JoshS550

I have an 07 base S550. I am soon to do a pearl white satin wrap and get staggered 20s. 20x9 front and 20x10s in the back, I believe. What tire size should I get for the nicest look? Also should I do matte black wheels or gloss black?

Thanks for the input, if I do not reply just know I will see the comments.

DaveW68

Many retailers of after-market AMG style wheels sell the staggered setup at 20x8.5 front and 20x10 rear. Fronts should be 255/35/20 and rears 275/35/20 or 285/35/20.

I'm not a fan of black wheels, so I'd be going with either a gun metal or regular silver.

Welwynnick

Personally I wouldn't go staqgered, as you get all the disadvantages of wide wheels, with hardly any of the advantages. The ride is worse, and the handling is worse as well. All you get is looks.


Nick

DaveW68

That's an interesting take. The S600, S63, S65, and RWD S550 with AMG body package all come with staggered wheels as standard equipment. So I guess MB screwed up when equipping the higher end W221's with bigger, staggered wheels.

Welwynnick

Yes, I think they did.


Nick

DaveW68

You are likely alone with that opinion.

Mike5215

I think the fat rears are just the way the math worked out on the big torque producing RWD 221's (600, 63, 65). They really do need a bigger contact patch. On the S550, I guess it is largely cosmetic but I love the look. Even better with a quad exhaust and S63 diffuser.

Biggest disadvantage is the inability to rotate. Tire life is reduced by half overall and the rears last even less than that. At $800 a set every 9k miles it adds up. Unless you're running the Cooper Zeon. Those last forever.

Welwynnick

I think that would be a great shame if it were true, and there's so much untapped capability and talent in our car's chassis.
Braking power on the front is greater than accelerating power on the rears, so if anything it's the fronts that need more rubber. That's always been my subjective opinion, anyway. AMG must decided that 245 or 255 are sufficient.
There's the real reason.

Jose Prades

I did the satin white pearl, pearl black on grille, rear strip, door strip and door handles. Blacked out the emblems and window trim. Looks tons better than when I first got it. Satin white pearl is a great color on this car

DaveW68

I'm not a fan of the blacked out areas, but that's just my opinion. I'm sure others here with love it. Otherwise the car looks great, except for the poser AMG badge on the back. That thing needs to go. Anybody who sees your car with knowledge of Benz and AMG will likely laugh at the badge and call you a poser.

The Mazo is gorgeous in that blue. One of my co-workers just picked up a 2014 Ghibli S Q4. I was kind of shocked at how much of the interior was pulled from the Chrysler parts bin....which was a bit of a letdown. But the car does move out pretty well with a penchant for bottoming out very easily and is a curb's worst enemy. But most of that is made up for with that sweet sounding exhaust note, especially that bassy woof noise when shifting.

Jose Prades

The car actually came with the amg appearance package and the 07s came with an option for the badging. I debated on putting it back on or leaving it off after the wrap. I had a cls 63 that I debadged but looked bare in the rear without anything on. Bought this as a daily driver replacement of my 7 series, which I ended up keeping anyway. Lol. Don't ask. I get attached to cars to easily.lol....I do love the way the s drives. Very smooth and quiet. Wasn't a fan of all the chrome though. I take all the chrome off any of the cars I have. Just looks too "blingy" to me....I replaced it all with a black pearl, kind of what Lexus offers for their black out option...

Not a fan of the Ghibli. I really can't accept that as a Maserati as it is mass produced. Just my personal opinion. I'd rather buy an E class over the Ghibli any day. My GT has gone through three different color changes the last three years and I am really loving the blue. Getting a bentley gt in June and thinking about trying out a satin burnt orange look. We'll see, I'll probably change my mind by then. Lol....

Any suggestion on where I can get 20" amg wheels versus the 19" mine came with?

DaveW68

None of the US W221's offered an AMG badge with that body unless it was a true AMG. W220's had the option though.

You can find a good set of AMG knock-off wheels on Ebay through several retailers for under $1k. I think I paid a little over $800 for my wheels, which are just as good of quality as OEM.

amgm5s8

I've seen the AMG badge on face lift w221's at the dealer when they were new.

DaveW68

Then it was likely and S63 or S65....or the dealer was badge crazy.

Gramma_Benz

Yes, my Uncle bought an S550 from the dealer and had what they called an AMG styling package and it came with the AMG badge.

DaveW68

Friggin dealers adding poser badges. I wonder if they added $1000+ to the cost of the car for slapping on the badge.

Mike5215

Yeah, just for 2007 (the inaugural year) some 550's with the AMG appearance package got the trunk badge. It wasn't on the 08's on. My guess is MB got so much heat from the real AMG guys that they discontinued it.

They're still trying to figure out how to let the marketing department exploit the AMG name without pissing off people who know what the brand entails. Witness the C450, which is basically a V6 (C400) with an AMG "tune", an AMG exhaust, and a modified version of the C63 suspension.

Real AMG guys hated it for not having a hand built engine and selling for $10k over a base C300 with a T4. Buyers were frustrated that it didn't have an actual AMG name. MB was planning a sub-brand of "near AMG" cars called AMG Sportline and the C450 was the launch.

That lasted about twenty minutes and suddenly the sub brand was killed and the C450 came under the AMG umbrella and rebadged as a C43.

The problem is, the AMG name is like crack to young buyers, who both have no clue what a real AMG car is, and could never afford one if they did. Mercedes is twisting itself into knots trying to figure out how to capitalize on the name without diluting it beyond recognition. No luck so far on either count.

DaveW68

I've seen several 2007 S550's with the AMG body package, but have never seen an AMG badge on any of them. My car is the closest thing to an S65, with more power and tons more torque than an S63 with all of the same niceties of the S65. It is almost a dead heat with the S65 to 60 and in the quarter and faster than the S63. But there is no way in hell that I'd ever slap AMG or V12 biturbo badges on it, even if it had an AMG body kit. Posing is for kids, like Trix.

1bad540

I know 07 s550 did come w the badge from factory. Most others im sure are added. Mine has the amg appearance package aka sport! really makes the car.
as for your orig question, ebay is prb your best bet. Lots of companys there selling them. I got mine from oem wheels plus.

DaveW68

I just did a search on Cars.com of all 2007 S550's available in the country. I found 48 that had the AMG body package. Only 6 of them had the AMG badge on the back. And out of those 6, 4 had the AMG badge improperly placed on the back, meaning that they are posers. So at best, 2 out of 48 came with AMG badges from the factory. But my guess would be that those other 2 are posers too with owners who studied how the badge should fit prior to placement.

1bad540

could be I guess. I know a friend of mine had a new s550 07 and it had it. didnt look placed.

Mike5215

Yeah, back when I was just starting to shop 221s I was looking at 07's because they had just started to become affordable and I was confused that some had an AMG badge on what clearly wasn't an AMG car. If anyone has an 07 VIN I can run it through STAR EPC and the badge will show up as an available part if it was factory.

23606mp

I just moved back to the US from Germany. Over there, if you buy a Mercedes with AMG styling, you get the badges regardless of the motor. Here we would call it "sport". My buddy had a deisel S350 and it had AMG badging from the factory.