B190 Enthusiasts

Hey there,

On a recent trip from NM to NC, I experienced a cracked rim (back wheel) and gradually lost air pressure. Luckily I check tires at every stop, so I was able to get some help from Coach Net before the sun went down. The OEM cast wheel experienced a crack inside the rim, causing air leakage. I ended up running the steel spare to NC, then buying two used rims and put them on the back before the return journey.

I have never seen a post on a cracked rim, but I do know those back rims take a real pounding over time. Has anyone experienced a failure? My rig is a 1993 with almost 90k on it (12k in the last 9 months - I guess we love our B-190!).

Thanks.

Reddeer,
Sorry, I have no personal experience with this... yet. However, I have discovered that there are a number of businesses out there that can repair cracks, gouges, and curb rash on alloy wheels. If you strike out finding a replacement you might go online and search for a repair shop near you. I will likely try having an alloy rim repaired on my tow car in a month or two. No time to deal with it right now.
Good luck!

Beware of repaired rims. I had bad experience with repaired rims. They don't always hold up. I spent $125 to have one repaired and had to replace it within 3 weeks.

URStruly,
Thanks for jumping in with the note of caution. Would you mind describing what the contents of your repair was and how it failed?

The wheel that I dented was on my E320 Mercedes. I hit a deep pot hole and it dented the rim badly. The rim was alloy rim. New ones cost about $400. There is a repair guy that regularly calls on tire stores and dealers in the area. I had the tire store have him repair my rim. Cost $125. After about two weeks I started loosing air from the tire. The rim had continued to crack further into the body of the rim. I had to buy a new rim for the car.

URStruly
Thanks for the detail. Ouch! Turned out to be an expensive pothole!

So we definately need to make sure that the repair company has a reasonable satisfaction gaurantee. In my case, I have a set of aftermarket rims that are no longer made. I'll consider your experience before I decide to repair the one rim or replace the whole set.

Thanks for the responses!