I got new 19" hartge classic wheels for my E39 about 6 months ago and only travelled about 5000 kilometers.

There was a problem with tyre pressure and when we took the wheels off we found that both left side wheels were broken. I took the wheels to the dealer but they reckon that they are not claimable under the manufacturers warranty because of the rim bending. Needless to say I was completely gutted!

Is this common for wheels of this size? I was going to get rid of them because I was sure it might happen again but now I'm considering just replacing them and being extremely careful with how I drive.

those are not rim failures, clearly you hit something.... :rolleyes

Looks like you were hitting some sweet jumps.

I have these also in 19". My rear has a slight cosmetic bend in it as well, which I am going to have repaired. From talking to others with this wheel, in 19" they are definitely on the easy side to bend. I am definitely careful, but you know...it happens.

If you don't tend to watch potholes, you might consider going with a stronger wheel. The ones you've posted look pretty beat.

Thanks for the help. I did a search and educated myself about bends, breaks, cracks and tire bubbles which pretty much explained everything that I experienced.

I thought wheels like this would be strong enough to handle anything you could throw at them but I was obviously wrong. Oh well, I will just get them replaced, I'm hoping now that my dealer can give me a discount on some new ones.

I guess it depends what you throw at them. . .my 18" Classics have seen some abuse on our sub-par freeways and have remained true for 5+ years.

Those wheels are not too strong IMO.

How many psi do you run in the tires?

I'm not sure what psi they were at.. I didn't have them on long enough to need to check the pressure. However the profiles were pretty low, I'm sure it was something like 30 at the rear and 35 at the front.

How often should you check the pressures on 19" wheels, usually I don't bother unless they look flat... :redspot