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That's how me and my homeys roll. Yeah, no protection. Once I've had a chance to run the wheels and I'm sure they're staying on the car I'll get fresh rubber with a squarer shoulder. Hopefully I won't ding the wheels up in the interim.
Last edited by Mike5215; Nov 29, 2016 at 06:18 PM.
Got a chance to drive the car on the new wheel set up. Moderately more steering effort required given the wider front contact patches. More road feel to the steering wheel for the same reason.
New (cheap!) wheels are beautifully finished. They all balanced right up on the machine and on the road no wobbles or vibrations. For $659 shipped I'm not complaining.
Not crazy about the stretch, both for the appearance and the nearly exposed bead. Looks a little ghetto to me.
I'll be replacing the tires once they've got more wear on them with the correct widths and sidewall profiles. Basically to make up most of the inch I'll add 20mm to the tread width front and rear, then drop the sidewall ratio by 5% each to keep the same sidewall profile.
OEM 18" C300 225/45/18, 245/40/18
MOD 18" C300 245/40/18, 265/35/18
Got it back late today. Love the new wheels and C63 style diffuser and tips. Still fun to drive, but having a "real" stereo in the rental Lincoln spoiled me. The 205 is so badly hobbled by the decision to use Frontbass plus a crapload of 4" speakers that not even my extensive Audison Focal JL upgrades can make it sound as good as simply having four 6" two ways in the doors and a sub on the rear decklid. The Lincoln's system was clean and powerful, with a wide and deep sound stage, and natural tone. This wasn't their "premium" Revel set up either. Just the standard audio. With SYNC3 and CarPlay to boot.
My kid's new Mazda3 has a Bose Centerpoint system and while it's not as ballsy as the Lincoln it's still miles ahead of the Burmester right out of the box. Why can all of these "lesser" brands put good, honest systems in cars much less expensive than the 205, where Mercedes cobbled together some cheap crap and stuck an obscure, "rich" sounding name on it? I'm getting the sense Mercedes doesn't have a lot of respect for the intellect of the people buying their cars anymore. Now they're just trading on the cachet of the three point star and betting that's enough. Sadly, they probably made a smart bet.
I'm late coming to the thread. Glad to hear you got the car back.
As for the sound, it's all been said before. Mercedes has tons of analysts making sure they skim the cost factors of every single car. Someone realized that nice looking speakers attract more people than nice sounding ones. And unfortunately they seem to be right. As you said, they made a smart bet. Merc sales are going through the roof. I spent almost 2000$ on my sound system (and that's with me doing all the work) and most of my friends either don't hear a difference (!!!!!!!) or they don't care about it.
Yeah. Had I realized how hamstrung I would be by the physical constraints of the audio system I may not have chosen the car. So here she is with her new bits.
My kid's new Mazda3 has a Bose Centerpoint system and while it's not as ballsy as the Lincoln it's still miles ahead of the Burmester right out of the box.
Are you trying to get banned? Any praise of Bose on any internet forum is strictly prohibited.
I had the Bose Centerpoint in my 2012 Mazda3 and a Bose system in an Infiniti G37 and enjoyed it in both. I had high hopes for Burmester.
My two 220s had a Bose system that was really clean and accurate. All it needed was a small powered sub in the trunk and it was perfect. The 221 had a base system by harman/kardon that was horrible, or an optional $6400 Bang & Olfsen that was decent but those cars are hard to find. The 2012+ 222 S600s got them as standard, probably to clean out the inventory at the end of the model run.
At least the 221 had the physical space to install normal size speakers in the doors and the HK 8" subs in the front doors were actually good once they were freed from the factory EQ.
Just kills me that a dung pile like the MKZ, and aside from the seats and audio they are dung piles, has one of the best sounding stock systems I've ever played with, and my kid's dinky little Mazda isn't bad either.
Thanks. She has a little wobble in the tail end around 70 now. Could be an alignment issue from the hit or the new wheels. I'll get an alignment and the rears rebalanced and see where that gets me.
bose doesn't manufacture speakers or any audio equipment for cars. They merely provide fine tuning.
Bose system in my old infiniti was made by clarion. clarion is not exactly high end......
the audio wasn't bad at all tho, but the speakers were cheap as hell.
The woofers and mids in the 220 were branded Bose, but yeah, there was nothing to them individually. I don't think they were even 4 ohm. Likely less. In total though, in the S Class, the system sounds great. Bose's genius is getting reasonably good sound from dirt cheap components and a lot of processing. People do generally have a vastly inflated view of Bose quality. Some stuff, like their noise cancelling headphones, are decent though.
bose doesn't manufacture speakers or any audio equipment for cars. They merely provide fine tuning.
Bose system in my old infiniti was made by clarion. clarion is not exactly high end......
the audio wasn't bad at all tho, but the speakers were cheap as hell.
This is not true, though it is a widely held view all over the internet. The headunit in Nissan/Infiniti cars are made by Clarion. However, Bose does produce the actual speakers and amps used in any car with their logo.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
I had the Bose Centerpoint in my 2012 Mazda3 and a Bose system in an Infiniti G37 and enjoyed it in both. I had high hopes for Burmester.
. You must be happy with the work. 
