I purchased a 2009 E-350 non-sport sedan that has 16 inch rims and the front calipers are hitting the rims when going over hard bumps. Are there smaller calipers I can swap out for more clearance? I have only found 1 brand of slimline calipers that are ridiculously expensive. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

I doubt very much that this is what is happening. The caliper and wheel have no ability to move relative to each other.

Have another look.

 

Thanks for replying MacVid. That makes sense, I will check again. Must be something with the suspension?

 

Have you added anything 3rd party or non-spec? Start there

 

No, everything else is stock. I bought the car with those rims already installed. There’s no clearance issues in the rear, but you can see where the calipers in front were rubbing on the rims because there is a slight groove which has already worn in.

 

Ok, again, are the 16” rims non-factory? It is 1000% not normal for a regular Benz wheel to rub on a caliper unless someone decided to “upgrade” the car with non-stock items.

They don’t leave the factory with wheels too small or brakes too big.

When rims are “upgraded” with fancy whatevers from JC Whitney, the first thing that gets screwed up is offset. Then some genius tries to “fix” the offset with some “spacers”, making an even worse mess.

What here is non-factory? That is where your problem is.

 

MacVid, I believe you are correct because I checked, and there are spacers which I had not noticed before. Do you think that could be making the noise?

 

If they are Benz rims, they will have a part number somewhere. If not, I would find whatever wheels were supposed to be on the car. Most Benz wheels also have an offset number. Many Benz rims have same bolt pattern but vastly different offset.

I can’t imagine that 16” were stock. Look on driver door area or glovebox or owners manual. Should list what size tires the car was shipped with.

 

The original rims were 18 inches. These are definitely aftermarket rims. Unfortunately I’m not in the position to purchase stock Mercedes rims so I’m just looking for a way to solve this issue. By the way, I appreciate all your help.

 

So you found the sticker? More than likely your speedometer and odometer are now wildly inaccurate if rims are 2” smaller than expected.

Here is what you do. Figure out what size AND OFFSET you need. (Offset will be something like 35mm or 43mm or XXmm) Go on Craigslist or FB Marketplace. Start searching.

Somewhere nearby either now or in near future some clown will put 20”s or 22”s on a benz. They will have 3 threads holding them on after 2” of spacers. Before they total their car and end up in ICU, they will sell their complete set of OE wheels and tires locally for $100-200 for all 4 because Mom is sick of them taking up space in the living room. You may even get lucky and have some tread on the tires.

Go buy them. Figure out what wheel bolts you need. GET THE RIGHT WHEEL BOLTS. They have different shapes of heads and sizes and threads. Don’t guess or use whatever. Don’t use washers or spacers. Get the right ones and be done with it. Rigging it to “get by” will just leave you on side of road with your wheel somewhere else.

But trying to find smaller calipers so you can squeeze 16” wheels on a car designed around 18” wheels sounds, and I mean this, literally insane. It is a bad idea for about 20 different reasons. It is like choosing a sky diving parachute based on how well it matches your shoes instead of how well it keeps you from hitting the ground at 60MPH. Exactly like that.

Once you find the right ones locally go pick them up with cash. Don’t pay with Crypto or Doggie coins or Zelle or Venmo or Paypal. Drive over, inspect & verify and trade actual cash for the wheels & tires. As soon as you get them on the car, put those clown car 16” wheels on a local listing service and be done with them. All problems solved.

 

It's the tire size that throws the speedo off, not the wheel size. My summer tires are 245/45R17, and winter tires are 205/60R16, and speedo is within 1 km/h with those. Both are Mercedes wheels.

 

Have you checked front brakes that they are all good? Calipers shouldn't move that much to hit the wheel.

 

Yes, since we don’t have the sizes I am guessing that anyone who put on wheels that had an interference fit with the calipers wasn’t concerned enough to compare outer diameter sizes and maintain speedo accuracy.

 

True.