The Mercedes manual says 18 inch. The Mercedes dealer says 17 inch. Mine is a 4Matic, E350, 2011.

I would imagine 17 inch would be better and less likely to be damaged, as well as giving more clearance in the wheel wells.

I would really appreciate if someone would tell me the size of the 17 inch tires recommended. Also, is there a catalogue of original Mercedes tires on the internet.

In my experience, tirerack.com is an unbeatable source of information, wheels, and tires. They'll have the correct answers to all your questions. (Not affiliated with them, just a very happy customer.) I have my tires delivered to a local service station, who puts them on for me.

A few things. Regardless of wheel size, your overall diameter should stay the same.

As a general rule, winter tires should be narrow and have a softer sidewall. The softer sidewall is most commonly achieved by using a smaller wheel with a taller sidewall.

Your intuition is correct, get a 17" wheel with the appropriately sized narrower tire. I'd even ask Tirerack if they have a 16" combo.

Peruse this for more info

http://www.tirerack.com/winter/tech/...jsp?techid=126

My Bluetec has 17" and the tire size is 245/45R 17.

Why is Mercedes then recommending 18 inch winter tires? Really odd in my view.

First off are you buying wheels or tires? If you are getting an extra set of wheels then 17" is they way to go - the OEM Mercedes wheels are 17" so you should have no problem clearing the calipers. Your OEM tire size I believe is a 245/45/17. If you're getting wheels + tires you can choose either wider or thinner (or stagger) but due to the AWD system MAKE SURE the rotational diameter of the front and rear tires is the same. Double check the stock offsets on the wheels, for the 2WD I believe it's +52/+48 - so if you're buying wheels you'll need to find some higher offset ones.

Good luck.

I find this varies from dealer to dealer. The standard tires sizes and wheel specs are listed in the manual near the back. You can go with either 17 or 18 - it is up to you. Cheaper to go with 17 and you get more sidewall height to deal with potholes in the late winter/early springtime. The size is 245/45/17 which has a rolling circumference very near the 18", i.e., 245/40/18.

The offset etc for the 17" et al wheels are listed in the manual. For the winter time I would go with the 17". I don't see any advantage to going with the 18".

I agree with the comments re TireRack.

However, if you are interested, Mercedes has winter wheel/tire combinations available specifically tailored for your car. I doubt they can match TireRack prices, but if you buy a combination package it doesn't seem too unreasonable.

If you're only interested in tires, you may wish to use the tire sizes included in the combination packages as a guide when purchasing elsewhere.

This is the winter tire package page on mbusa.com. Not sure if this info. will be correct for Canada though.

http://www.mbwheelandtire.com/portal...sletter_owners

Don't see why not. It is the same car except for some minor changes such as metric gauges instead of imperial as far as I know.

Thanks.

Just trying to cover my bases with the "disclaimer."

I've had to eat my words a couple of times elsewhere in the forums, when differences arose between U.S. and Canadian versions of the same model, involving available equipment options and lighting.

thanks for all the comments.

Certainly for options, there is a significant difference as MB in each country seems to decide what they want to offer as standard. For example, in Canada you cannot get the E350 or E550 in RWD - they are all 4Matic and the base cars comes standard with many features that are options in the US. (We Canadians get to pay a premium price too but I digress )