AMG BRED

My partner is in the market to upgrade the wheels on his 2002 CL55, he wants to know what's the recommended upgrade size and specs. thanks in advance.

victoryroad

Before increasing from the 18" wheels consider carefully how and where the car is driven. The wheels on my 2002 CL500 Sport and now my 2003 CL55 are 18" and very strong, but certainly would bend if driven over a pothole. 19" wheels are much more susceptable to damage, no matter how strong the alloy. Of course, tires are lower profile on the 19"'s, so can more easily be damaged as well. Larger wheels may be good on the track and look good in the valet spaces, but on the road produce a harder ride. The CL's corner and ride very well on 18" wheels with stock tires. I have found that the MB engineers, who BTW used narrower tires on the rear of the 2003 CL55 than on the 2002, are very good. It is risky to start messing with factory specs so be careful.

lee2375

usually we use 20x8.5/9.5 or 20x9/10, depends on cust preference.

AMG BRED

thank you Peter.. but i thin 20s will be steeper then he wants to pay.. will 19x8.5 and 19x10 work without rubbing?

lee2375

yes no problem

deuce zer0

being unique is all about pushing the envelope i thought. no reward with taking no risks.

victoryroad

deuce
If you have messed with $100,000+ cars then by all means push the edge of the envelop. 19 or 20's on the CL55 can't get anyone into too much trouble, but I can almost guarantee that after a month on 20's you will wonder what you were thinking about. 19's ar not so bad, but are more fragile than 18's.

I could not agree more that to get ahead one must take risk. I would not even have a CL55 if I had not taken risks. Send in the pics of yours with the 19's or 20's. Lowering probably will not involve too much risk, if done correctly. The CL does look better and probably will corner better a bit lower than US spec. to say Euro spec.

fastTalk

I have Lorinser 20s on my 01 CL 55 and love them.

victoryroad

always good to hear from a new member

fastTalk

Thank you, I had actualy joined last year, I made 30-40 posts and I guess that is when the site crashed and all my posts, along with my registration got deleted. I assumed the community was trying to tell me something

Is it me, or is this site very quiet?

Adam

victoryroad

Adam
The reason for my post was to try to determine why the site is so quiet. My winter car is an Audi and the audiworld forum is very active although many do not modify their cars, just exchange useful information. The Renntech forums for Porsche are also very active. I will say that the MB's I've owned in the past four years, including an 00 CLK 430, 02 CL500 Sport, 03 SL500 Sport and the 03 CL55, have been as free of problems as one could reasonably expect from an automobile, which has not been the case with Audi's. Even had an 02 Carrera 4S a couple of years ago that was absolutely flawless.
Andy

fastTalk

It surprises me that it is so quiet, I also participate in a ferrari forum that is extremely busy, I do not go to the Porsche ones very often since I sold my 01C2 Cabriolet about 6 months ago. I guess most MBZ owners just want to drive them and not chat about them

Adam

victoryroad

Adam
You are indeed fortunate to have a 360. On Saturday I was returning from NY in my Audi on the Merrit Parkway just entering Connecicut where the road is twisty with blind curves, although the posted speed limit is 40 mph due to some construction, a red Modena Coupe passed me at only about 60 in what I guessed was second given the engine's sound. Very sweet indeed, especially in red with the shields. There was almost no traffic, so he was quite safe, but also lucky, as the corners left no room for an instant-on radar encounter. I assume that he had a laser diffuser. Of course, I made no efort to accelerate in my Audi and was going only about 45 or 50. Had I been in my 03 CL55, I might have been tempted to challenge him to pass at a much higher speed, as I was traveling in the right lane and there was nobody in front of me. It might have been an interesting contest, as the road after the passing bend straightened out and was uphill. The CL55 could not possibly have stayed with him in the corners, but on the straights the 55's acceleration from about 50 up is very good.

silversurfer

fastTalk

I cannot upload a photo, it says Maximum size: 1 bytes???

Any ideas?

awiner

For the time being we have had to set the forums up NOT to host any pictures. You will need to find a place to host the pictures then link to them with the IMG controls.

silversurfer

it would be my pleasure for that vehicle - oh and do feel free to tell more about it. I was considering one for awhile but have heard nightmare stories about the clutches and not they're not being a friendly driver in general.

fastTalk

Thats way too much work for my limited knowledge, I guess I will not post any photos.