So my E450 production date is 10 days away and I'm having second thoughts on wheel size. I've currently chosen the 20 inch AMG wheels with black accents, I think they look great and go extremely well with the night package but I'm wondering if it might be better to opt for 19 inch wheels with the run flats for less hassle on trips. I live in Central FL and the roads around here are fairly decent so I don't think I would suffer too much from going with the 20 inch especially given how much better they look.

I drove an E350 with the 20inch wheels and the air suspension which I thought road extremely well, my E450 has the air suspension as well so I'm not too worried about the ride becoming harsh. I guess it comes down to if the safety net from the 19 inch wheels + run flats when dealing with potholes, bad road conditions worth it over the 20inch wheels + performance tires that look great and have lesser noise.

What wheel size did you guys choose and why did you go with them?

 

Being from the Northeast, I am leery of bad road conditions (I.e. pot holes) that can easily ruin modern alloy wheels. Even though I love the look of the 20in multi-spoke wheels, in the end I went with 5-spoke 19in instead. In addition, ride quality and comfort should also be better with 19- vs 20-in tires (somewhat better handling with lower profile tires, however). Without the availability of a spare tire in the trunk, I opted for run-flats as a compromise to the superior ride quality of regular all-season tires.

 

So the larger wheels have less road noise? I never knew that...

 

Part of the allure of a Mercedes-Benz is the ability to ride long distances in comfort. That means venturing beyond local roads that are well paved and maintained. Nothing spoils a 650 mile road trip worse than a flat tire and bent rim. So I reserve the plus-plus-plus wheels for my Hot Wheels collection.

 

It's the performance/summer tires that are quieter than the all-season tires.

 

Any thoughts on why MB doesn't offer 20" run flat tires on their builds? You can get 20" run flats. Is the ride too harsh with that size run flats?

 

Looking at the 20" multispoke wheels on my 2024 E350, they are Pirelli PZero PZ4 tires which are run flats. For some reason I was under the impression that they were not not run flats.

 

Okay. After further research, all PZero tires are not run flat. I've never owned run flat tires before so this is a bit new to me but after carefully inspecting my tires, they don't appear to be run flat. Pirelli's web site says that it would say "Run Flat" on the side wall for any Pirelli tire that is run flat. Still wondering why MB would not put run flat tires on the 20" wheels.

 

20” wheels give a better “look” to the E than 18” or 19”. If you live in a place with smooth and generally nice roads, the 20” won’t be an issue. It becomes an issue in pot hole filled roads and roads with many man holes, and generally rough terrains, in that case go down a notch to 19” for slightly more sidewall cushion. I live in the mid Atlantic and won’t go over 19”, but that’s bcos we have quite a few rough roads where I live.

Overall, there isn’t that great a difference between 19” and 20” wheels, especially in a big car like the E with a big wheel well to fit these rims comfortably.

 

Apologies for posting 4 times in a row on this thread but the concern the OP has is also my concern as I too have ordered a 2024 with the 20" multi-spoke wheels. I'm concerned about the potholes and ride handling while also want to have a high degree of comfort. From all that I have read, the issue with larger wheels is the reduced sidewall height if you want to maintain the same overall tire height for a given car that is specifically calibrated for that tire height.

I'm coming from a 2012 E350 with 18" wheels and am currently leasing a 2024 E350 with 20" wheels. The 2012 was totaled about a month ago but prior to that I put over 150K miles on it driving in the middle TN area that has a considerable share of potholes. This spring I have seen a noticeable increase in cars on the side of the road with one or more flat tires presumably due to said potholes. The TN DOT does not seem to understand how to properly fix many of these potholes as they often make them worse when patching them. In any case, regarding tires, my 2012 had 245/40R18 on the front and 265/35R18 on the rear and although I try to avoid potholes, I have hit them more often than I would like. In those 150K miles, I have never had a blow out or flat tire due to a pothole. I have had an occasional nail or other foreign object puncture the tire but every one of those were easily plugged and then replaced. I have never used the spare tire and have never needed a tow for any reason let alone a tire issue.

Doing the math for the sidewall on the tires I had on my 2012, it comes to 3.86" front and 3.65" rear. This is determined by first calculating the ratio of 40 (front) and 35 (rear) with the width and then converting from mm to inches. The overall height of the tire is 25.72" front and 25.3" rear. Moving to the 2024 E, the 20" wheels are 245/40R20 front and 275/35R20 rear. The sidewalls of these tires are 3.86" front and 3.79" rear. Comparing this to the 18" wheels on my 2012, it's exactly the same sidewall size on the front and actually 0.14" more sidewall on the rear. The overall height is 2" larger in the front and 2.28" larger in the rear than my 2012 tires. This is because the tire width and ratio are nearly identical however, with the extra 2" in wheel size the overall tire size is larger as well. If you drop to the 19" on the 2024 the tire size is 245/45R19 (F) and 275/40R19 (R) which gives a sidewall height of 4.34" (F) and 4.33" (R). This is 0.48" (12%) and 0.54" (14%) more then the 20" wheels.

After doing the math and based on my prior experience from my 2012 with 18" wheels having the same sidewall height as the 20" wheels on the 2024, I am not concerned with the potholes with my 20" wheel choice. Going to the 19" will get you just 1/2 inch more sidewall and likely not much noticeable difference in ride comfort. Going down to the 18" wheels will get you 1 inch more sidewall over the 20" and I would expect a slightly more comfortable ride, but I don't like the looks of any of the 18" wheel choices. I'm driving a 2024 E350 now with 20" wheels and the ride is very comfortable.

After careful consideration, I'm sticking with the 20" wheels and will consider 19" or 18" for winter tires in the fall.

 

Damn, thank you very much for doing the math. I think I'm gonna stick to my 20" inch wheels as well.

 

I replaced my first Mercedes, a 2021 E450 with my current 2024 E450 because I felt that I had made the 2021 E450 unsafe to drive. Because of my dissatisfaction with the ride with a standard suspension and 19 inch wheels, I replaced the run-flat tires with standard tires. The ride was slightly improved, but I had 6 road hazard tire failures in 30 months, twice requiring the car be towed and another where I limped home stopping and using my portable air compressor to refill the tire several times. My new 2024 has a great ride with an AIRMATIC suspension and ugly 18 inch wheels. And 5 of the 6 failures were on primary roads and freeways around the San Francisco Bay Area, with the only one failure from driving on the gravel road to Bodie State Park.

 

Wow, that is roughly every 5 months. You are either incredibly unlucky or drive right over things without trying to avoid them. I'm guessing the former, however it never ceases to amaze me how many people just roll over large potholes without a care in the world. I see it every day. I've almost been hit by flying chunks of pavement that get kicked up when trucks hit them. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I do try to avoid any imperfections in the road surface as long as it's safe to do so. I don't avoid them all, but I do avoid most of them. That said, I hit a bump in the pavement and bottomed out the front right suspension yesterday in the 2024 with 20" wheels and no tire issues. It was a hard hit too.

I'm curious why you didn't just get 18" wheels for your 2021? It would have been way less expensive and I don't think any less safe than the 2024. Was it the air suspension you wanted as well?

 

I definitely always avoid every bump and pothole if possible. Four of the tires had serious sidewall cuts on the inside of the tires. Once both left tires had multiple cuts and I have no idea what I could have hit. Replacement 18 inch Mercedes brand wheels were about $5000 and did not guarantee a significant ride improvement. I did not want aftermarket wheels and decided to wait and order a 2024 with air suspension and 18 inch wheels. I had one tire cut on the onramp from Hwy 101 to Hwy 237 (both are freeways) in Sunnyvale, CA after I had the new car on order. Another car was on the side of the road right behind me with the same issue. He had a spare and I had to get a tow.

 

Great question - I just replied on another post discussing run flats on the 2024 W214. While 20” and 21” wheels look magnificent, having run flat tires is an absolute must for me. Having run flats is my priority. I therefore ordered 19” wheels which is the largest Mercedes original equipment wheels that come with run flats. I live in Southern California where potholes pop up faster than street services can fill them. As such, over the years, I’ve had my share of getting stranded on the side of the road with blown tires. But more recently I discovered that my run flats were a game changer. One night very late I was driving home and it had been drizzling which camouflages potholes. I hit a massive one which flattened both tires on the right side. But because they were run flats, I didn’t have to deal with waiting 2+ hours on the side of the road in the middle of the night for flatbed tow. Instead (angels sing) I continued my drive home about 10 miles, and the next day at my convenience I drove about 5 miles to replace the tires. Easy peasy. I’ll never go back!

 

I know the cost would be higher, but couldn't you get run-flats after-market on the 20" or 21" wheels if you wanted to? This way, you can have the best of both worlds. You could probably sell the non run-flat tires that came on it to offset the cost a little.

 

Pirelli P Zero run flat 245/35ZR21 front & 275/30R21 rear tires for a '24 MB E450 4Matic costs about $2,500.

 

So can you get non-run flat tires in either the 18 or 19" size?

 

Yes, definitely could do that but honestly the 19” twin 5-spoke wheels really grew on me so I’m happy all around

 

My dealer told me that Mercedes original equipment is run flats on 18” and 19” - but of course you can swap them out after-market if you like