MB500

I just bought a set of very nice 18 inch AMG wheels and tires that came off 2005 E55. The are four Michelin Pilot Sport tires mounted on the wheels. The front is 265/35/18 and rear is 285/30/18. I paid $450 for the entire set which I thought was a real steal.

Now the real questions:

1. I realize that the tires are a bit bigger that the original AMG set up. I believe that original tire size on E55 was 245/40/18 for the front and 265/35/18 for the rear. I guess that someone 'upgraded' to more wider tires. Since I have E500 I am wondering if I could mount these tires on my car without causing any damage to the car's body. Could anyone let me know if it's possible to run such wide tires on e500?

2. The front tire thread is gone completely so they need to be replaced. Would you recommend replacing them with 265/35/18 or should I go down in size and buy 'original' 245/40/18?

Thank you for your input.

Benz-O-Rama

The wider tires should fit without drama. But, ask yourself why do you need to have such wide tires on this car? The E55 guys do it to gain a wider patch in the rear resulting in more traction. And they'll go wider on the front if they partake in canyon carving/road racing activities. Let's be honest here, our cars don't really have the problem of needing more traction. Since you need to replace the fronts anyway, I would recommend going back to the 245's up front. Then replace the rears with the proper 265's when the time comes. MB put those sizes on there for a reason.

That said, I run 275's on the rear of my 19" wheels. But that's because I have a 9.5" wheel. On my E63 AMG P030 wheels, I run the OEM tire widths. Car drives much better on the AMG wheels, to be honest. But I'm very vain and the car looks so damn sexy on the 19's, so I deal with it.

MB500

Thank you for your feedback. I was thinking about doing what you suggested in your message and just go back to the original size.