Ghostty

Hey all,

While looking for some rims and tires for my SL, found these two tables with awesome info for people that think to change the wheels on the car.
It shows the MB factory rims size fittment and the preferably offsets for each size.
What i noticed is the bigger the rims get the lower the offset.
See attached

Regards

boostd

I have the 20x9.5 and 20x11 setup on my car. It's awesome.

Quadrobenz

The custom wheel and tire upgrades can be great but can also cause issues if selected incorrectly. Boostd's setup is basically a +1 on the S65. It would be a +2 on an SL500 with sport package or a +3 on a non sport. Some AMG's had different brakes and hubs requiring different stock offsets to get the same tire position in the wheel well. Brabus made their wheels in multiple offset choices depending on which base model was used or if the upgraded Brabus brakes and rotors were also installed. Work with a wheel supplier who is familiar with all the variations of the Mercedes to avoid surprises.

Ghostty

That's why the tab shows recommended wheel sizes with recommended offsets with recommended tire sizes. So you don't mess it up

Quadrobenz

What the table seems to be missing is the base offset by model to use as the starting point. For example, my 2006 S65 rear wheel stock offset is 60mm, the stock wheel offset for the S55 is 46m, both are 19x9.5" wheels with 275/35 YR19 tires. The reason is the S65 brakes are much larger and the hub mounting surface is a different distance outboard from the axle. So mounting 305/30x20 tires on 20x11 wheels requires a different offset wheel for the two AMG models. Everyone tried to sell me wheels for the S55 which would not fit because of the different hubs on the car. The Brabus brake conversion package did the same thing so Brabus made wheels with an offset listed in that table that will only fit with the Brabus brakes and rotors, not the stock SL500 brakes.
What I ended up doing on the S65 was just mount 285 tire on the stock 19x9.5" wheels. That made a big enough improvement it was not worth spending the $$$$$$ needed to get the right 20" wheel.

Quadrobenz

Sorry, I misstated the first point, all the factory offsets are listed, they do not clarify which year, model and option package each offset goes with. If the stock wheels are still on the car they should be stamped.

Ghostty

Well, buddy, that's the point of the table. It shows what rims will fit if you're going for different ones than stock. They all should fit any r230 model without modifications. Including offset and package, because the MB didn't modify the suspension only because it's base, AMG sport package, AMG or so on. The max sizes are listed there, so we all could know what's the biggest we can fit.

The year is not listed because it's only for the R230 models, 2003 - 2012 (if i remember correctly the years of R230)

Quadrobenz

The R230 was made from 2003 through 20012 as you state. I can tell you that not all the wheel sizes and offsets listed in the table will fit every R230 made. The reason is the brake, rotor and hubs were different part numbers and sizes for different models. I have a 2009 SL600. The wheel from a non sport 2004 SL500 would not fit over the brake calipers when the tire shop tried to give me a temporary spare. Some of the offsets listed for the Brabus wheels will not fit in the wheel wells unless mounted on the Brabus upgraded brake package. I know this for a fact because I had my 2005 SL600 in the Brabus store that was in Newport Beach at that time and the shop showed me the wheels I wanted did not fit in the wheel well on the stock rotors. My only point is to be careful and test fit the larger options because not all listed offsets fit all R230 models. All the wheel and tire sizes listed will fit with the right offset.

Ghostty

Well you're talking about downgrading

I'm talking about upgrading And you are right, nothing shows better than trying the wheels on. It's not a guarantee that the wheels will fit until you try, right?

82Red

In reference to an old post..

Do you mind sharing your the offset of your 20x9.5 and 11s. Also, the tire size? Were these able to fit with no modifications?

Thanks!

FxFormat

I'm running 20x10.5 ET +25 Rear 20x9 ET +25 Front (305/25/20) (265/30/20)

No rubs whatsoever, fills out the fender gap nicely too

kryspyx

Bdubblu

Following up on kryspy's question... he made me curious also. (I just got my SL 2 days ago, so I haven't been around it enough to be able to tell.)

Deutsche_ Amg

FxFormat

I have a lowering module, i set it to lower the car about 1.25" all around, and the pic is on the lowest setting right now.

sans.filtre

Fx, do you mind taking a photo of the car from the back with that fitment? I'm trying to justify whether a Kiwami 10.5J +22 would be a good idea for the rear.

Thanks

stayalive

Sorry for reviving an old post, hopefully you're still active. Are you running front 9J or 10.5J?

FxFormat

I don't have that car anymore, but i kept the wheels and put it towards a facelifted R230. Front is 20x9 rear 20x10.5

stayalive

Damn, I'm running 10.5 in the front... What do you think, would 10.5J with 265 tire fit in?

FxFormat

That's pushing it, i dont think i've seen anyone run 10.5 in the front, what offset is the wheel and back spacing?

Eloi_bcn76

awesome car!! If have to questions (I”m almost new in this forum, as well as new R230”s owner):
1-where can I buy the rear “black” led lights in Europe?
2-I”m not sure to understant the table above regarding the tire measures: if my 500SL has 255 can I put 285 on it? What about abc system, do we need to recalibrate anything?
thanks in advance

best

Eloi_bcn76

Any comment? Thanks!

brucewane

Those darker taillights are from an SL55/65 AMG.

Tire size - for the front or the rear? The widest I've seen in the front of an R230 is 265. 305 in the rear. Of course, you must have the correct offsets. Your offsets should be stamped into the casting somewhere on the back of the wheel, and you can use spacers to change the offset. Any spacers you use must be hub-centric.

The first three columns of the chart are wheel size/offset/tire size for the front, the next three columns are for the rear.

You shouldn't need to recalibrate ABC or ESP as long as you stay fairly close to the tire size combinations in the chart. You basically don't want to have the front and rear tires to have too much difference in height/diameter. There should be no more than a 3% difference in height/diameter.

brucewane

Check your tire heights/diameters here -
Tire Size Calculator

dutz_bier

Do you happen to have the original source for the second table, thanks in advance.