LNL

I’ve been looking into purchasing 18’s with high performance rubber for summer driving and mounting snow tires on the stock 16’s for winter driving. One of the forum members advised that if I change the wheels and tires on an E-Class from 16’s or 17’s to 18’s (or to any other size wheel/tire combination other than stock), suspension setting changes are required. In support of this, the following Mercedes procedure was noted in documents were sent to me (they are in PDF format, so I cannot upload them here; lkchris posted links to them in a message below this one).

“AZ40.10-P-0003T
Retrofit AMG light-alloy wheels 24.10.02
MODEL 211

***
Replace standard front stop buffer

Only on vehicles without MB sports
suspension (code 486) or Airmatic (semi-active
air suspension) (code 489):

Disassemble, assemble suspension strut
Models 211.004 /006 /016 /023 /026 /042 /061
/065 /080 /082 /206 /216 /223 /226 /242 /261
/265 /280 /282 /606 /616

AR32.25-P-1018TS”

I have never heard that changing or rebuilding any part of the suspension is required with a wheel and tire upgrade, nor have I seen any posts from anyone regarding suspension changes when the wheels and tires were upgraded to plus 1, 2, etc. sizes.

I am no mechanic, and have a tough time understanding what (if any) work is needed with a wheel/tire change. I’d appreciate comments about this from anyone who understands it!

Lou

W211 Ryda

As long as the new wheels and tires meet the required specs for our cars, then suspension work is NOT required. Jeeze, what people would say to make money off people.


Now if you want to upgrade to these kind of rims, then yes suspension work is required.

rodE350

thats a good one W211 Ryda. Yep, I agree, as long as it meets the required specs then no suspension work is needed.

LNL

The material is from Mercedes. It discussed the procedure to fit 18" AMG wheels on E-Class cars.

lkchris posted links to the documents in the next post.

Nice car, by the way. Love the color!

Lou

lkchris

Of course it is.

These aren't Camaros. They're Mercedes, i.e engineered.

See these files for just one example

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/atta...f?d=1156722083
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/atta...f?d=1156722083

Of course, most folks care more about appearance than engineering, but that doesn't "wish" the requirement away.

Oh, and it's not an "upgrade" if it isn't done correctly.

Alan Smithee

I'm not mechanic either, Lou...but it appears to me that all they're suggesting is replacing the front 'stop buffers', which I believe are commonly known as a spring pads. They're on top of the strut, so the front strut assemblies need to be 'disassembled and assembled'. Not a big deal at all.

LNL

If I run 16's in the winter and 18's in the summer, having to do this work 2 times per year as I change my wheels out could be a real pain.

Did you have this done when you changed your 16's to the sport package 18's?

Lou

Alan Smithee

Reading this thread a few minutes ago was the first I've heard of changing the spring pads (assuming that's what they are) for 18s, so I haven't looked into actually doing it. I did switch out the spring pads in my C43 AMG some years ago, as there were thinner versions available for other models...it was an easy and inexpensive way to slightly lower the car to improve looks and handling. Took an independent shop about 15 minutes for each corner. I didn't own the car long enough to determine any long term effects, but it was a common modification back in the day, and the parts department didn't object when I let them know of my plan.

This isn't something you'd need to do more than once; if MB is calling for heavier duty spring pads for use with 18s, they should be fine with 16s.

Again, I'm no mechanic...when my car goes in for its first service in the next week or so, I'll ask the service advisor his opinion.

MPE430

In the last week, I went from the stock setup to 18" AMG's with performance summer tires. I also will be using my 17" for winter tires. There was no additional work at the dealership required. Wheels were same bolt pattern/offset and no suspension work was needed to go to the 18" setup.