1965Stingray

I am considering the purchase of a 2018 GLC. The idea of no spare bothers me even with EM (run flat) tires. What have others done? Is there a space saver available? Any thoughts?

Sigp232

AAA....make sure to tell them to bring a flat bed truck. Same situation as you when i bought mine. Really no other choice

SerenityNow

Actually I looked around and wound up buying a compact spare kit from a 2010 ML350. I believe the tire size is 155 90 18. There already places to store the jack and handle in the trunk and the entire wheel fits under the trunk floor board .

I hated did the runflat tires that came with the vehicle. I replaced them with Michelin premier LTX tires. I also made sure the spare wheel fit the car and cleared the brake calipers on the front. You do have to lug bolts for the spare wheel, got those at Pep Boys .

The whole quality of the ride has improved with the Michelin tires, but I guess I should post that in a different thread.

augerpro

If I buy a GLC those were the tires I was going to swap on right away. How do they compare?

SerenityNow

Difference is night and day. Even the issues with vibration in the steering wheel when hitting harsh bumps has been resolved with these tires. The Vehicle feels much better and more luxurious overall

Sigp232

Are these new Michelin tires on a RWD or 4Matic? I've read reviews on tire track they give problems on 4matic. I wouldn't know why. I have runflat also on my 4matic thinking what my options are for the future.

SerenityNow

tgcbr

Some pictures would be nice. Thanks

bips

I bought a complete fifth wheel and the jack kit. I carry it whenever we travel away from our city. This proved to be a very good idea, as nine days ago I tore a hole in the sidewall of one tyre when some distance from home and in an area of poor mobile phone reception. Without some kind of spare we'd have been stranded, and the emergency spare may not have been enough to get us home. I am contemplating whether to replace the torn tyre with the same or move to non-run-flats, which I will probably raise in another thread.

The MB emergency tyre kit for the GLC is a joke. In Australia, when I bought my fifth wheel 15 months ago the emergency kit cost close to $AUD2K (which would be about $USD1.5K at the current exchange rate), and it only gets you 80kms at 80km/h. I have a feeling that if you ran it for the full 80kms then it can't be reused, but I'm not sure of that. For $AUD2K I could have bought a complete AMG 20" rim and OEM tyre! Still need the jack though. In the end I bought a non-AMG rim and OEM tyre plus the jack kit for around $AUD1,350 which is a lot cheaper than the emergency spare and gets your a whole lot further. In this country that last point is rather critical and I'd have thought that the same applies in much of the US.

The only drawback to the full fifth wheel is the space it occupies, esp the 20". When we travel with luggage, I put one of the rear seats plus the centre section down and carry it there. Not pretty (it has a half-cover and I also cover it with a black towel) but it works and leaves the rear available for luggage. When we get to our destination I remove the luggage and carry the fifth wheel in the rear. Bit hard to carry four people and luggage though.

The compact spare kit from a 2010 ML350 sounds interesting, but I doubt that it's a compatible option with my R20 255/45 tyres.

tgcbr

This is from the manual: "T 155/80 R19 114 P Reifendruck: 420 kPa (4,2 bari, 61 psi) 4,5 B x 19 H2 ET 35"

bips

Meaning .... ?

tgcbr

This is the spare tire size according to the manual.
155/80 r19

bips

Which car? The 2010 ML350?

It's not clear to me how compatible that spare tyre would be on my GLC and its 20" 255/45 tyres. For those vehicles where it is compatible, it sounds like a great idea.

tgcbr

I'm talking about the glc. The exterior diameter of the wheel is the same regardless of the interior diameter. At least that's what i think. However, my glc manual states only one size of temporary wheel. That's 155/80 r19 with an offset of 32.
What i want to see, is how it can be fitted under the floor board.

bips

This doesn't sound like the spare that is available here for the GLC. It sounds a lot better. I'd need to check to documentation, but I don't recall seeing a specific size like that. Has anyone actually bought the Australian GLC spare?

SerenityNow

Everything fits nicely under the luggage floor

SerenityNow

I'm using a spare kit from a 2010 ML350 in the pics above. Fits over the calipers perfectly

Ddmccormack

Interesting...and what did it cost? (and jack?)

Teckno

Hi, at some time when you can, is it possible for you to send the metal stamped data from both sides of the rim and again, the size data from the space saver tire please. I'm looking to do the same, but I have 20" rims with runflats. do not want to upset 4Matic system or alarm the ECU management system and go into limp home mode.
Any additional data greatly appreciated. Thanks.

SerenityNow

I found everything on eBay for $300 as a kit.
lLeaving for Canada in the morning, back next week and take more pics. The rim just clears the calipers on the GLC 300. If the GLC43 has bigger brakes up front, it may not work

Teckno

Many thanks, safe trip.
Yes info stamped into rim will be very helpful, I found that around 6 other MB models all use same wheel jack. Mine is GLC 250d with AMG pack, so should be same style brakes. Wife has same, but with air suspension, doubt it will affect it.
One additional question, do you have to use different steel bolts to secure space saver rim, one of our manuals states to use, in some instances, bolts supplied in tool chest ? and not alloy bolts. Always something else, just when I think I have a solution.
Thanks again.
Cheers from Oz.

bips

Reading this thread again, and comparing the specs for the ML350 spare and the GLC spare, does anyone know happen to know the difference? The tyres are the same width/profile/diameter. Are the wheels exactly the same? Are they in fact the same part? Could be that quite a few MB share the same emergency spare.

I ask because on the local edition of ebay there is one wrecker with several emergency spares for an older model of the ML, and I wonder whether it's the same as the 2010 ML. They have the same tyre specs and look roughly the same.

SerenityNow

bips

Thanks SN, that's a really BIG help. It gives me the ammo I need to talk to a wrecker located too far away to drive and look and try.

SerenityNow

You're welcome bios, glad to help