ch33sehead

I'm not a big fan of low profile tires, though I can understand having them in the front for steering (and clearance for the brakes), but the sidewalls are so weak and break so easily. Just curious if anyone's done 19s in the front and 18s in the rear before and how they look / feel.

zneB-sedecreM

I feel you on sidewalls being weak. I have a 55 CL with low profile tires in front and rear, they're so easy to get a hole or screw in, luckily I have an amazing Warranty with the company through which I bought my Michelin Pilots

radride

I think for the size of the car, 18's look too small. I can see if you just want to get a set of slicks for the rears for the track. But for daily driving, 19/20's are the best looking imo.

R.K.

freestylebiker3

i am not sure how advanced the mercedes computer system is but running different size wheels front to rear will/can change the cars wheel speed sensor signal and might put a check engine light on your dash, for ABS problems and your ABS unit might be disabled.....

but i am guessing if you do put 18 inch wheels on the rear you are going to compensate with a thicker ( higher profile ) tire so at this point i guess there wouldnt be any problems...

on my cl65 i know if i wanted to i can installed tires that are thicker ( higher profile ) with out any issues. so my question is why cant you just install a thicker profile tire on your stock 19 inch wheels insted of the factory 275-40-19 try 275-45-19 gives you 5% thicker tire or 275-50-19 gives you 10% thicker tire... might look funny but better then trying to go to a 18 inch wheel... hopfully that extra 5-10% increase will resolve your tire problems

tire warranty is a great idea..

ch33sehead

Factory size is 275 35 19. Going to 275 40 19 is a 4% increase in diameter (and consequently circumference), which means the abs wheel speed sensors will read the rear tires going 4% faster, which will cause ESP malfunction. You want to keep any differences to a minimal, ideally less than 3%. Going to 45 profile vs 35 is an 8% difference.

You can also increase the fronts as well, but just overall making the size bigger will cause problems like the suspension bottoming out more easily and changing the gear ratio of your car. Also your speedometer will be off. That's why I think going to 18 would be a better idea...

EDIT: Here's a reference for stock tire size: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Select...5&autoModClar=