SunnyRayToronto

Interesting,... but wrong!

While many M14x1.5 threaded lug bolts have R14 ball seat,... including some Mercedes,... most Mercedes with M14x1.5 threaded lug bolts now use smaller R13 ball seats,... including the 2003 SL-Class (230) and the newer C-class (W204)

Mercedes SL-class (230) uses:
M14x1.5 thread, R13 ball seat, 26.7mm shank, 17mm hex with R13 Ball Seat,... not R14!

These wheels came from SL-class,... These 18 inch Turbine wheel,... aka Mercedes-Benz AMG 18" multi-spoke "Style V" wheels are drilled for R13!
- 8.5J x 18 ET 30 (B6 603 1111)
- 9.5J x 18 ET 33 (B6 603 1112)
Note: Mercedes wheel also have another part number starting with "A" as well,... one of these will be stamped on back of wheel.

Think about it,... why would Mercedes place AMG R14 drilled 18" wheels and on SL-class that uses lug bolts with R13 ball seats,... if Mercedes did that there'd be wheel vibrations, lug bolts breaking and wheels flying off everywhere!

This official RAD dealer might have these wheels confused with the same styled 19" Turbine wheel,... aka Mercedes-Benz AMG 19" multi-spoke "Style V" wheels which are drilled the larger R14 for S-Class (140, 220) & CL-Class (215, 216).
- 8.5J x 19 ET 43 (B6 603 1117)
- 9.5J x 19 ET 43 (B6 603 1118)

Interestingly,... the only Mercedes that uses R14 ball seats are the CL-Class (215), M-Class (from 07), Maybach & S-Class (140, 220),.... all uses M14x1.5 thread, R14 ball seat, 45.0mm shank, 17mm hex lub bolts on their alloy wheels. But on these Mercedes, their steel wheels use M14x1.5 thread, R13 ball seat, 26.7mm shank, 17mm hex with smaller R13 ball seat!

d1no,.... easy check,.... place that basically R13 size American dollar coin with the indian woman carrying a baby into the ball seat of the wheel and check. By any chance would you have a Canadian Toonie ($2 coin) which is closer to R14 or find some other coin with a radius of 14mm. Filling the ball seat of the wheel with Play-Doh would help,... then use the coin to scoop it out and seeing what's left, you'll see whether the ball seat of the wheel is R13 or R14.


Midnight Kompre,... getting the right thread and ball seat are very important! Shank size a bit less so,... but if I'm looking for 27mm shank,... I would rather settle for a bit longer than a bit shorter,... remember shank length determines how deep these bolts go into your car,.... usually on Mercedes, we're talking about 11mm for that 6 full rotation rule,... Surely you can go a bit deeper without damaging the rear parking brake mechanism,... how much deeper I really don't know and I'm not going to test that on my car!,... but I'm thinking you'd have to go at least 10mm extra to do damage,... 19mm extra will cause damage.

I'm wondering if RAD do custom orders for lug bolts?

Midnight Koop

thanks for clarifying... i was just trying to inquire about getting bolts cut to what you originally recommended and the dealer was responding telling me R13 is the wrong size.

i'm totally ignorant on this... but it is possible he was thinking i was referring to the 19'' wheel

SunnyRayToronto

Well,... it's always best to double-check,... especially when you're ordering things online, sight unseen, untested fit,... for applications that they weren't originally designed for. I had to double check those SL-class lug bolt ball seat size.

D1no, going have to double-check the ball seat of the SL-class wheels now.

Why does Mercedes-Benz have 2 different thread size (14x1.5 & 12x1.5) but 3 ball seat size (R12, R13 & R14)? Really fustrating when many places sell lug bolts for Mercedes but fail to mention ball seat size.

In the end,... if it's too difficult to cut the lug bolts, or too expensive to get custom lug bolts that are of good quality,.... if you really, really, really want these wheels,... it might be best to a wheel shop to professionally drill out the ball seats of the SL-class wheels to convert them to regular cone seat,... much easier to find lug bolts with cone seat! But if you don't want to drill them out,... imagine the ball seat of the wheels with a cone seat lug bolt in it,... there's a gap between the cone seat of the lug bolt and the ball seat of the wheel,... this gap can be filled with a "conversion ring",...

d1no

haha this wheel thing is turning into a pain in the *** ehh... i dont have a dollar coin lol so i cant measure.. i think that TruTaing has CLS wheels on his w203 and he bought lugs from RAD so he could chime in on what worked for him.. not sure wut shank size his wheel use tho..

idk id rather not mess with the wheels and have them drilled or anything.. ill keep looking for the proper bolts.. i have some time since i dont even have tires on em yet..

what about the other guy who has these rims on his w203.. he never posted back about his bolts..

d1no

i tried putting an american quarter down the ball seat of the wheel.. how should it fit in there? because when i dropped it in.. it sits where the end of the seat of the bolt would be.. can you explain a bit more how i should measure this

SunnyRayToronto

CLS-Class (219) and SL-Class (230) uses the exact same lug bolts sizes (for both alloy & steel wheels):
M14x1.5 thread, R13 ball seat, 26.7mm shank, 17mm hex

But,....

Checking TruTaing's photo album in his profile,.... shows TruTaing CLS-class wheels on W203 are using R14 ball seat:
18" CLS500 Wheels 8.5et28 9.5et33 | 225/40 & 255/35 Tires | RADUSADirect 12x1.5 26 R14 Ball Seat Lugs
https://mbworld.org/forums/members/trutaing-albums.html

These are the same RAD bolts that Neofelis uses on his SL-class wheels on W203,.. post #6 RAD lug Bolt 12mmx1.5 26mm Shank, R14 Ball Seat, 17mm Hex
https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...ml#post3636899

These are the same RAD lug bolts (M12x1.5 thread, R14 ball seat, 26mm shank, 17mm hex) the offical RAD dealer recommended to Midnight Kompre

But I still say they should be using R13 ball seat,...
so are all these R14 ball seat folks right and I'm wrong
OR are they all wrong and I'm right? Who got the bigger *****?

I still think I'm right,... R13

D1no,.. place Play-Doh into the ball seat of the wheel,.... get that R13 size American dollar coin with the indian woman carrying a baby,.... use needle nose pliers or strong tweezers to hold onto that American dollar coin,... place that dollar coin, coin first into the ball seat of the wheel to scoop out the Play-Doh,... as you twist the dollar coin in the ball seat,... you carve out a sphere in the Play-Doh,... that basically dig out all the Play-Doh,... if it's R13 ball seat. Larger R14 size coin should leave most of the Play-Doh behind if it's R13 ball seat.

Gather up some foreign coins or large metal washers and find the ones with 13mm radius (R13) & 14mm radius (R14).

R12 size quarter will not work to confirm whether the ball seat is R13 or R14.

OneOfaKindTrini

iS that safe man? Thats extremely close.

cam911

Has anyone got the answers to the questions posed in this thread yet? I have a set of these wheels (SL55) with Michelin PS2s mounted on them. They are VERY close to rubbing as shown in Dino1's pics. Also, I don't know what lug bolts I need or where to get them.

I would sincerely appreciate any info from anyone who has put these wheels on their C32.

Thanks!

advans

^I got some customized bolts...and I have PS2s on it too..they rub.

I'm currently running the multispoke SL setup, a 235/40/18 front, 255/40/18 rear, the rear is rubbing, even with myself in the car.

cam911

Advans

Thanks for the reply. My tires are 225/40 and 255/35. I don't know if they rub because I don't have bolts. Where did you get yours, and what size are they?

Many thanks

advans

the rear bolts are quite short, my shop, impressive auto center, in maspeth queens had them cut for me. they are only 1.25" from the bottom to top of the threads!

anything longer started to hit the parking brakes!

d1no

^^advans id bet if u went 255/35 on the rear and 225 40 front it wouldnt rub.. btw what size ball seat bolts did you use (like R13 or R14) for the rims since that is something everyone wants to know in this thread

advans

hey, im using 40s in the back, i gotta 35s in the back



took some photos of the wheels tonight!

FrankW

255/40 is too tall Gary. lol

should've been 255/35 or 265/35.

RedG

My 19s run closer than that and I don't rub whatsoever. The tire and wheel don't suffer from excessive deflection on the top side as is, and its reduced moreso since you will be running 19" stiffer sidewall tires.

advans

yah frank, im gonna swap for 255/35!

when I go WB, im gonna go for 275/35

d1no

could we fit 265 35 18 rear without rubbing on these rims?

advans

^i think it'll rub unless u use curved sidewall tires like T1Rs, FK452

Nikic

Rims are looking real good.
Excellent elegant look to them also.
Well done, Keep us informed on future mods!

advans

so it was rubbing, now I'm running 255/35/18 and rolled fenders. no rub at all.

cam911

After much experimentation and research, I have decided to mount my SL55 Turbine wheels on my C 32 with this bolt:

12mmX1.5, R14 Ball Seat, 26mm Shank, 17mm Hex

I tried the same bolt in R13, but I think it's too small. You can get them here: www.radusadirect.com. The guy's name is Phil and he couldn't be more helpful. About $42. per 20.

Don't think I'll have rubbing issues, (your sizes) but won't know for sure until I get them mounted later this afternoon. Will post pics if anyone is interested.


YMMV

d1no

^^ thats great news.. sunnyrayt wut do you think about this?

cam911 deff post pics and tires and stuff.. take shots from diff angles

SunnyRayToronto

"Well,... smack my *** and call me Judy!"

Cam911,... did you do the Play-Doh test with the R13 & R14 in the wheel?

You got SL55 AMG stock 18" "turbine" wheels or the 19" turbine wheels? Make sure your R14 lug bolts are doing 6 full rotations!

Mercedes SL-class (230) uses:
M14x1.5 thread, R13 ball seat, 26.7mm shank, 17mm hex with R13 Ball Seat,... not R14!

The SL55 AMG stock 18" "turbine" wheels,... aka Mercedes-Benz AMG 18" multi-spoke "Style V" wheels are drilled for R13!
- 8.5J x 18 ET 30 (Mercedes-Benz part# A2304011502 & B6 603 1111)
- 9.5J x 18 ET 33 (Mercedes-Benz part# A2304011602 & B6 603 1112)

The 19" Turbine wheel,... aka Mercedes-Benz AMG 19" multi-spoke "Style V" wheels which are drilled the larger R14 for S-Class (140, 220) & CL-Class (215, 216).
- 8.5J x 19 ET 43 (B6 603 1117)
- 9.5J x 19 ET 43 (B6 603 1118)

BTW,.... good luck cleaning those turbine wheels!

OneOfaKindTrini

I Dont Know If iM Late But... You SHould Get Some SpaCers TO Avoid Any Rubbing.

cam911

Well, I'm sorry to report I didn't get any pics. When we got ready to mount the wheels, my camera wasn't working.

Anyway, I'm not claiming to be an authority, just reporting on what I did. No, I didn't do the "play-doh" test. But I did buy an R-13 bolt and an R-14. The 13 seemed to move about in the cavity a bit, while the R-14 seemed right. Definitely the better fit on my wheels. We determined that there needed to be about 17mm of bolt extending into the hub. The 26mm shank gave me that length. And yes, they did give me at least six turns into the hubs.

Again, this is just what worked for me. It is not my intent to refute any other information or opinions expressed by anyone else. I was certainly impressed with SunnyRay's data and did give it much consideration.

I put on new Pilot Sport PS2s 225x40x18 and 255x35x18. They don't rub, but I think that is the max I could go on my car w/o spacers or fender rolling. My offsets are 30 and 33. And yes, cleaning is going to be a bear. I'm currently looking for dustless pads...

If I get real energetic at some point, I may pull a wheel and take some pics.

Thanks to everyone!