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Not really posted on here before, but looked at many a post about our CLK55s.
I had a desire for 19s and a whole raft of performance mods to follow, but a problem at the first step, wheels and tyres.
A fitting session at a wheel specialists was organised, me taking with me a Mercedes front/rear dedicated 12mm spacer set 'just in case'. They did as promised, tried wheel style and brand with no sales pressure and no moans.
As my car has the "AMG Performance Pack" in common with CLK63 I had anticipated limited choice in my price range.
The car had both front an rear wheels removed and hung there in anticipation of new glamourous wheels.
Originally I had in mind 9" fronts and 10" rears (Quantum 44 S5D. These proved marginal on arch clearance and only 1mm clearance to strut.
We tried wheel after wheel on the front.
Hits the calipers... hits the strut... too far out set to wheel arch...and combinations of all three.
Finally an et 42 19x8.5 fitted, with my 12mm spacer to give Et30. Plenty brake clearance and to strut also.
A fit! We tried the rear, a fit and again used the 12mm spacer on a 19x9.5 et40 to get Et 28 which cleared everything.
Wheels were purchased and off I went home with tyre purchase on my mind, I didn't have room in the car for tyre shod wheels.
Stage two: Tyres fitted on my drive way.
Wanting grip I bought and had fitted 19x 235/35 and 265/30 Michelin Super Sport
So, I'm basically on Et30 front ET28 rear. I had in mind this as 'the safe route', nothing outlandish here.
Rear is fine, front tyres hit the inner arch liners on lock, at the front and back.
Car is taken to my local Mercedes specialist who are shown the problem.
Call back from them later - "Even with the inner arches removed, the tyres hit the back of the actual inner arch"
Their view is 'wrong size tyre' or 'wrong offset wheels' or both, saying 225/35 or even 235 or 245/30 would be better.
They 'will think about a solution', but wheels look like they are coming off!
Super not happy and more than a little confused. How can the well trodden 19x 235/35 + 265/30 route go so wrong and leave me in confusion.
Any help appreciated guys. I'm in the south west UK.
Your issue is strange.
On my CLK 63 I have the same tires PSS 235/35/19 and 265/30/19.
My wheels are OEM SL65 19x8.5 ET30 and 19x9.5 ET31
8.5 ET 30 is exactly the same clearance than 7.5 ET 34 or 8 ET37 form the OEM CLK 55 or 63 front wheels. so with the oem tire width (225) you should not have issue anymore (225/35/19). The other solution is to "rub the interior of the front wing"
Your issue is strange.
On my CLK 63 I have the same tires PSS 235/35/19 and 265/30/19.
My wheels are OEM SL65 19x8.5 ET30 and 19x9.5 ET31
8.5 ET 30 is exactly the same clearance than 7.5 ET 34 or 8 ET37 form the OEM CLK 55 or 63 front wheels. so with the oem tire width (225) you should not have issue anymore (225/35/19). The other solution is to "rub the interior of the front wing"
Thanks for reply and that info. Yes it is strange, to me infuriating.
I don't mind (apart from cost) going down a size tyre, as long as it really fixes the problem. Fact is it shouldn't be happening, IMO.
Apart from 225/35 there are also 235/30 available.
If the 19x8.5 are marked up or made incorrect ET say ET35 and we've now made them a ET 23 with the 12mm spacer I would understand the problem
as wheels pushed out too wide would have more reason not to work. I guess we need to physically check.
Ever done something you wish you hadn't? Fronts don't look too far out to me? See below.
When the postman hands you your mail and says "Nice wheels on the Merc!" out of the blue it seems worthwhile, you made a noticeable improvement, <br>
but not when it make the car unusable, not fit for purpose.
Any one else want to throw in their experience? Anyone?
Unique colour. As for wheels, I dono jack bout off sets and profile. But hey if you can, check this forum and google search. A member here had the 19" wheels off the E63 and used spacers and what not to get it right.
Unique colour. As for wheels, I dono jack bout off sets and profile. But hey if you can, check this forum and google search. A member here had the 19" wheels off the E63 and used spacers and what not to get it right.
We are fitting 225/35 x19 MPSS on the front this week, after advice from Tex5 and the wheel supplier BM Autosport's owner Mark. A real 'can do' guy, highly recommended company (he didn't spec or supply the tyres) MPSS 235/35 with only about 15 miles on up for grabs soon !
We are fitting 225/35 x19 MPSS on the front this week, after advice from Tex5 and the wheel supplier BM Autosport's owner Mark. A real 'can do' guy, highly recommended company (he didn't spec or supply the tyres) MPSS 235/35 with only about 15 miles on up for grabs soon !
225/35 Michelins fixed the problem, just, also better very close diameter match to the 265/30 rears. Who wants a higher rolling dia on their front tyres that the 235/35 gave!
Also going 235/30 would gave a too small dia, so the front wheels are turning 2.6% (rotating) at a higher speed compared to the rears, which I've seen on some cars,
not sure about Mercedes, cause brake problems. It's outside recommended tolerances.
For me, finding out an imbalance happens at high speed braking is not worth the vanity of 10mm wider fronts!
Tire 1: (225/35 R19)
Sidewall: 79 mm
Overall Diameter: 640 mm
So your 9" wheel didn't clear your front suspension? What was the offset of that front wheel and what tire size did you have? I'm looking to do 9" front with ET27 and 235/35/18 tires and would like your input on how the 9" didn't work.
So your 9" wheel didn't clear your front suspension? What was the offset of that front wheel and what tire size did you have? I'm looking to do 9" front with ET27 and 235/35/18 tires and would like your input on how the 9" didn't work.
My current 19x8.5 @ ET30 are just fine. The 225/35 tyres are a nats richard off the inner arch liners on full lock.
IMHO et 27 on a 18x9 will give you too much poke, especially on lock.
We tried a Quantum44 S5D 19x9 Et45 with a 12mm spacer, et33 result, they make an et35 but they would have 100% fouled the strut. The S5D cleared my 6 pot calipers fine. This et33 gave just a 1mm clearance to the strut on it's inner edge and looked almost flush with wheel arch lip.
The wheel shops opinion was, it does clear but closer than they would truly safely like. (The inner arch problem had yet to manifest itself anyway and with the 9 would have taken a drastic amount of inner arch effort to make work.)
Tyres we were considering were 245/30 still a very slight stretch though..
NB: Falken are a rounder walled tyre than the Michelin PSS , and I've been very happy with them on several cars needing clearance 'help'. This time, best grip was very much top.
I was oh-so-close to buying these with the matching 19x10 rears, but with a hard performance look not for ***** footing about on even a tad over stretched tyres.
(I should confess I ran a wheel supply business for 4 years catering for the Uk/Euro VW scene predominantly extreme widths an offsets and mostly German brands and sick to death of stretched tyres.
What you need is a wheel shop who will let you try out various wheels offsets with/without spacers and offsets, that's where I valued the guys at the actually BMW specialist wheel place I went. Top notch.
Lots of stock and lots patience to try every wish!
225/35 Michelins fixed the problem, just, also better very close diameter match to the 265/30 rears. Who wants a higher rolling dia on their front tyres that the 235/35 gave!
Also going 235/30 would gave a too small dia, so the front wheels are turning 2.6% (rotating) at a higher speed compared to the rears, which I've seen on some cars,
not sure about Mercedes, cause brake problems. It's outside recommended tolerances.
For me, finding out an imbalance happens at high speed braking is not worth the vanity of 10mm wider fronts!
Tire 1: (225/35 R19)
Sidewall: 79 mm
Overall Diameter: 640 mm
02-19-2016, 03:05 PM
Staggered 19" tyre problem CLK55 - help!
