MBTex

I'm probably only going with one of them, my wife wants P2 I'm leaning toward the Rims....just wondering everyone's thoughts on which one you'd prefer.

I'm going 350 so it will have the 17 in. AMG rims standard.

PUMes

The smaller wheels look pretty dink to me. I'd for the 18's and skip P2 if I were you. Of course you'll get more utility out of the former, but hey, just my op.

livestrongONe

Listen to your wifey. Rims can be changed but making wifey happy priceless and then you can spend that extra $1000 bucks later and wify will not complain and actully buy it for you lol.

Shake

I'd get the P2. The rims can be changed later on when you get bored of it. But the P2 options when added later will cost a lot more.

dion

If only one choice, P2. When the tires wear out on the 17's, you can get a nice wheel and tire package for less than 2K and you'll get 19's out of the deal.

Unless you're like me and believe the electronics will all fail in the next 5-10 years of ownership, then don't get the P2...LOL.

GPI

I'd definitely go with the P2. The 17" AMG rims on the C350 already looks awesome. Besides, you can change your wheels anytime. For me, Bi-xenon is a must for cars today, especially for a Benz.

PUMes

This is new MB dude, not old, quick to break MB. This car is SOLID, I can't emphasize that enough.

Now I personally wouldn't go without either option, but like I said, if I were forced to I'd ditch P2, though it offers some great features you'll get a lot more use out of compared to 18" tires/wheels which will produce added expense in havig to replace tires. Speaking of which are the "18's summer tires or what?.

CarGuru

I went with the wheels, I could have been lied to but our sales manager told us the all-so-hot 5spoke AMG wheels are discontinued and were before the cars had been released. Either way, due to our family business we have portable GPS units and the base sound was good enough and better than what was in the full sized truck we traded for it. Also we plan to get the glass tinted so the sunshade wasn’t necessary either. My wife was pushing for the wheels, loved the AMG look and had to have them. I didn’t disagree so here we are with a beautiful steel gray with the wheels we wanted.


-Ryan

PUMes

The optional AMG 18's are an option for all NA mkt. cars. I was told by one salesman upon my first drive in the W204 that those wheels are only available for Canadian models.

dion

(Getting off topic, sorry to the OP)
I understand this, but I have a friend that IS an MB technician and he has worked at both Fletcher Jones Motorcars and Laguna Niguel MB (number 1 and 2 stealers in the US) and he couldn't talk very highly about the quality of the last gen cars (203, 211, 220) when compared to the previous ones (202, 210, 140).

Of course my new car is mechnically solid (it only has 279 miles and we've only had it for a week tomorrow), but I already have a slight electrical glitch in my Sirius radio setup, in which the tuner will choose any grouping (ie: country, family, entertainment) EXCEPT "All Channels", which will continue to play whatever was the previous selection.

(Back on topic, sorry to the OP)
I still stand on the "get the P2" option if you have to choose between the two options, because you can ALWAYS upgrade the wheels and tires later, you cannot always upgrade to a complete P2 package later, it may be too costly to retrofit (if it can be done). Someone down the line will be getting rid of their 18" AMG wheels for a set of 3-piece 19 or 20" wheels (I already thought about it). Nobody will be selling their factory navi, sunshade, headlight washer or HID's anytime soon. This is just me and my thinking, your thoughts/opinions will vary.

As for the 18" package, the wheels have a FWD offset. I talked to a friend of mine who worked for HRE and now works for www.zonewheels.com, and he measured a new C-class for wheel upgrades. He said the stock fronts were 43mm, the rears were 50mm. The tires are summer tires, Conti's "conti sport contact 3" in 225/40 fr and 255/34 rr.

MBTex

Well I think the wife changed her mind on the P2 after we looked at some S's and E's with the options in them. She wanted the sunshade option mostly and wasn't impressed with what it looked like. Nothing a good tint job couldn't take care of. She did, however, fall in love with the rims.

To me the only real reason to get P2 is the Xenon HL's. They look great when on. Do they look $1350 great? Not so sure. Then again, I'm not so sure the 5 spoke AMG rims look $1000 better than the 6 spoke AMG rims that come standard on the 350.

So, after reading everyone's comments I'm now leaning toward P2 and she says get the rims....probably ordering today so a decision is emminent.

livestrongONe

MBtex you have a great wifey. Does she have a sister

MBTex

Yes she does, but she's also spoken for. Mine finally told me to go with the rims...

RLE

<As for the 18" package, the wheels have a FWD offset. I talked to a friend of mine who worked for HRE and now works for www.zonewheels.com, and he measured a new C-class for wheel upgrades. He said the stock fronts were 43mm, the rears were 50mm. The tires are summer tires, Conti's "conti sport contact 3" in 225/40 fr and 255/34 rr.>>

Hmmm.

Those are not the offsets previously posted. The numbers I have for the 17" wheels are 47mm front and 58mm rear for stock sport wheels. Lux model uses 47mm front and rear. The 18" wheels are ET50 in front and ET54 in back. Those numbers appear on the back of the wheels.

My '01 C320's AMGs are 37/41 FR.

dion

Ah, okay, well, his were estimates, and he must've not looked at the back of the wheels. Anyways, I think he feels the fitment won't be aggressive or as aggressive as they could be. Now I'm templted to pull a wheel off just to see for myself...

e1000

definitely get the P2

RLE

[<<The optional AMG 18's are an option for all NA mkt. cars. >>

Sport models only. Not Luxury.