clkal

WERD!

cntlaw

100% agreed to your point 'why bother' and this is the 'devil' deep in my heart I have been fighting against. One day, if I ever cannot resist for the 19" , I have to convince myself, are just the larger rims look good, or actually the car (C55) look good with the larger rims. The C55 is not too close to a turn head car soley with 19" without other more aggressive add-on's. The brilliant aftermarkets rims marketing is posioning me deep . It is a point of no return for me, we don't have a garden and garage in the backyards here that can house an extra set of tires though.

FrankW

after being through stock, 18", and several set of 19" with various weight. 18 and 19 don't ride any different from what I can tell apart from different weight affecting the performance.

C55JMG

I would definitly recommend 19"; there is a little difference performance wise (not very noticable) but the look just covers up for it, 18" can feel a little small sometimes. Good luck with your decision.

cntlaw

Would like a fair comment from someone, with 19" and not drop the C55 i.e. stay with the stock suspension setup, does it still look that good? With 19", the stock 4 pistons calipers AMG clippers will look even smaller.

jgsx

I was concerned that the AMG brakes would look puney with 19s, but nope. The car looks damn sexy with 19s. The brakes still look very aggressive

MercedesFTW

Well I went from 16inchers on the Ml to the 18s on the C55...so 18 seems big enough!

diamondblak05

From my experience, going from 17" to 18" wasn't that dramatic like night and day. However, you can tell the ride isn't the same anymore. The 18" gave a rougher ride especially on bumpy roads. On uneven pavement, I can feel the road imperfections much much more and absorbs bumps less. But on even surface, the smoothness is still there...just not on bad roads. Acceleration wise, I feel no noticable difference between 17" and 18" wheels. Handling wise, I think the 18" is less tossable around corners because the tires and wheels are still the same width but only an inch taller compared to the 17" (mine isn't lowered). I can't really comment on 19" but I wouldn't do it since 18" is already pretty rough for me..esp. on bad midwest roads. I believe that look isn't everything; thus, I personally feel that 18" is the best of both worlds.....gives the car the look yet still provides that somewhat smooth ride.

Harry Madan

I think 18’s are big enough for a C-Class, you need to decide what you want your car to do, if you don’t have a heavy foot and want more of the look go for the 19” but try to get a 2 piece mage rather then a one piece. Look around they will be the ones with studs on it like the SL65 AMG wheels and so on. those are really light wheels and you wont notice that much of a performance difference. And besides if you want something in between you can always go for the 18” and then you are just between the performance of the 17’s and the 19’s. it all varies on what you want your car too do. I got a heavy foot so I drive the hell out of my car, so I would not go bigger then 18 on my car. if you are just about the look you can go up to 20” on your car and then it will be all look and nothing else.

FrankW

I think a lot of you are confused about few things regarding 17 to 18 to 19.

for 17 to 18. your overall diameter does not change and going with the bigger rims means you need smaller profile tires. i.e. front 224/45/17 to 225/40/18 which in terms you lose some sidewall to absorb the impact of the road.

however when you go from 18 to 19 you now have slightly bigger overall diameter and with the 235/35/19 tires you have pretty much very similar sidewall thickness to the 225/40/18. The same goes for 255/40/18 and 265/30/19. Due to the overall diameter increase and the width of the tire increase your sidewall thickness pretty much remains the same.

The real difference is in the weight of the wheel. The lighter the wheel you often will feel that the car is more responsive of course, but you'll also feel that the car is more bouncy. The stock C32 wheels weights 27-28lbs each. They are not light by any means since they're 17". The C55 18" weight pretty much the same. Some of the 19" we use are 3-4lbs lighter for the forged wheel, so in truth the performance lost is minimal if you are going with forged wheels or light weight wheels.

Some of you have said that going to the TWS Bremma makes you feel like the car has lost quite some performance that's because the TWS Bremma weights around 30-31lbs each at least. For example my Carlsson 1/16's were around 29-30lbs each for 19" and coming from the HRE these were pretty heavy for sure and you can definitely feel the handling was affected due to the added unsprung weight at the corner. However the HRE and the now DCR I have all felt better in terms of responsive ness. I have run the 17 stock for few weeks during the transision of getting new wheels. Comparing them I didn't feel the 17" stock wheels were all that better except in ride comfort.

ItalianStallion

I went from 17" stock AMG to TSW Bremma 19" staggered. I actually like the feel of the 19's better than the 17's. The rear wheels are bigger than the stock ones and the only real difference is that you can feel the road more than before, which I kind of like. In looks, there is no comparison. I'd go with the 19" wheels, they look so good and I have no complaints. I drive my car extremely hard and although I probably lost some performance, the looks more than make up for it.

AdaMBombC32G

im going to answer by giving you my experiences and hopefully that will help you out!

i would assume your're buying for aesthetic reasons... thats what majority of the people buy 19s for. Put it this way if it was all about looks benz wouldve mad 19's stock on the C-class! In any case I think that it really depends on the "brand" and the way they manufacture the wheel; you would obviously want to go from stock 17s to something slightly larger then 18's; LIKE 19s.

That was how i made my first choice. I bought replica 19's. honestly, i felt a loss of everything from performance, steering, braking and of course RIDE COMFORT (due to 235/35 & 265/30 profile tires). wheels are heavier, diameter is bigger (although the tires is basically the same OVERALL size) BASICALLY it puts more pressure on the tranny, brakes, suspension, etc etc... not to mention much more expensive tires (and mounting/balancing costs) and probably harder to come by as theyre not in stock in most places.

HOWEVER, the bigger question is the tires. you can have ultra light-weight 19" wheels on crappy tires and i promise you, youd be better of using mass transit...

BASICALLY, i say this b/c:

i currently have C32s on DUNLOP WINTER SPORT M3s (for the 4 months of winter here) i would recommend a different tire category (great tires but i hardly see that much snow that i need dedicated "winter tires", I would recommend THE BEST all seasons tires instead to help with cornering and "speed") b/c these tires do take away the "stock" feel of the wheels. STILL BETTER THEN THE 19S THOUGH and the 19s were on MAX PERFORMANCE SUMMER - GOODYEAR EAGLE F1 GSD3 tires (#2 on tirerack.com).

NOW i have Brabus 18's (225/40 & 255/35) on TOYO T1Rs. i know the wheels are heavier but compared to stock C55 wheels (18 x 7.5 & 9.5) The Brabus ARE 18 x 8.5 & 9.5. 1" wider respectively. Coming from the C32s (17 x 7.5 & 8.5) the brabus wheels are 1" TALLER and WIDER on each end. I LOVE THEM, and i thank TOYO for the GRIP and im sure the C32 wheels on these tires would be slightly faster (lighter) but for me its the perfect MESH of SIZE, style/performance all without loss of ride-comfort and steering.

hope this helped and didnt just confuse you!

jgsx

No they wouldn't have

AdaMBombC32G

this is a forum. an INFORMATION forum. with that said, Its easy to just say "no". i could've just said "buy 18's" can you possibly back up why you said "NO THEY WOULDNT HAVE" AND either way, that was a rhetorical statement.

ask yourself this ?, why did they choose to have 18s stock on the C55 with no 19" option at all... and all the "c-class competitors" at least have an option for 19"s, some even come stock i think. weird, i doubt it?

there must be a reason the AMG engineers used 18s, more then we both think and know probably! suspension they used, customers prob. complain about ride quality, flats (tires) not easily found in most shops, ettcccc... the list can go on. Besides this isnt to argue why MB-AMG did or didnt for that matter do something, this is to INFORM someone of SOMETHING... so thanks for the "no youre wrong|||" but next time give some reasoning to your "counter"-response, please - i dont know maybe i am just an idiot - thanks

FrankW

because 19" is a AMG manufactur option you can only get in Europe. You can get a C55 with track package i.e. the whole F1 safety car look, upgraded brakes, 19" wheels, LSD, etc etc.

the option we get in the US is dictated by MBUSA and it doesn't reflect the real options by DiamlerChrysler.

jgsx

I thought it was self explanitory. Your long explanation missed the most obvious and important factor -- cost.

cntlaw

After I read this thread, I am convinced my next rims will remain 18".
I am looking my third set of rims very soon because I am getting tired with my newly bought 5 mths old 18" AMG Style IV mainly the sterling silver rims has over-blended with Brilliant Silver body color.

The C55 stock rims are 18, 7.5 and 8.5.
I am keen to have my next rims to be wider which is 18, 8/8.5 and 9/9.5 like your Barbaus and would like to know the offets and tires sizes you have with the Barbus.
tks

jgsx

I put the stock 17s back on today to see what was up. The car does feel more responsive, but there isn't as much of a difference as I thought there would. The tires spin a lot more, and make a lot more noise while they are. After driving around for a while, I put the 19s back on. The 19" Bremmas have PS2s on them

The 19s looked too big the first time I ever saw them, but now I think they look perfect. The stock 17s looked soo small. I'm glad I went with the 19s

I think the reason why the car is slower than I was expecting is because it has been so freakin hot outside ever since I did the upgrades, 90+ !

sdsilverm3

Forget 17,18,19" wheels. Get some of these.

jgsx

I'm considering those for my 1994 Civic EX

C55JMG

I hate chrome wheels!

AdaMBombC32G

Offset im not sure, but its Brabus Monoblock VI (single-piece) tailored for C-class (w203) im sure someone knows the offsets in hereż

As for the tires, im running the same set-up as the ones in your signature. and i did just mention the sizes in my previous post, but... Toyo T1Rs in sizes 225/40 & 255/35. someone said i could run bigger in the rear (265/35) but i want to stay as close to stock as possible b/c i didnt do the speedometer adjustment... only mounting/balancing (obviously) then high speed alignment. which i think is a must every year or so (i change my wheels every other season) hope this helps.

Btw, i bought these wheels used off this forum, from i forgot who but anyway my girlfriend was driving my car the other night where she went into a curb (@ 5mph) and (pretty nicely) scrapped 1/4 of the front passenger wheel. The wheel is pretty tough b/c ive done this on my 1st MB my 99 SLK (amgs 5-spoke) and the wheel was thrown out as a result. The brabus wheel is still straight though, but im going to need a nice lip re-polish before next spring rolls around!!! so much for her b-day present

Me too, but thats a nice style wheel at least compared to most 22" ++ that i see. however, I dont know about 30" though (i think 2 feet {24"} is good enough) Do they even make more then 2 sizes (1 company probably) of tires for these?


sorry, but i thought i did mention "cost" in the last post?! whatever... this is a BENZ forum and i maybe i was trying to avoid "cost" and for the most part technical things b/c theyre very complex. ANYHOW, we are talking about buying EXTRA rims... so if a $$$ few hundreds (or thousand)$$$ is going to (hurt/bother/make a difference/stop)you from yor purchase, you shouldnt be talking about buying "extra" rims in the 1st place.

truth is some NEW rims cost more then NEW HONDAs (and thats before $1,000 tires) CRAZY but 100% true.

FrankW

brabus offset is 30 and 35.

AdaMBombC32G

THANKS FRANK; theres your answer CNTLAW

power-fade

I agree, the AMG Style IV 19s would be perfect!!!