tires / rims and any other causes of vibration (driveshaft) cannot be addressed until the tire/rim problem is fixed.

Bottom line, they don't want to mess with it any more.

__________________
Bryan Harter
1992 500E Smoke Silver
2002 CLK55 AMG Cab Silver/Black
2001 Harley Fatboy - Pearl White
2004 F150 FX4 Silver/Grey
1969 GTO Liberty Blue
1956 F100 Black