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TSW Rivage 18" wheels, 235's in front, 265's in rear...but rubbing...what size spacer

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Old Sep 3, 2017 | 04:30 PM
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From: Bel Air, MD
2007 CLK-550 Cabriolet (Diamond Silver)
TSW Rivage 18" wheels, 235's in front, 265's in rear...but rubbing...what size spacer

07 Clk550...just mounted TSW Rivage wheels, 8" front / 9.5" rear...tires are 235/40/18s on front, 265's on rear.

From a stop, I can steer the wheels all the way left to right without and rubbing or contact, but it appears that the tires are make contact with the coil seats when I roll forward.

Stock tires are 225 in front, so 235 should on be 10mm wider overall, but depends on the offset from inside tire to where the hub meets the wheel obviously.

I'm thinking a spacer might provide clearance, but I'm not sure if that's correct or how much spacer I might need.

Looks really great, so I'd love to install spacers if it will solve the problem. Appreciate any advice on the spacer that might make this work.

https://www.wheelfire.com/scontent/w...742&checkfit=1

Last edited by Mcgruder; Sep 3, 2017 at 04:46 PM.
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Old Sep 3, 2017 | 04:43 PM
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From: Bel Air, MD
2007 CLK-550 Cabriolet (Diamond Silver)
Here's a link to photos.

https://flickr.com/photos/65406213@N...57686065227074
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Old Sep 6, 2017 | 01:12 AM
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From: Bel Air, MD
2007 CLK-550 Cabriolet (Diamond Silver)
Turns out the lug bolts that shipped with the wheels, although shorter tha. Stock, are still too long. So they are making contact with parking brake hardware. I'm using 3 mm spacers to clear for now, will get the shorter bolts.
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Old Sep 6, 2017 | 03:01 AM
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2008 CLK550 Cab
I was just going to say that rubbing on the spring seats only sometimes makes no sense because that is a fixed relationship. It would either rub all the time or never. Glad you figured it out.
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Old Sep 9, 2017 | 09:28 AM
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From: Bel Air, MD
2007 CLK-550 Cabriolet (Diamond Silver)
Originally Posted by Yidney
I was just going to say that rubbing on the spring seats only sometimes makes no sense because that is a fixed relationship. It would either rub all the time or never. Glad you figured it out.
It was more of a click-click-click interval type of sound, which I described poorly because I assumed it had to be tire rubbing on coil seats where there are very tight clearances. The tires don't rub at all.

The other thing I encountered is a little bit of shimmy most pronounced when I reach 60-65 MPH. Thought that wheelfire.com might have done poor job of balancing, so I had tires balanced, but it still shimmies.

Hope none of the tires are out of round. Can using 3mm spacers in the rear only be the cause?? When I get new lug nuts, I can remove the spacers and find out for sure I guess, but just wondering if only using spacers in the front, or just in the back can cause a little shimmy vibration. Hate to go through all of this and figure out I got a defective tire on an internet purchase.
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Old Sep 9, 2017 | 11:15 AM
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I don't see any reason why spacers on just the front or rear would cause a shimmy. The issue with shimmies and spacers is using spacers that are so thin that they are not hub centric - usually less than 10mm. With thinner pacers, you have lifted the wheel center bore off the place it fits on the hub, so there is nothing to hold the wheel dead center on the hub. Then only the bolts are holding it, but holding the wheel dead center is not the bolts' job. Once you hit 10mm, the spacers are thick enough to have a new machined ridge in them to hold the center bore. I do not know how much of this applies to you, but these issues are why I would not mess with wheels that require spacers.
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