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Hi i picked up a 2011 e350 recently and some e63 18" staggered wheels. The wheels came with a square tires setup. When going over bumps/potholes, i hear a loud screech from the front wheels (depending on the bump its either front left or right). I think this is called rubbing? I am somewhat new to wheels issues and am wondering if it is the tires that are too "thick". When i took a peak in the front wheel well i did notice there is about a fingerspace of room between the wheel and the black spring/strust (not exactly sure what its called). Or maybe i need spacers? Here are the details of the wheels, would appreciate any insight.
It's possible. I think it's normally 245/40/18 on the fronts with 18 inch wheels. Usually going one size up isn't that big of a deal, but maybe your suspension is shot. How many miles on it? My springs and struts were shot at a tad over 100k, I could tell the front was sitting a little low like it was slightly lowered, it also felt like it bottomed out on bumps. After new springs/struts, felt like new.
The wheels that came with the car (beat up old oem wheels, also 8" front) has no noise on bumps, they were on 245/40r18
We also replaced the e63 wheels with c63 amg wheels (8" front) on 235/45zr18 to test - and no noises on bumps.
I guess the only thing that makes sense is either the tires on the e63 are too big, or the combination of the bigger tire and wider wheel 9" are too big.
Is there some tool to tell me what combination works and what doesnt?
E63 comes with the bigger fenders as I recall. Well, rubbing is not a surprise to me . Besides, my W212 with AMG spec (don't confuse it with E63 , only AMG package ) has bigger wheels in the rears ,no rubbing at all
Some have made the 255 tire work on the ET37 offset, others haven’t. The E63 does indeed have a wider front fender than your car.
I have 255/40r18 on 18x8.5 et35 front, and 275/35r18 on 18x9.5 et48 no rub
Just as an FYI for everyone
255/40r18 on 18x8.5et35 is almost the absolute maximum you can run (I'm lowered too, with a little over -1 degree of camber) without having to roll your fender.
275/35r18 on 18x9.5et48 definitely has more room, you could probably run an offset closer to low 40/high 30's but your measurements would need to be done right. I almost ordered 18x9.5et35 but there was no guarentee they would fit and I didn't want to risk it.
Thanks everyone. E63 does indeed have wider fenders - makes sense.
DeTh - if 255/40r18 on 18x8.5et35 is the max, seems that I am over my wheel width by .5" (18x9" front).
Can i rectify this by going with a a smaller tire? ie. 245/40r18? On that same 18x9" wheel will that makes the difference? Or is the wheel being 9" the issue?
https://www.wheel-size.com/size/mercedes/e-class/2011/
Here it shows the e350 (albeit bluetec, assuming its the same) can handle 18" wheels of 8.5" on 245/40r18's. In my case again the e63 wheel up front are 9". The website doesnt seem to take into consideration staggered setup?
Is there a way i can calculate given this e63 wheel size (18"x9") what size tire is appropriate for this car?
I am also reading that a 245/40r18 wheel can go basically go on a wheel that 8" or 8.5" or 9" wide? Am i mistaken?
Also with this car being 4matic, are there pros/cons to running a staggered setup? and/or square tire setup?
Please correct me if I'm wrong. Here is what I see
1. your original car is a E350 2011 which has the following
18x8 48et and if it had the staggered set it would be a rear 18x9 54et
the E63 AMG wheels are
18x9 37et and a rear 18x9 52et
so just by the calculation the AMG wheels come out further or closer to the fender lines by 17mm
is like if your adding a spacer to your regular wheel by 17mm and you have a taller tire 255 then for sure thats the problem.
to run your 255 the wheel needs to be further inside the fender lines to clear the outer and inner parts. it shows you have 5mm more inner clearance so I'm assuming your rubbing on the fender edge not in the inside shock areas .
I think you'll be ok by getting a less taller tire, that alone will help, you cant change the wheel but you can change the tire.
Last edited by Carlos_ MRR Wheels; Nov 8, 2022 at 06:48 PM.
Thanks everyone. E63 does indeed have wider fenders - makes sense.
DeTh - if 255/40r18 on 18x8.5et35 is the max, seems that I am over my wheel width by .5" (18x9" front).
Can i rectify this by going with a a smaller tire? ie. 245/40r18? On that same 18x9" wheel will that makes the difference? Or is the wheel being 9" the issue?
https://www.wheel-size.com/size/mercedes/e-class/2011/
Here it shows the e350 (albeit bluetec, assuming its the same) can handle 18" wheels of 8.5" on 245/40r18's. In my case again the e63 wheel up front are 9". The website doesnt seem to take into consideration staggered setup?
Is there a way i can calculate given this e63 wheel size (18"x9") what size tire is appropriate for this car?
I am also reading that a 245/40r18 wheel can go basically go on a wheel that 8" or 8.5" or 9" wide? Am i mistaken?
Also with this car being 4matic, are there pros/cons to running a staggered setup? and/or square tire setup?
Thanks for your time.
You may be misunderstanding offset versus wheel width. I had previously run 18x8.5et36 on 245/40r18 and had no suspension clunking. You may want to perform a visual inspection of the suspension components before limiting the problem to the wheels. You are currently running 18x9et37, which on an 18x8.5, the offset would be equivalent to 31. This means your wheel is roughly 5mm farther out than mine.
You'll need to use resources online to compare offsets and wheel sizes, but anything 40-50 offset should be relatively safe. A stagger setup is ok on 4matic cars, especially because they have a 40/60% AWD bias, but maintain at MAX a 3% rolling diameter difference between the front and rear tires.
On my E550 4M I ran the OEM E63 AMG 19” wheels without issue. They are 19x9 ET37 up front and 19x9.5 ET52 in back. Tires were 245/35-19 front and 285/30-19 rear. This provides a rolling difference of less than 1%. I never had any issues with the drivetrain or any rubbing.
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