ClkE20

Anyone know the stock shank length I am ordering some wheel locks and need to know asap. Thanks in advance

ThrillKill

Complete measurements are 12x1.5x40mm
Make sure you get the rounded head as opposed to conical.

ClkE20

Thanks man. I went out and removed one and measured it. The Shank was 21mm. I think the clk 320s bolts are shorter than the 430s. I think we both have the 320 correct? I am putting on some oem 18inch chrome amg monos so I just found out that I need the 40mm shank arrggghhh. I was all ready to put my rims on today! To top it off the arsehole that owned the car before me used the spare tire lugs on one of the wheels (I finally found them lol I posted about getting a flat and not being able to find them lol and to top it off they are stripped!!! Beautiful!!!). So now I have to order some new lugs and locks and maybe a hub. Yay!!!!

ClkE20

If I ordered 39mm shank length would that matter ? They are cheaper than the 40mm shank.

maverick5.0

look here, thats the shape TK is talking about, ball seat.

maverick5.0

try a metric tap to clean out the treads so ever gently or drill and tap the flange again and leave the striped bolt holes alone. use the spare tire rim bolt circle as a template or farm out the job !! hubs are not cheap !! hope this helps some. good luck !!

ClkE20

Thanks Maverick and again Thrill I ordered a metric tap last night. This afternoon I went out and removed all the bolts creating new cursewords in the process. I can skip a workout this week. The screeching (from the bolts) were so loud that my neighbors came outside lol One of them was in there just spinning and I had to used the power of greyskull to get the damn thing to catch a thread. After that I took the most decent bolt (the ones from the other wheels would not go in and I didnt want to chance stripping them) WD40d it and wrenched it into each hole slowly. I repeated the process by coating the bolt with some blue grease (stuff is great it lubricates but doesnt stick aroung like regular grease) I then took an extra lug from my beemer (same 12x1.5 size) and screwed it in. The hub chewed the fresh beemer lug bolt to look like the other stripped ones. The holes still hold they just make custom bolts now lol. Now I have 2 super stripped bolts halfway in and three holding the wheel on. The car is sitting of course until I get the tap and the bolts in the mail. The hub threads seem to be stonger than the lug bolt threads contrary to popular belief.

Question... Since the bolts hold (I guess thats a good sighn) do you think I have a chance with the tap? :.) I just wanna get my rims on LOL Thank God that thats the only thing wrong on the car. Things could be worse.

maverick5.0

you can still tap out the bolt holes, just need to get a stonger die tap. like you said the hard part is getting it started and that the tap is 90 degrees on the flange. once you get the tap started you must go back and forth and easy does it , dont want to break the tap in there. once the job is done torque the wheels to 70ft pds with a torque wrench then check again after a few days to see how thier holding out. good luck

ClkE20

This is what I ordered for anyone with a similar problem its from home depot I hope (pray) it works when it gets here...

Vermont American
12MM-1.50 Metric Tap

Right hand thread, Hard chrome finish. Marked with drill size to use, Plug style. Carded.

• Right hand thread
• Hard chrome finish
• Marked with drill size to use
• Plug style
• Carded

ClkE20

If I break the tap off in there I will pay the neighborhood children to form a line and kick me in the nuts before I make my way to the dealer. Any tips on how to avoid such an event. This is my first time but common sense tells me not to use a powerdrill (am I wrong?). I dont want to break my fingers using a tap wrench considering the force required. So any tips tricks that you or anyone else knows of.

ClkE20

Here are the bolts I ordered. Nice pretty chrome ones to compliment my pretty chrome monoblock IIs http://cgi.ebay.com/MERCEDES-Bolt-Lu...QQcmdZViewItem

acb3nz

Whats the difference TK?

I'm using conicals on my rear wheels only sinse i have 5mm spacers.

maverick5.0

hey cool lug bolts !! you can use a 3/8 drive rachet and a socket on the tap and go slow back and forth as the tap cuts metal back out a little then cut some more. this way you dont create to much force on the tap. dont power drive the tap,because I've seen them snap !! just put the hole your goig to tap at the 12 o'clock position and apply e-brake. worst case, you can remove the hub assembly and take it to a machine shop and redrill new holes on the flange. good luck

raymond g-

if your rims are designed for ball seat and you use conical seated bolts, the
load bearing surface of the bolt is compromised

acb3nz

Raymond thanks for the info. I will go over the place i got them tonight and will disscuss this with them cause they told me those conical were the right bolts.

ThrillKill

I just spit coffee all over the monitor,lol.

Hmmmm, I dunno. It's just that my oem wheel lugs were ball seat, my aftermarket wheel lugs were ball seat and when I ordered new ones the guy made a big deal about whether they were conical or ball seat lugs. I've got a 10mm spacer but I just bought longer(1.50) ball seat lugs for the back.

raymond g-

tnx, Thrillkill....yes, the fact that one is having to utilize spacers has absolutely
nothing to do (design wise) with the need to use conical seated, lug bolts.
simply put, if your rims have conical seated bolt holes, you use conical seated
bolts. if the rim uses bolt holes of ball seated design, you use bolts with ball
seat.

ClkE20

Thank God and all those who helped me with this problem. The 12x 1.50 tap came in the mail today the same time as my bolts (great timing). I was very nervous that the tap wasnt going to work as planned but it did and it was easier than I expected. I even ran the tap through some of the other hub threads to clean them up. Rust came out of some and others were just smoothed out. The tap looked pretty sturdy. I could have probably gotten away with using it dry, but researching the procedure I read that it makes the job run a lot more smoothly with a lubricant. So I used some wd-40 and dove into the job. I used a 11/32 socket and a wrench. Though some of the turns were hard none required any grunting. I saved a couple of hundred dollars today with a $7 tool Thanks for the suggestion Maverick! I will mail you a six pack. Thanks to all others who helped as well.

maverick5.0

cool !! post a pic for us to see the pimpsled !!

ClkE20

LOL asap.