ShanMan

The car I bought came with 17" x 8" wheels and 235-45 R17 tires. They fill the wheel wells nicely, but the fronts definitely rub on anything more than a moderate bump or dip. Usually the rub is only against the plastic portion of the lower fender, but a few times it has sounded like it has touched the metal upper portion of the fender.

I see no cuts or signs that the rub is causing an problem with either the tire or the fender, but the noise is haneous! Can this be cured by having the fenders rolled, or do I simply need to get myself some wheels that are .50" narrower?

I have considered going to a stiffer spring, but I know that sooner or later I would hit a bump that would use enough travel that the tire would still rub. Eventually I wouldn't mind going the same route that some of you have gone, which is to say with stiffer sway bars and stiffer coil springs. But until then, I am hoping there might be a less involved way to reduce/eliminate the rubbing.

TIA.

shadowgriffen

you need to bring that sidewall down a bit, that will avoid (well kinda) rubbing against the inner fender walls.

I have 225/55/16 (pretty hefty) and I only rubb on HUGE dips in the roads but only the inner fender cladding. Correct offset and tires will help, but overall people advice going with either fender spacers or fender rolling.

it takes some work to get wheels to fit the way you want them too, there are many pro's here that will surely chime in...

Holson

I think as long as the offset isn't too aggressive (ET25 for example), try 215/45/17s all around. They're kind of skinny but nice for acceleration!

That was the size that I had on a set of 17x7.5 ET37 wheels... no rubbing whatsoever.

CDP

Keep the sidewall the way it is and run 225/45-17's instead of the 235.

I run 17 x 8" ET28 easily with no rubbing at all.

Roll your fenders just to be safe since you plan on lowered it a tad in the future. Might as well do it now.

ZorroAMG

If you don't want to roll the fenders ( Chris' recommendation to do so is a good one, but not everyone wants to bother, me included lol) you can run 215 45 17 on a DUMPED W124 (mine is) and have NO rubbing issues at all.

Otherwise, yeah, roll and 225's = good to go.

ShanMan

I could not imagine running a thinner tire on these wheels than the 235's that are on there now. The tires are already a good .25"-.50" too narrow as is for my liking. I don't care for the look whereby the rim bead is the widest part of the wheel/tire assembly. I am thinking that a 225-40 on 7.5" wide tire is probably the look I like the best (at least on the front) so that the tire is as wide as the wheel. If I could stuff a slightly wider setup under the fenders in the rear I would. I have always been a fan of the assymetric footprint of a Porsche or even a later model BMW M3.

Thanks for the input guys...as always, I owe you for the schoolin'!

CDP

Umm ... 225 on a 8" width wheel is perfect. So I really don't think how they are too thin. They only time I will run 40 series sidewall is on a 18" wheel. Run those on a 17" wheel and you'll throw off your speedometer reading.

Lorinser880

235 for the front is too much, 40 series on 17's too low. Rolling the fenders would help if the tire's not sticking out that much, otherwise, your best bet is to go with 225/45/17. I agree with cris 40 series works best for the 18's.

MB Streetballer

Hey, I have 225x40x18 with 30 offset. But my car is not lowered, just stock. with my new shocks, don't get any rubbing unless I am doing 80+ and hit a bump, then I get a little rub, nothing to cry about.

See my ride: Streetballer

ShanMan

OK then, I guess the hot ticket is a 225/45-R17 with an offset somewhere around 28-30mm? I have absolutely no idea what the offset of these wheels are, but the stance of my car looks very much like the Streetballer's shown above, so it probably is pretty close. My spare has a matching wheel, so I guess I can go measure that one to figure out the offset.

Chris, I believe you when you say that the 225 width is perfect for an 8" rim....I just really don't like the rollerskate stance when the tire tread is narrower that the rim width. These 235's are just about equal(ish) now, so I guess I was figuring that anything else would go in the wrong direction for me, but I guess 10mm just isn't a noticeable difference. If the 225's won't rub...well then that IS a noticeable difference.

These tires will likely need replacement in about 10,000 miles, so I guess I will be able to do a little experimenting then.

Once again, thanks guys!

CDP

28MM Offset on the E420 is really aggressive because of the bigger brakes on the car. The wheels stick out noticably more than on my old 300E. I would go anywhere with 32-35ET to be on the safe side, but if you were like my agressive is the way to go.