[Pete.J]

I took the 335i to Southernbm for a service this week, couple of hours later I received an email from Andrew telling me the LHR wheel has a crack

The wheels are 225M 19 inch, a new rear wheel will be around $1.1K, is that the only solution I've got?

I tried to look on the secondhand market for sellers that are happy to sell one rear wheel by itself, but obviously no one wants to do that coz they'll get stuck selling the other three wheels

How effective is welding as a solution?

Here's a photo for illustration:



That's how the 225M look like to save you time instead of searching:

[naynay]

try giving these guys a call
http://www.wheelsolutions.com.au/faqs/

[MJ80.]

My 225s were all cracked up too, not sure why they are so shithouse.

[Pete.J]

Originally Posted by MJ80.

My 225s were all cracked up too, not sure why they are so shithouse.

John from SouthernBM told me it's because of the 19 inch runflat tyres. They're low profile and they're have strengthened side walls which all together put a lot of stress on the rim when you drive on pot holes or accelerate or brake hard over bumpy roads.. etc.

Originally Posted by naynay

try giving these guys a call
http://www.wheelsolutions.com.au/faqs/

Thanks naynay I'll contact them

[DR-JEKL]

Yes I also believe its the RFT's putting additional stresses on the wheel, the sidewall structure is a lot less forgiving (understandably so as it needs to be to support 0 psi) and thus induces extra stress on the wheel.

Weld repairs in general is fine as long as the object is correctly preheated and the correct grade of filler wire is used and the weld is conducted with minimal inclusions and gas shielding.

As for rims, the guys generally use the same grade filler wire for all wheel types, potentially arent qualified welders per se and thus more often than not the weld repair will fail and the original crack will propogate and cause a 2nd failure.

Get rid of the bmw wheels and buy some new VMR wheels (you could buy a set of these for the price of one oem rim through a dealer) or keep hunting for someone else selling 225m rims on gumtree as there are often guys in the same scenario as you who are stuck with 3 rims and sell them for $300-500.

[chappy]

I'ts the shit runflats that end up cracking the wheels as several other wheels have the same problem, they are like solid concrete.
I took mine of after I bought my car and that was 6yrs ago and the 225s are still perfect.
Back wheels are $538us each plus shipping at ECS tunning.

[Coupes33]

I had a similar crack in one of my rear wheels 2.5yrs ago which I got repaired by The Alloy Doctors here in Brisbane. It cost $150. They picked the wheel up from my home, removed the tyre, welded up the crack, refitted the tyre, balanced the wheel and returned it the next day. I haven't had an issue with the wheel since. I would imagine there would be someone in Melbourne that would have a similar service.

[timot]

Originally Posted by Coupes33

I had a similar crack in one of my rear wheels 2.5yrs ago which I got repaired by The Alloy Doctors here in Brisbane. It cost $150. They picked the wheel up from my home, removed the tyre, welded up the crack, refitted the tyre, balanced the wheel and returned it the next day. I haven't had an issue with the wheel since. I would imagine there would be someone in Melbourne that would have a similar service.
Attachment 1241178

THat's a HUGE crack! Quality repair and service! Props to the Alloy Doctors

+1 for the guys at Wheel Solutions here in Melbourne. I've had work done there. I've actually got a set of CSL reps sitting at home with one of them having a hairline crack about 10mm on the inside. They quoted 200 to get it fixed. Just haven't had the time to get into their workshop.

[Scotty89]

Your best bet, as already stated, would be to find a set second hand.

Even if you only need 1 from the set, you'll have 3 spares for when the next one cracks...

[NeT335]

I have a set for sale.
Only one of the front wheels is crack but the other 3 have no cracks at all

[Coupes33]

Cracks in these rims are very common and as usual BMW had done nothing about it apart from sell you new rims. Article out of MOTOR mag April 2015.

[DR-JEKL]

my 19" twist rims one of the rear rims had been replaced at one stage as it was almost new...

I sold them and got a set of 313's which supposedly were less prone to cracking...

[Cadillac]

My 2006 E92 with the 230 rims had 3 rims crack
Long story short after at least 3 tire replacements for punctures which eventually turned out to be cracked rims, I had another on a long road trip and had the car towed and BMW said it was the 19" wheels/ tires and the bad roads.
Told them I paid an extra $1400 for the tires and rims hey sold, if they were not fit for purpose then they should not be sold.
Found a BBC watchdog program on same issues I showed them all the internet and other correspondence and said they knew is as an issue but put people's lives at risk I threatened legal action and more.
They replaced them free of charge or as they said "goodwill"
In my mind it is a BMW issue and they should fix it.

[DR-JEKL]

Good on you mate!

As these cars age though, bmw will deny all responsibility though for sure!!

Surprisingly BBS made these rims, they produce a solid product so it has to be the RFT's!