Hi,

I'm new here and just bought myself a 1991 300E and it desperately needs rims! I have a few styles in mind but I'm not sure what the max size is you can fit. Basically I don't plan on lowering it and was wondering what the best size would be where I wouldn't have to mod the arches and it wouldn't scrub on bumps? Also wouldn't want a huge gap in the tire well's.....

Any help or suggestions would really be appreciated...

Thanks

 

regarding wheels for my new 91 300e. many have weighed in and the majority seem to favor 18" wheels and tires. I dont because ride quality is more important to me than overall looks. What are your needs? good luck, tg

 

If you don't plan on lowering. I believe 18 x 8 or 18 x 8.5 will fit perfectly on your car. You'll have no rubbing issues since you're not lowering your car.

What current style of wheels are you looking into?

 

so if you lower your car after putting 18" on will you have rubbing problems after that?

 

It depends if you are running 18x8 rims or 18x8.5 rims. Offfset is also an issue, I ran 18x8 with a 38 offset. Let us know, and we'll point you in the right direction.

 

X03, just like what Mike said. It all really depends. Offset is the key here. Also, how low your car is after the lowering. I might have a problem, since my drop was 2" and maybe a hair more, but that's nothing that spring pads and a correct wheel size can't fit.

 

Yep, I run 18X8 ET35 with 215 40 18's and have no rubbing issues or fenders rolled. My car is SLAMMED and the lowest a W124 can be.

Good luck!

 

Yeah Zorro, your car is sick. lol

Any new pictures?

 

yo zorro, why u run 215's ant not 225's? dont fit with 225? what is that number actually measuring? thanks

 

Be careful about the advice you receive about wheel and tire fitment. It seems that many have slightly different experiences, even though our cars are supposed to be very similar from year to year.

The “safest” wider wheel and tire combo is 17” x 7.5” ET35 with 215/45/17 tires. With a higher offset, like ET42, you should be able to run 225/45/17 tires without rubbing issues. You can also run slightly wider in the rear than in the front.

You will hear all kinds of claims about running bigger wheels and tires, but you can’t be sure it will work on your car without rubbing. It might work, but it might not. I really don’t understand the idea behind getting even bigger wheels, if you can’t fit a wider tire or you end up with almost no sidewall. You are not likely to get away with using tires much wider than 215 or 225, so why work so hard to get even bigger rims? Is it just all show and no go? To me, it isn’t much of a show, if doesn’t have any go!

“Hey look at my car. I can’t drive it, but I think it looks cool.” To me, that isn’t even a little cool.

Now this is COOL! It GOES!

 

Very well said King. I agree for the most part. If you're not going to lower you can run up to 20's. But the safest bet would be 18x8's eta35-38as long as they're on 225/40's anything taller they will hit and rub.

~Cali

 

On another post there were comments that you can be a little quick with your words and opinions. I agreed that it is true that you can be harsh, but I also wrote that I think you must be a lovable teddy bear at home. This time, you are being a teddy bear.

 

Thank you all very much for your replies! I think I will go with 17's as Ksing44 said because today I went by my local tire garage and a somebody that I know pretty well gave me the same exact advice. Now comes the fun part of deciding a rim, unfortunately we don't have alot of selection over here but I definately want to go with a monoblock or 2 piece rim I think.

On another note I just picked up my my 300E today and am completely stoked! Its the first Merc I've owned and I was really lucky to find such a jewel at such a good price! It only has 36,000miles on the clock and had only one previous owner who used it only on Sundays! I'll take some pic's this weekend and post them

 

WOW, only 36,000 miles! You are a lucky guy. Age also plays a role in degrading these awesome machines, but I think it is great that you were so lucky to find such a low mileage car. It sounds like the car may have been driven regularly, even though the mileage is low. I think that is a good combination. I car that just sat somewhere, might not be as desirable as a car that was driven regularly.

 

Ksing,

While we all appreciate your advice and info in this forum, I am posting my info based on having 2 W124's, both lowered the same amount and my current car has been mine since Oct 2003. It came with 17x7.5 ET35 AMG MonoII's and I run them with 215 winter tires with ABSOLUTELY, read ABSOLUTELY NO rubbing issues.

The exact same goes for my 18x8 Et 35 Carlssons. NO RUBBING, NO ISSUES on a lowered car. About the Show and Go comments, my car shows and goes, but W124's other than the E500 are not autocross or drag machines. My car WILL hang with your E320 everyday all day.

In recap, 2 cars, both lowered, daily driven, no issues. I'd say it's safe to assume they work and are perfectly driveable, no?

I just didnt appreciate your condescending tone as if your knowledge trumped everyone elses. I speak from experience, always.

Thanks for listening.



Mercules,
Good luck with the wheel choice, as I mentioned above 17x7.5 Et 35 AMG Mono II's will run fine and look great!

 

Yea I think those would look awesome too, gonna go check prices tommorow and hopefully they got them in stock!!! Hopefully I can get some nice 17's on it by the weekend and take some pics

 

I apologize, if I came off as condescending or a know it all. I am the first to admit that I am far from the most knowledgeable person on these forums. In fact, I am not even a DIY mechanic. I have to rely on others for their knowledge and technical skills. I am a perfectionist, however, so I will usually find a way to get it “right”, once I start down a path. As a result, I cannot live half-baked solutions and it can cost me quite a bit of $$$ when I have to fix a mistake.

For example, I kept reading that it was good to install 1-bump spring pads at all four wheels, if I lowered my car with the Eibach springs. Well, my car looked like I was carrying a dead body in my trunk, with the 1-bump pads. That cost me quite a bit to get switched. Another issue was the rear camber. I have read many times, that “I have no camber issues and my car is slammed”. Well, my car is only about 1-inch lower and my camber was almost negative 3 in the rear. I chose to have the K-MAC eccentric bushings installed. Of course I could have just ignored the fact that I had too much negative camber and gone around saying that I have absolutely no problems.

In regard to wheel fitment, some guys say “just role the fenders, if they rub”. I am telling you, the last thing I am going to do, is to crimp the inside lip of my fenders. I think the combination of damaging the paint and changing the way dirt and debris collect inside the fenders, would be a recipe for disaster, if someone were trying to avoid rust. I am definitely trying to avoid rust, because I am hoping to keep my car for a very long time. I already owned my 1995 E320 for 8 years and I hoping to keep it for at least another 10 years and maybe much longer.

I was just trying to point out that a “newbie”, or anyone for that matter, has to be careful about making decisions based on information he or she gains from members of the forums. The information may be just plain wrong, the information may just be exaggerated, or the information may be slightly different because the reference vehicle is slightly different.

The bottom line is that 17” x 7.7” ET35 – ET42 with 215/45/17 tires is the “safe” choice for a wheel and tire “upgrade” for the W124. With the higher offset, it might be “safe” to try the 225s. Note that most comments on the forums say “ET35 is perfect”, even though a slightly higher offset might allow for fitting the widest tire. I also like my 16” x 7.5” ET37 AMG wheels with the 205/55/16 tires. ET37 gives the car a wider stance, which I like. For me, the only problem with my 16-inch wheels is that the 215/55/16 size is a little too tall and the 225/50/16 is a little too wide to fit without rubbing. With the 17-inch wheels, there is an appropriate 215/45/17 tire size and, as I said above, it might even be OK to fit the 225/45/17 with wheels that have a higher offset.

Once again, I apologize if I sound like a know it all. I admit that I have very limited experience. Based on the all the things you have done to your car, I think it is safe to say that you must be more knowledgeable about the W124.

I am sure that your car goes too.
Isn't it great to own a W124?

 

hey i have Brabus Monoblock 3 18" for sale...its the 3 piece set and comes with tire with more than 95% thread..asking price is $2800 with shipping(from Singapore) if you guys interested let me know

 

King,

I'm only that way with morons..I give respect where respect is due. Out of curiousity did you have camber issues before lowering with Eibachs? The reason I ask is you know my stance on Eibachs, I truly believe they're to weak and soft and contributing to your camber probs. It's to much of a coincidence that most members with the Eibach combo set-up have these probs. If you had no prior problems before switching to Eibachs, then I believe there's your culprit.
As for the fender rolling, if done right you won't have the rusting issues. You're supposed to heat the paint a lil before attempting this so the paint doesn't chip and/grind smooth the rolled inner fender then touch-up with underbody spray so it doesn't rust.

~Cali

 

I know you don’t like the Eibachs and your reasoning does make some sense, but I think any lowering springs must increase the negative camber. When I increased the spring pads, the camber became less negative and then the K-MAC bushings allowed the camber to be adjusted to within specifications. My understanding is that lowering causes camber issues, if you use Eibachs, cut the OEM springs, or if you use H&Rs or Votlands. In addition, my understanding is that the lower you go the more the camber is affected, so a lower drop should result in more negative camber. If camber issues were cause by soft springs, then there should be more camber issues with the OEM springs. I think there is no question that the Eibachs are stiffer than OEM, although they may not be as stiff as some of the other lowering springs.

As for the fender rolling, I imagine that it can be done well, but I don’t think I would be able to find anyone that can do it right. Just playing with the springs and shocks has been enough of a struggle to keep me from being tempted to try much more in the way of modification. I am still planning to get the biggest OEM swaybars, but I am going to the dealer so I am going to have to pay top dollar to be sure it goes OK. The front might be easy, but the rear requires a little finesse, so I am staying at the dealer. They are willing to complete the upgrade, since I will be using bigger OEM parts from Germany. Some day, I might also try the AMG fender spacers, just to see if I can squeeze in some slightly wider tires. Before I try that, however, I am going to do a lot of measuring with calipers to be sure I won’t have to roll the fenders.

I hope nobody ever accuses me of being a moron, since I really don’t know too much about fixing cars. I mostly just drive the thing, but I sure do love it.

 

Bro just go with 17X7.5 AMG's, what I did with my 300e, looks great no problems.

 

I finally got around to going and checking out rims and I'm definately going with AMG's 17x17.5 and I'venarrowed it down to monoblocks or the 230s style which has lots of spokes, they both look sweet and I'm trying to decide on which I like best lol

 

Keep in mind multi spokes are a pain to clean. They look sweet but gets aggravating to clean.

~Cali

 

Yea thats true man, I hated keeping multispokes clean on other cars I had and the amount of brake dust use to drive me nuts, monoblocks it is then

 

I recently bought 17x7.5 ET35 for my car.will 225/45/17 fit or not?(pictures of current wheels shown in attachments)
information is welcomed.
thanks