Your e-break is on the right rear wheel. You could try using shorter lug nuts. If you could get 6 full turn on your lug nuts, you should be ok.

My front right tire is starting to develop a buldge next to the rim after I hit something on the road. It looks like it is going to pop. I am thinking of replacing the tire with my spare tire in the back.

I did a google search on changing the tire and I found this complaint from consumersaffair.com. Has anyone tried replacing their tire with the spare to see if this story is true or not?

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/autom...edes_c240.html

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Michelle of Los Angeles (2/20/04):
I was pulling away from the curb in front of my home and realized I had a flat tire on the rear wheel. I initially tried to temporarily repair the tire with "fix-a-flat" so that I could drive it to my local tire shop for repair. When the "fix-a-flat" did not work, my boyfriend rolled up his sleeves and replaced the flat tire with the spare tire.

Stored along side the spare tire in a neat little package was supposedly everything we would need to change the tire (jack, white cotton gloves, etc.). Nowhere in the neat little package were there additional "special" lug nuts that were supposed to be used with the spare tire. In addition, the spare tire repair kit was completely devoid of any instructions or any warning regarding the use of "special" lug nuts when using the spare tire. Accordingly, my boyfried proceeded to change the tire and replace the lug nuts used with the original tire to secure the spare. Well, as it turns out, the original lug nuts (which have the same shape and head size as the mysterious "special" nuts) are too long to use with the spare tire and if used to affix the spare will result in severe damage to the wheel hub and other allegedly vital wheel accessories.

Long story short, the car would not move so we called Mercedes Road Side Assistance where we learned, for the first time, about the "special" nuts. Let me emphasize that the nuts were not with the rest of the spare tire repair kit, but in fact were rolling around loose in a completely separate compartment of the car, and there was absolutely NO WARNING or any other precaution (i.e., making it impossible to use the original nuts on the spare tire) taken to insure that someone who is not a certified Mercedes mechanic could perform the simple task of changing a flat tire without causing serious damage to VERY EXPENSIVE car parts.

I am now told it will cost $1600 to repair the damage done by the simple installation of a spare tire. That's on top of the $100 they are charging me to tow the car to the dealership which is approximately 3 miles from my house and the $235 they charged me to "diagnose" the problems with the car. RIDICULOUS!!!! When I complained about the absurd concept apparently created for the C240, I was told I was not the first person to make this mistake. HMMMM. That lead me to believe that Mercedes is well aware of this scam and uses it to further rip off those of us who are paying too much for our cars as it is. When my lease expires with Mercedes on this car, they can rest assured that I will be taking my business elsewhere.

the instructions were clear in the manual i thought.


fk

Hahaha, Got a flat over the summer at about 4:30 in the morning. It was dark so I didnt see what I was doing and did as that report says (used the longer lug nut) even though there is a sticker demonstrating not to use it( which I couldnt see in the dark) Total cost of repair was about $1,300, sucks but I'm to blame

Next time something happens with my new car im just calling roadside assitance, its worth the wait and could cost you from f++cking up like I did.

a dumb person complaining about a dumb problem. none of it would happen if they actually READ the damn manual or some common sense.

they must have a different plan then i have, i get free road side assistance for 5 years or 50k miles.. i would have just called them out and had them either tow the car or put on the spare for me.

problem solved

Unlike VWs limited plan MBs carry a lifetime plan. :p

Man you guys. How come no one told me I needed gas to run the car?!

Yesterday a buddy of mine's older Nissan had a flat, we did a tire swap in about 8 minutes in the rain.

Almost got our necks clipped off by idiots trying to race through the school parking lot.

where are those "special lug nuts" located in the car?

I have changed my tires several times and used the same LUG NUTS. I have no clue what that article is getting acrossed, but my benz wasn't like that.

Why does this seem like an accident waiting to happen ...

He's talking about the lugs that are in a long, clear plastic baggie next to the air comp. and lug wrench....why he would post it as a question and not just take 2 seconds to look in his trunk makes no sense...

The international symbol that indicates that the manual must be read is an exclamation point enclosed in a triangle. Isn't that marked on the spare tire?

Well for at least '05 they solved this problem... The shorter bolts are in a circular plastic container that has 5 nubs that snap into the bolt holes of the spare tire... You have to be a HUGE idiot if you cant figure out there are seperate lug bolts, I mean you cant put on the spare with out at least looking at the damn things!

maybe i should change my avitar, i bought my c230 ss last month no more VW for me.

on a side note. my dealer told me the roadside was only 5 years or 50k ill have to check that out.

No need to check it out..Roadside is for life on your MB...but your basic warranty is 4yr/50k..

the instructions are clear and any freaking ding dong with half a brain can figure it out. plus the lugs are in the spare tire well, on top of the spare tire. there are additional instructions in the spare tire well. some people are ignorant and have no one to blame but themselves. when people dont read the instructions, let alone their owners manual, then when the tire falls off, look in the mirror and point the finger!

When you have Mr. Let's-Be-Positive calling you a ...that's pretty bad..

there's an air compressor back there? I've seen the bolts, but never noticed a compressor

My 'o2 has it..along with the eye-hook thing, jack, bag of fuses...all that I can think of off the top of my head right now..

yeah, the tire is a space saver, it is deflated. the compressor is small and plugs into the cigarette lighter in the car to inflate the tire. looks like a little balck box about 6"x4"x4" maybe. not very big. there is a sticker on top of it how to use it, as well as instrucitons in the manual.

im sure someone will just put the tire on one day without inflating it, and drive away, then blame mercedes for the flat spare that fell of because they used the wrong lug nuts to secure the deflated tire.

freaking 'tards.

My 01 c240 sedan's spare tire was already inflated and didn't come with a compressor.

the coupe uses a space saver, and i think the sport sedans.

Got it. Wew, finally my car rolls! Thanks for the help guys. I appreciate it. Now, I just have to figure out one other problem. My front tires are rubbing on the springs perch when I am turning and hit a dip. Also, my rear tires rub on the inside fender when I drive up my driveway. I need help on choosing tire size guys. I am planning to put 235/35/19 on the fronts but have no idea for the rear wheels. The rears are 19x9.5 38offset. Please let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks.

blkw203,
Get a rounded sidewall kind of tires...eg: Nitto or hankook K104 instead of square one like bridgestone SO3. I've seen people use 225/35/19 for front and 245/35/19 or 255/30/19 for rear. I believe that's the lowest you could use.
Most people use 235/35/19 and 265/30/19 (That's what I use, with no rubbing what so ever).