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Hey! Thank you for documenting your progress throughout this whole journey of finding the perfect fit for you wheel setup! Very informative!
I have a 2014 E550 4-Matic and I’m looking to keep my stock oem rims (18x8.5 with 48 ET) but switch to a wider tire. Through your experience, do you think having a 255/45/18 with that same rim setup all the way around would fit - specifically in the front?
I input your front tire specs in a website and then input my prospective tire setup and here is the difference of size measurements between the two:
Do you think the 1 inch difference in diameter, sidewall and 3.2 inch difference in circumference would be enough to cause rubbing? Also, any updates on your setup? How do you like it so far? Thanks in advance!
If you guys want to really know your non standard tire/wheel combo has proper movement without touching anything, you must get a wavy enough road and at high enough
speed and heavy enough load to bottom out the front and rear suspension to its bump stop. If there then the tire does not scrub/touch anything, you are gold.
I had the fortunate/un-fortunate opportunity to get all 4 dampers to hit the end of travel aka bump stop on a road trip Jakarta-Bali at one particular stretch of paid highway of such bad
quality, at many of its road to bridge joints the workmanship or leveling is so bad, I get bottom out at merely 140KM/H. I had approx 500ish KG of passengers + driver + luggage load and full fuel at that time.
Much later I discovered my front tires outward side actually had a super minor scrubbing to the plastic fender liner. No harm at all but I can see mild tire friction mark on the fender.
You see I am using BBS CH-R of +47 ET 8.5J all around which is only 1mm outward compared to the original AMG Ronald wheel the car came with, ET+48 8.5J for front.
OE set up is : ET48 front with 245/40-18" 8.5J and ET54 9J rear with 265/35-18"
BBS set up is all 4 using 8.5J ET47 , front tire 245/40-18" and rear tire I bump up to 255/40-18" to get 9mm taller side wall for comfort.
I am on 18", no change between the Ronald and BBS. I have the 951 AMG sports kit which gets me a big Brembo 4 pistons caliper.
The Brembo caliper is so fat , a traditional ET48 or even ET47 which gives 1 more millimeters clearance for caliper is not enough.
The Ronald AMG OE wheel its fingers/spoke are designed with such a unique bent shape, it will clear the front caliper at ET48.
The BBS CH-R fingers/spoke is ordinary design not taking into account such fat Brembo caliper option 951, but can accommodate regular single piston MB front caliper.
So I had no choice but to add a 5mm spacer for the front wheel. 5mm spacer gives about 2-3mm clearance finger/spoke to caliper body.
So ET47 + 5mm spacer, is equal to extra 6mm my wheel pops out outward compared to OE ET48 front . Its like I am on ET42 so to speak.
That 6mm is what made the tire able to touch a tiny bit of the fender when and if at maximum damper compressed travel.
Next option is ET42 or ET37.
BBS fitment page shows ET 47, 42 and 37. It failed to identify option 951 special needs. https://shop.bbs.com/en/wheel-config...tedDiameter=18
So surely I chose ET47 because I want stock set up and no change in my scrub radius.
Hey! Thank you for documenting your progress throughout this whole journey of finding the perfect fit for you wheel setup! Very informative!
I have a 2014 E550 4-Matic and I’m looking to keep my stock oem rims (18x8.5 with 48 ET) but switch to a wider tire. Through your experience, do you think having a 255/45/18 with that same rim setup all the way around would fit - specifically in the front?
I input your front tire specs in a website and then input my prospective tire setup and here is the difference of size measurements between the two:
Do you think the 1 inch difference in diameter, sidewall and 3.2 inch difference in circumference would be enough to cause rubbing? Also, any updates on your setup? How do you like it so far? Thanks in advance!
Personally I wouldn't do it. My fronts only had a bit of clearance as you can see from the pics. Adding an inch to that would just complicate things. Plus I think the 2014 body style is different from mine so I'm not sure about dimensions
Absolutely loving my setup. Haven't dynoed it yet but I did weigh the wheels before and they seem about the same if not only a pound or so heavier. No issues AT ALL from my setup.
If you guys want to really know your non standard tire/wheel combo has proper movement without touching anything, you must get a wavy enough road and at high enough
speed and heavy enough load to bottom out the front and rear suspension to its bump stop. If there then the tire does not scrub/touch anything, you are gold.
I had the fortunate/un-fortunate opportunity to get all 4 dampers to hit the end of travel aka bump stop on a road trip Jakarta-Bali at one particular stretch of paid highway of such bad
quality, at many of its road to bridge joints the workmanship or leveling is so bad, I get bottom out at merely 140KM/H. I had approx 500ish KG of passengers + driver + luggage load and full fuel at that time.
Much later I discovered my front tires outward side actually had a super minor scrubbing to the plastic fender liner. No harm at all but I can see mild tire friction mark on the fender.
You see I am using BBS CH-R of +47 ET 8.5J all around which is only 1mm outward compared to the original AMG Ronald wheel the car came with, ET+48 8.5J for front.
OE set up is : ET48 front with 245/40-18" 8.5J and ET54 9J rear with 265/35-18"
BBS set up is all 4 using 8.5J ET47 , front tire 245/40-18" and rear tire I bump up to 255/40-18" to get 9mm taller side wall for comfort.
I am on 18", no change between the Ronald and BBS. I have the 951 AMG sports kit which gets me a big Brembo 4 pistons caliper.
The Brembo caliper is so fat , a traditional ET48 or even ET47 which gives 1 more millimeters clearance for caliper is not enough.
The Ronald AMG OE wheel its fingers/spoke are designed with such a unique bent shape, it will clear the front caliper at ET48.
The BBS CH-R fingers/spoke is ordinary design not taking into account such fat Brembo caliper option 951, but can accommodate regular single piston MB front caliper.
So I had no choice but to add a 5mm spacer for the front wheel. 5mm spacer gives about 2-3mm clearance finger/spoke to caliper body.
So ET47 + 5mm spacer, is equal to extra 6mm my wheel pops out outward compared to OE ET48 front . Its like I am on ET42 so to speak.
That 6mm is what made the tire able to touch a tiny bit of the fender when and if at maximum damper compressed travel.
Next option is ET42 or ET37.
BBS fitment page shows ET 47, 42 and 37. It failed to identify option 951 special needs. https://shop.bbs.com/en/wheel-config...tedDiameter=18
So surely I chose ET47 because I want stock set up and no change in my scrub radius.
Drive safe.............
I was about to say that yeah, this is a decent write up you posted, but only if you want your maximum travel distance of the suspension. I didn't care because I didn't need all of that range of motion. I don't bottom out at all even with stock wheels n tires so no need for me to keep that. I loaded my car up with green red oak. Back seats and trunk. Car looked bagged. Drove an hour home with NO rubbing. Only time I heard the slightest, was when I went over a speed bump. It's nice to know that's my limit, but I won't ever hit it in real scenarios.
Only time I heard the slightest, was when I went over a speed bump. It's nice to know that's my limit, but I won't ever hit it in real scenarios.
Suspension is meant/designed to do full travel. You never check your bump stops condition ?
No need high speed jump, all you need is to corner fast and often enough and the bump stop usually front one would be kissing the damper already, like below. Bump stop is a secondary spring.
Above's bump stop wear and tear is from a Bilstein B4, albeit claimed as stock replacement over the SACHS, it has better damping/firmer at high speed corner or
when fast massive weight shift occurs like in a Moose Maneuver . I would think the OE SACHS which SUCKS big time would kiss its bump stop more often under the same driving profile.
New bump stop, marked MB is original from MB and the other is Febi Bilstein aftermarket.
If the super mild rubbing is at tire track to fender inner liner at maximum compression, that is okey, if at tire side wall is a big NO NO.
Your new set up is : Front wheel size is 19x9 @ +38 and the rear is 19x10 @ +48.
Over stock set up, front wheel pops outward by extra 16mm. Rear wheel pops outward out by 19mm. That is a lot.
Only time I heard the slightest, was when I went over a speed bump
That is weird, when going over speed bump and I am assuming you go slow, the amount of compression to the suspension system is not really much as your whole car will "climb" the mount.
If you do higher speed, then the compression/travel to suspension will be more. Some speed bumps are very well designed and doing 25MPH is still comfy and
suspension compression/travel will be quite high.
Take a peek at your front inner fender liner some months later, you would probably can see very very slight rubbing mark on it, but not at your tire.
Inner liner is flexible and can sink upwards and tire track/shoulder is tough, so no danger here.
At 10mm extra protrusion outward your wheel has compared to mine, I think you can rub tire to fender inner liner well before you even hit your damper bump stop,
based on dead straight steering angle.
Position of rub mark if seen from outside of fender.
The tire rubbing mark below at inner fender plastic liner.
This is with only 6mm wheel pops outward. Yours is at 16mm. This on my car is not a big deal at all safety wise, but does look ugly
My exhaust is stock, so super quiet. Yours is louder for sure, you may not be able to hear tire rubbing to fender liner at speed or bump stop kissing the damper at higher speed. I can.
Here is bump stop kissing ( not fender rubbing ) at only 114 MPH on rather wavy road, not rally kind of road.
At this time of the video, I was on a lousy aftermarket bump stop which is actually shorter but less good fit.
On the long term, for rear tire, also watch out for any potential slight rubbing marks on your tire shoulder to sidewall . Usually around the region I marked green.
Below is not caused by soft harmless inner fender liner but more by the metal fender itself. This type of rubbing is the big NO NO.
I seen worse rubbing than below ... such a pity sight. Image borrowed from somewhere. Thank you owner.
BTW, something I don't understand.
Your car has a powerful engine and is tuned, I expect at times you will exploit the car potential or probably more often than most non tuned car owners.
I assume you like winding back roads ( or British guys call as B road ) or Japanese call it Touge run, how do you not near maximize your suspension travel when you whack those corners ?
Suspension is meant/designed to do full travel. You never check your bump stops condition ?
No need high speed jump, all you need is to corner fast and often enough and the bump stop usually front one would be kissing the damper already, like below. Bump stop is a secondary spring.
Above's bump stop wear and tear is from a Bilstein B4, albeit claimed as stock replacement over the SACHS, it has better damping/firmer at high speed corner or
when fast massive weight shift occurs like in a Moose Maneuver . I would think the OE SACHS which SUCKS big time would kiss its bump stop more often under the same driving profile.
New bump stop, marked MB is original from MB and the other is Febi Bilstein aftermarket.
If the super mild rubbing is at tire track to fender inner liner at maximum compression, that is okey, if at tire side wall is a big NO NO.
Your new set up is : Front wheel size is 19x9 @ +38 and the rear is 19x10 @ +48.
Over stock set up, front wheel pops outward by extra 16mm. Rear wheel pops outward out by 19mm. That is a lot.
Only time I heard the slightest, was when I went over a speed bump
That is weird, when going over speed bump and I am assuming you go slow, the amount of compression to the suspension system is not really much as your whole car will "climb" the mount.
If you do higher speed, then the compression/travel to suspension will be more. Some speed bumps are very well designed and doing 25MPH is still comfy and
suspension compression/travel will be quite high.
Take a peek at your front inner fender liner some months later, you would probably can see very very slight rubbing mark on it, but not at your tire.
Inner liner is flexible and can sink upwards and tire track/shoulder is tough, so no danger here.
At 10mm extra protrusion outward your wheel has compared to mine, I think you can rub tire to fender inner liner well before you even hit your damper bump stop,
based on dead straight steering angle.
Position of rub mark if seen from outside of fender.
The tire rubbing mark below at inner fender plastic liner.
This is with only 6mm wheel pops outward. Yours is at 16mm. This on my car is not a big deal at all safety wise, but does look ugly
My exhaust is stock, so super quiet. Yours is louder for sure, you may not be able to hear tire rubbing to fender liner at speed or bump stop kissing the damper at higher speed. I can.
Here is bump stop kissing ( not fender rubbing ) at only 114 MPH on rather wavy road, not rally kind of road.
At this time of the video, I was on a lousy aftermarket bump stop which is actually shorter but less good fit.
On the long term, for rear tire, also watch out for any potential slight rubbing marks on your tire shoulder to sidewall . Usually around the region I marked green.
Below is not caused by soft harmless inner fender liner but more by the metal fender itself. This type of rubbing is the big NO NO.
I seen worse rubbing than below ... such a pity sight. Image borrowed from somewhere. Thank you owner.
BTW, something I don't understand.
Your car has a powerful engine and is tuned, I expect at times you will exploit the car potential or probably more often than most non tuned car owners.
I assume you like winding back roads ( or British guys call as B road ) or Japanese call it Touge run, how do you not near maximize your suspension travel when you whack those corners ?
Anyway, drive safe and fast please
Well there's a lot here so I'll just summarize. You took my quote out of context. Read the whole paragraph and you'll see I mentioned having a car load filled with green red oak. The only time I heard anything was when going over a speed bump.....WITH that full car load. I figured that was implied but I could've been a bit more clear. My mistake. And also, everything you say makes sense yes, but I think you're missing my point. Just because it is designed to do full travel doesn't mean it needs to full travel often. It's kinda like saying if you have Z rated tires, they are designed for high speeds, so you should be using it at higher speeds. Not really the case. I personally like the extra breathing room. And also your deduction about having a tuned car therefore I drive it more spirited more often than non tuned owners is false. I don't take high speed corners....there aren't any here in Dallas. But could I? Sure. I probably drive spirited LESS than the avg person WITHOUT a tune. Just not my thing. Why tune my car? Because I wanted to and it's nice to have the option available. When I do push it? It's probably from 70-125 and then I let off and drive normally. In a straight line the whole time. I don't track it or race it. But can I? Of course.
My exhaust is louder? Think you might be confusing me with someone lol. I've done a resonator delete....that is all. It's honestly not much different from stock. And no, the tires don't even remotely touch any part of the car. Tires aren't rubbing, or grazing anything.
I appreciate all of the valuable information though. Very helpful. I'll keep it in mind. But the amount of assumption going on here is not applicable to my application or use case really. There are plenty who may find this information especially personalized for them because they drive in such a manner. But I'm more of a relaxed panther, no need to exert myself. But when the time comes and I NEED to? I can. My suspension doesn't HAVE to be utilized to it's potential and doesn't even get close to being heavily used other than normal usage.
245/40-18" 8.5J and 9J rear with 265/35-18 is this for the 550 4matic ? sorry to inject here, but i just have a quick question. I ordered a set of tires for mine and it had an approved size of these sizes you mentioned, but when i enter that into a tire calculator the difference is 1.6% which ive read (not factual from MB) that this is too much for 4matic ?
Im away at the moment so didn't haul my rears off to see the width. just ordered based on the widest option approved by the tire company for my car. it was the mentioned sizes. mine is a E550 with the sport package. so I'm assuming it has the 9J in the rear.
Originally Posted by S-Prihadi
If you guys want to really know your non standard tire/wheel combo has proper movement without touching anything, you must get a wavy enough road and at high enough
speed and heavy enough load to bottom out the front and rear suspension to its bump stop. If there then the tire does not scrub/touch anything, you are gold.
I had the fortunate/un-fortunate opportunity to get all 4 dampers to hit the end of travel aka bump stop on a road trip Jakarta-Bali at one particular stretch of paid highway of such bad
quality, at many of its road to bridge joints the workmanship or leveling is so bad, I get bottom out at merely 140KM/H. I had approx 500ish KG of passengers + driver + luggage load and full fuel at that time.
Much later I discovered my front tires outward side actually had a super minor scrubbing to the plastic fender liner. No harm at all but I can see mild tire friction mark on the fender.
You see I am using BBS CH-R of +47 ET 8.5J all around which is only 1mm outward compared to the original AMG Ronald wheel the car came with, ET+48 8.5J for front.
OE set up is : ET48 front with 245/40-18" 8.5J and ET54 9J rear with 265/35-18"
BBS set up is all 4 using 8.5J ET47 , front tire 245/40-18" and rear tire I bump up to 255/40-18" to get 9mm taller side wall for comfort.
I am on 18", no change between the Ronald and BBS. I have the 951 AMG sports kit which gets me a big Brembo 4 pistons caliper.
The Brembo caliper is so fat , a traditional ET48 or even ET47 which gives 1 more millimeters clearance for caliper is not enough.
The Ronald AMG OE wheel its fingers/spoke are designed with such a unique bent shape, it will clear the front caliper at ET48.
The BBS CH-R fingers/spoke is ordinary design not taking into account such fat Brembo caliper option 951, but can accommodate regular single piston MB front caliper.
So I had no choice but to add a 5mm spacer for the front wheel. 5mm spacer gives about 2-3mm clearance finger/spoke to caliper body.
So ET47 + 5mm spacer, is equal to extra 6mm my wheel pops out outward compared to OE ET48 front . Its like I am on ET42 so to speak.
That 6mm is what made the tire able to touch a tiny bit of the fender when and if at maximum damper compressed travel.
Next option is ET42 or ET37.
BBS fitment page shows ET 47, 42 and 37. It failed to identify option 951 special needs. https://shop.bbs.com/en/wheel-config...tedDiameter=18
So surely I chose ET47 because I want stock set up and no change in my scrub radius.
245/40-18" 8.5J and 9J rear with 265/35-18 is this for the 550 4matic ? sorry to inject here, but i just have a quick question. I ordered a set of tires for mine and it had an approved size of these sizes you mentioned, but when i enter that into a tire calculator the difference is 1.6% which ive read (not factual from MB) that this is too much for 4matic ?
Im away at the moment so didn't haul my rears off to see the width. just ordered based on the widest option approved by the tire company for my car. it was the mentioned sizes. mine is a E550 with the sport package. so I'm assuming it has the 9J in the rear.
Sport package does not have 9 in the rear. It is 8.5 all the way around. Same model I have. If you have a staggered setup, then it might not be a 4matic
Awesome! thanks for the response, ill return the 265's for the 245's and keep it square. its safer as the 265 is actually 1.6% less then the front. well outside of the allowance for 4matic.
Originally Posted by VW2MB
Sport package does not have 9 in the rear. It is 8.5 all the way around. Same model I have. If you have a staggered setup, then it might not be a 4matic
Awesome! thanks for the response, ill return the 265's for the 245's and keep it square. its safer as the 265 is actually 1.6% less then the front. well outside of the allowance for 4matic.
Not only that, but you can't rotate the 265 so they tend to wear out faster and you only get half the rated mileage of the tires. The square setup lets you rotate them.
Long thread with so many tangents, but I have a question.
I have a 2011 E550 4MATIC with the stock AMG 18" wheels. OEM tire size is 245/40-18. I don't have the budget for larger wheels and I like the look of the OEM AMGs.
Since I am in need of tires, I thought I would research if I could squeeze a slightly wider/taller tire on my OEM wheels to fill out the wheel wells a bit and improve grip.
With the stock 18s and no other modifications and taking in all the people on this thread with experience...is there a wider tire (255?) size I can run on my MB?
04-14-2021, 11:35 AM
