i have 166 m5 wheels on my car, and early this year, i had to weld three rims that had cracks on the inner lip, that i noticed when i had put my winter wheels on.
well, i noticed i had a slight vibe on the highway lately, and checked my wheels today.....both rear wheels are cracked, with one having 3 cracks. all cracks are on the inner lip. they dont leak air, but the rim strength is compromised.

what should i do? i'm tempted to go to 18" wheels or maybe even 17" just so that i dont have to deal with this. but man, the 166 wheels look so good on the car.

would it really cost bmw much, to make the inner wheel lips a little thicker?

 

Just so you know, once you weld the wheels you are losing the structural integrity of the them. They'll bend and crack much easier.

 

yes, but its either weld them or pitch them in the trash, which i cant justify.
one out of the three original welds, did crack again in the same spot.

the cracks are only on the lip....1/2" long, and they dont leak air.
why dont the inner lips bend? they just crack instead. the alloy is too brittle, along with the lips not being that thick.

 

amen brother

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/...oy_wheels.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/consum...w_latest.shtml

 

i'm glad some people stood up. and its sad that bmw ignores the problem until the negative press starts happening.

 

Where are you located anyway? I thought only New Yorkers have problem with crack rims. From what I read on this this forum, seems like OEM wheels crack more than the after market wheels yet lots of members kept saying OEM are better products.

 

near chicago. i never really hit any large potholes either.

 

May be you should consider running plus size tires on the 19" just to have more protection. I installed a cheap set of 19" Miro CSL with 245/40 and 275/35 and seems like I have better protection for now. We have the same year and model so I can tell you the handling remains the same.

 

Just cracked BOTH rears on my 545i driving on the Kennedy.