g4benz

Hi and nice to meet everyone!

I just took ownership of a 2010 E550 4MATIC! What a beautiful car! The sale was a private party sale. The previous owner has a staggered wheel/rim setup. His back two tires are wider than the fronts. He's running 17" for all 4 tires, I believe..

I know this has been a debate on here and all, but will the staggered setup on my car affect my 4WD or any other parts on my car in a bad way?

Will I have trouble in an inspection at the dealer? Any input is appreciated.

I like the "look" of the car, but I won't sacrifice mechanics for it.

Thanks!

KEY08

You will surely get a lot of responses on this. My personal preference is to not mess with the factory setup on the 4Matic. I have never had an issue with my 4Matic cars and don't plan on testing my good fortune so far. I have also had plenty of cars with a staggered setup, including an AMG so I can understand why the appearance is also preferred.

g4benz

Yes, I've done some reading on here and there's a lot of strong opinions on this topic. My car did come with the AMG appearance package.

mleskovar

You can order a staggered 4WD?

g4benz

No. I bought from a private party. The previous owner customized the vehicle.

mleskovar

There's a reason you can't order staggered with 4WD....but I don't know what it is. Seems like it should work OK since the tire diameters are the same but

Ed99

I have 4matic and the season I need it the most is during winter in which I have my OEM wheels on. Then during Spring and summer I had a staggered fitment with no issue at all. It runs just fine.

Chris_tA_4

Running staggered wheels on AWD cars is fine. Hell, I've ran staggered wheels on my Audi A4 Quattro for 7 years without any issues. The key is to make sure the tire sizes are within 3% rolling diameter of each other.

more_amg

I have this set up on my car - no problems. Make sure wheel + tire are the same size front and back. Local MB tech confirmed, that 4Matic will not "recognize" the difference. Mine are 245/35/19 and 285/30/19. Overall size is within 1 mm, basically the same.

Arrie

Audi Quattro is a TRUE all wheel drive system that the 4-matic IS NOT. That system can tolerate different tire diameters like no other system. Well, I think some other cars now use the same system but not MB.

MB does not offer staggered setup for the E-Class because they want to keep the front and rear tires at the same diameter. It is true that the car will work fine with staggered setup when the tires are close to the same diameter. 1 mm difference probably is not a problem at all but cross your fingers if you have transmission or "transfer case" problems during warranty period and you go ask MB to fix it under that warranty and you have staggered setup under the car...

And your 3% is a bit off I think. Of the 245/40 - 18 tire 3% is about 19 mm (3/4"). You really think this much diameter difference would be ok on a 4-Matic? I don't think so.

Tjdehya

I guess it might depend on your dealer. I have had my car serviced in Las Vegas and in TX and neither dealer said anything about my wheels.

Staggered wheels will not have any impact on your car. If it did then MB would not sell 4matic vehicles with staggered wheels.
MB uses the same 4matic system on all their vehicles. They have sold 4Matic vehicles with staggered wheels before and they are currently selling the C400 4Matic with staggered wheels.

The CLS is pretty much exactly the same as the E class and MB currently sell the CLS550 4Matic with staggered wheels.

AMG 4Matic is different from MB 4Matic but all AMG 4Matics are staggered.

g4benz

Thanks all. If MB uses the same 4matic system in all cars, then staggered should be ok as the c300 sport comes with a staggered setup. That's my thought process. What I will do is get the tire specs for the front and back tires and post them on here for you guys to look at as far as the rolling diameter and all is concerned. Right now my car is in storage. I will post back soon. Thanks for the replies.

more_amg

I agree with Airee, to avoid warranty work complications, always keep your original wheels. This way, dealers have nothing to stand on. They will also try to make you pay instead of warranty, more $$$ for them

g4benz

The car is already out of warranty. It's a 2010 with no extended warranty coverage.

g4benz

Interesting..when you google 2010 e550 tire size, you get this

Front 17-18" diameter, 7.5-9" width; rear 17-18" diameter, 8-9.5" width

Arrie

I think for the 4-Matic it is 245/40-R18 all around

g4benz

I forgot to mention that my car is renntech tuned with headers and ecu upgrade. It's around 450 hp. I wonder if that's the reason for the staggered setup? More traction?

I just want my awd to work correctly especially in the snow and not get damaged.

I will post back with the tire sizes.

Arrie

Mercedes E-class 4-Matic is not a true AWD for what I have read. It is a clutch pack controlled system where the front axle power is controlled with engaging an electro hydraulic clutch. This same principle is in use on the new A45 or CLA45 AMG. On these cars the power is controlled on the rear axle, i.e. the car is a FWD car unless it senses slippery surface and applies power to the rear wheels. There is no center differential, which means it is NOT a true AWD system.

Lack of center differential means there will be torque between the axles if the tires are not exactly the same diameter causing wear to the transmission parts when driving on dry surface if the clutch engages and feed power to both axles.

I would carefully look for the staggered setup with tire diameters inside 1 mm or so to prevent damage to the system. If it is outside warranty then you don't need to worry about fighting repairs under warranty.

A "good" part of this system is that if your clutch pack wears out the car becomes a RWD vehicle as there is no center differential.

g4benz

Arrie, then why do some stock 4matics come with or have the option of a staggered setup? Was the 4matic system recently changed?

Tjdehya

I have not read what Arrie has posted because he is on my ignore list. Even though I haven't read it I can almost guarantee that it is nonsense!
For years MB has only had 1 4Matic system and it was the same across all of their vehicles. Now they have 3 different types of 4Matic.
They recently added the AMG 4Matic which is fixed at 1/3 front 2/3 rear. The MFA 4Matic which is a front wheel bias 4Matic that is used in all their MFA chassis vehicles A, B, CLA, GLA, etc.
The 4Matic in the E class is the same across other vehicles.

Again even though the E class 4Matic is not currently sold with staggered wheels. The CLS 4Matic (which is an E Class with a different body) is sold with staggered. Therefore it becomes quite obvious that MB does not have an issue with 4Matic and staggered wheels.

g4benz

Thanks man. This makes more logical sense to me. The only way it doesn't make sense is if the awd system on e550 4matic is specifically designed differently. That would be funny if that was the case. I will post back with my setup when I see my car.

Arrie

MB has more than one 4-Matic system and they might even have the true AWD system included on the models that they make with Staggered setup. Also, if the tire combination produces close enough tire diameters it will work with any 4-Matic system.

It can also be that MB selects a certain model for staggered setup even if the 4-Matic on that model is not the best for it. It is MB`s decision to make and risk to take with warranty repairs.

Arrie

As usual you are giving your dirt and misinformation out to this forum. If the CLS is made staggered by MB it does not mean the E-class is ok and it does not mean it is ok on the CLS either. MB May have taken a known risk with the CLS having it made with Staggered setup and prepared for certain amount of warranty repairs that they clearly have not done with E-class. And your statement of the CLS being an E-class with just different body I would take with the highest reservation.

mleskovar

There is no difference in tire circumference between the 17" standard and 18" staggered set ups for all tires (front and back). The tire profile makes up the difference in radius. The "staggered on a non sport version E can't be ordered" is probably for esthetic reasons only....I'm guessing. The sport air dam and 17" tire probably look funky.

Arrie

The staggered setup 245/40 R18 front, 265/35 R18 rear has calculated front tire diameter at 653.2 mm and rear at 642.7 mm. This is about 1.6% difference and apparently MB thinks this is too much since they do not offer staggered setup for the 4-Matic E-class. I'm absolutely sure they would offer it if they would not see a possible problem with it. Why in the hell would they not as they offer it for the non 4-matic sports package?