California

I have these on order. Do you guys think they will fit my CLK 350? SOrry that I'm not that smart about wheels, I did read through the sticky and still don't understand a lot of lingo.

I have the OEM staggered CLK 17" rims from the first CLK builds, had them on my C230k Coupe and swapped them out for the w203 Coupe OEM 16" non staggered (what a difference in handling that was.)

Swapped out the AMG wheels that came on my CLK with my coupe 17" rims, they run great on the CLK now but wanted to try the 18" and wanted to buy new:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MERCEDES-BEN...sories&vxp=mtr

M-bENZ

What's ur stock offset ? Have AMG calipers ? U might have a problem on the front

Yidney

You probably don't have big calipers, so that should not be a problem. As the other poster said, your problem may be the front offset ("ET") of 36. Do you know what you have now? If you have genuine MB wheels, then it should be stamped inside just like these. If you don't understand all the lingo, I assume offset is one term you may not totally understand. Offset isn't too hard to understand if you picture it. It's a measurement in millimeters between two things. The problem is that one of the things is real and you can touch it, and the other thing is not a physical thing you can see or touch. If you imagine a wheel with no tire on it mounted on a balancing machine like at a tire store. Now spin the wheel and with a marker make a line all the way around exactly centered between the two lips of the wheel. Now imagine a plane or flat disc passing through that line. Offset is the measurment between that imaginary plane and that flat surface inside your wheel where it mounts against your hub. So the higher the offset, the greater that distance. The greater that distance, the farther in the wheel sits in relation to your car. So if you currently have say ET30, and these new wheels are ET36, your rim and tire will be 6mm closer to your strut towers and other parts. That may not seem like much, but stick your finger in there now and see how much space there is.
Now, if you get wider rims the issue is compounded, and the math gets more complicated. If you go from 7.5" wide rims to 8.5" rims, your rim and tire will get closer to your suspension by half that difference PLUS any differece in offset. It's only half the width difference because half the increase in width is on each side of the wheel centerline. So if you get wider rims, you need less offset to move the wheel out usually.

And I shuold add that the susepnsion isn't the only rubbing issue. The closer set up may rub in the wheel well as you turn fully. Getting bigger diameter wheels can also complicate things because everything in your wheel wells gets closer as the wheels get bigger. But 18" should be fine.

California

Yidney, wow, thank you for such a detailed explanation. I'm almost understanding it now.

These are the rims I have now, I am pretty sure this is the only size Mercedes ever made at 17" and these ads say the front has a 36 offset and the rear has a 34 offset. Does that mean I'm okay at a 30 offset on the rear for the new wheels?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-C23...p2047675.l2557


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-C23...51192180150%26

Yidney

If those are your current wheels and those are your offiests, then you will be fine. Your front wheels will be the same, and the rears will stick out 4mm farther. Since they will stick out 4mm farther, rubbing won't be an issue, and 4mm is not enough to look funny.

Mka77

Just to confirm as an X owner of the same year, the 17" offset are 36et and 30et. No issues with what you are looking at.

California

Thank you Yidney Mka and M-benz.

Someone on MBWorld was saying how they really liked the ContiProContact tires, so that's what I think I'd like to get. Thanks to Yidney I'm finally starting to understand about wheels and tires and offsets.

If I get these 18" rims with the same size tires I have on my OEM 17" wheels, 245/40/17 rear-225/45/17 front -- will I have clearance?

In other words -- 245/40/18 on the back, and 225/45/18 on the front, or do I need to come down a little in the sidewall to 245/35/18 and 225/40/18 on the front tires? The car is not lowered. (Lowering is a cool guy thing, not a girlie thing for me)!

Also, what if I got thinner wheels in the front? Could I go 205 or 215? Would that affect handling at all?

Yidney

You'll probably be fine with the same size, but not sure. The width will be exactly the same and width is normally the biggest concern, at least when you are only going up one inch. The issue could be full turns on the front or hitting the susepnsion right above your tire. However, normally when you increase wheel diameter, you decrease your sidwall height. Both because it looks better and to keep your speedometer/odometer closer to accurate. There are calulators online that show you differences in diameter based on different wheel tire combos. I assume Tire Rack has one. You probably already know this, but just in case, the second number in a tire size is not a measurement in millimeters like the first number is. If you have a 245/40/18, the 245 is the width in millimeters, and the 40 is the sidewall height, but it's a ratio of the height to the width - it's 40% of 245. So if you go down to a 245/30/18, the width is still 245, but the sidewalls are not just 10 mm smaller, but 10% smaller. 10% of 245 is 24.5 MM, or about a full inch. In your case it would be about a half inch.

Mka77

You can always go back through the wheel and tire stickie and find good recommendations on 18" tire sizes.

M-bENZ

This is what i have now : 225/40/18 Front (18 x 8.5)
255/35/18 Rear (18 x 9.5)

California

Those look really great. My new rims are smaller though, only 18 x 7.5 and 18 x 8.5 on the rear.

Mka77

225/40/18 and 245/35/18 would work perfect then.

The OEM 17" are 7.5 and 8.5 with the same sizes I suggested. Only difference is the OEM tire sizes are 225/45/17 and 245/40/17.

kvitalik350

im sort of in the same boat except i found a deal and jumped on it before I did my research so hopefully someone can point me in the right direction, I bought some AMG wheels off of a cls63 and when i put them on my lug nuts didnt even tighten the wheel on it was loos so i took the lugs off of my spare becasue they are shorter and found that when i tightened the wheel on it was rubbin the shock in the front and in the rear it was rubbing the splash guard. I believe spacers will fix my problem but im not sure what size spacers and also will they hurt the ride of the car (will it still be smooth or will it vibrate?)

fdiegoa

Hello M-bENZ,
I hope you're still active in this forum. I saw your post about having a 2006 CLK350 with 225/40/18 Front (18 x 8.5) and 255/35/18 Rear (18 x 9.5) wheels. Is this accurate?

I bought a set of preowned AMG wheels and just paid attention to the bolt pattern and the diameter, without stopping to think about the width. However you have 8.5 and 9.5 wheels so if they fit your car without any modifications, these wheels should also fit my 2007 CLK350 right?

Thanks for the help.

Martin_F

...

fdiegoa

That's encouraging Martin_F! I believe the offset in the ones I purchsed is 30mm in the front wheels and 33 mm in the rear rims.

I believe the wheels I bought are the AMG V Turbine wheels with part numbers A2304011502 and A2304011602.

Do you think the offset will not be a problem?

Martin_F

I'm sorry, @fdiegoa I just realized my wheels are 7.5 and 8.5 inches wide.
That's why I deleted my initial post, but you must have read it before then...