SanguinaryCGY

So after 7 years of owning my C230 Kompressor Coupe I finally decided to get some rims for designated summer tires. Went a bit bigger with 225/40 R18 ET32 on the front and 255/35 R18 ET35 in the back. The rims are Mandrus rims which are specifically made for use on MB cars so the fitment should be bang on. They fit beautifully with about a cm of clearance on the inside of the tires to the wheel well. After installing and driving away I could hear a slight grinding noise and intermittent clicking from the rear right wheel. This grinding sounds like the brake rubbing together but the clicking is puzzling.

There is no rub marks on tire or wheel wells so I know its not the new tire and rim package itself however this noise is not present when I put the stock 17" Evolution package rims back on.

I am at a loss. Can anyone suggest anything i can check on my own? I am currently running my stock rims on the back until I can figure out what is going on!

hcoronado

did the rims come with their own wheel bolts?

If you are using the stock ones, chances are that they are a bit too long.

phister

+1 on lug bolts being too long.

SanguinaryCGY

The lugs are from the rim manufacturer and are shorter than the stock ones so I dont think that is the issue. Even if it was I would think the noise would come from more than just the one tire no?

phister

well they could have tightened one set of lug bolts tighter than the others. Just because its shorter than the OEM lug bolts doesnt mean that it cant be too long for the aftermarket wheels. From initial thread contact, it should take you 6 full turns to tighten the lug bolts. You can also remove your OEM wheel and put the OEM lug bolt in it and measure how much bolt comes out the other end that should give you an idea of how long the aftermarket lug bolt should stick out from the other wheels. Even if its 5mm off it could be too long and could be making contact with your braking system...

Well if you put your OEM wheels back on and its not making the noise it has to be either the lug bolts being too long or your wheels are rubbing somewhere.

SanguinaryCGY

Ok thanks for the advice. It was actually me and my buddy who installed the wheels with a manual torque wrench so it should hopefully be consistent. He is a parts guy for a local dealership and is who I got the rims and bolts through. I guess that doesnt necessarily mean he knows anything though but its definitely more than me... lol

You got me thinking that maybe its one bolt that is slightly longer now maybe a defect when it was manufactured? We had taken the rim off and reinstalled it a couple times with the same grinding noise but we only did the one corner and used the same lugs each time so its quite possible.

Any other possibilities that come to mind in case I manage to rule out the bolts?

Here is a quick pic I took with my phone after installing the rears

phister

You can check your brakes to see if something is loose also the suspension components like bushings, sway bar, endlinks, struts, control arm, etc. What you can also do is install the wheels and tighten them down then jack the car up and manually spin each wheel to see if you can hear it.

samaritrey

You can get an old lug nut and measure how far it sticks out of the old wheel. Then do the same on the new rims with those lung nuts and see if there is a difference.

FrankW

like everyone said...it is the rear bolts being too long...

SanguinaryCGY

Turns out it is the parking brake. The idea that the lugs were too long led us to this. The back right cable needs some adjustment. There is slack in that cable vs the others so with a couple cranks it sucked back in and no longer is hitting the bolts. The bolts go in just under 1.5 threads further than the stock ones.

Thanks everyone for your help.

Yuille36

Your lug bolts are too long, take a grinder and grind them down a bit. The lug bolts are poking through the Hub and rubbing. I've heard of this from other owners, as their lug bolts were way to long. Hope that helps

SanguinaryCGY

Dont think I am grinding the bolts down. At the moment I have adjusted the parking brake and no scraping/grinding issues at all. I am thinking about getting a 3mm spacer to compensate for the extra thread and a half that these bolts poke through vs the stock bolt and rim combo. Shouldnt be any issues with the spacers right?

tommy

If there's no scraping, then there's no reason to add spacers.

Adding spacers in general is usually a good thing from a cosmetic point of view, so if you want, do it. just make sure that the lugbolts are long enough with the spacers, obviously.

You might want to consider converting to studs, so that you don't have to go back and forth on lugbolts.