MBWorld.org Forums - Width of Afternarket Wheels

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Width of Afternarket Wheels

I know there are varying opinions about this which might lead to impassioned viewpoints on both sides, but I would like to hear from some of you with more experience than me.

I’ve had two Mercedes with Plus 1, and one with Plus 2 AMG wheels, but after replacing about 7-8 AMG wheels over the last 15 or so years I moved to aftermarket on my W221. That car gave way to my current W222 with 19” AMG wheels. I’ve not driven a car with that high of a sidewall for a very long time, so it actually feels a bit ponderous to me compared to riding on larger wheels with lower profile tires.

What I’d like to ask the forum is this. The wheels I’m looking at are Vossen VFS-2, as the car’s styling isn’t necessarily sporty so I didn’t want to go with an aggressive look or anything larger than 20”. What I’m debating now is whether to stay with the standard 8.5” and 9.5” width in the rear, or go with something slightly wider. Unfortunately the option for that wheel unless I go with a custom color is 9” in the front and 10.5” in the rear. Do any of you know if that difference of 1.5” between front and rear will cause the handling to get thrown off?

Thanks for your comments.

You will have rubbing in the rear. I would stick with factory widths. Never mind the fact that the wide tires do little to improve handling, cost more and handle bad in the rain.

There should be no rubbing provided the offsets are set correct. HRE and others typically set the wheel offset to have the tire close to being flush with the car. Not sure about Vossen. If the stance is more aggressive, then the car needs to be lowered as well to look proper. Plenty of S-Class models with 22" Vossen wheels around.
The wheel width is also just 1" wider front/rear from a stock AMG rim (8.5" F/9.5" R)

Thank you for the comments. I forgot what width I was running before, and it was 9”/10.5” and I did experience hydroplaning which I thought was due to the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S that I had in there but it sounds like it might have been the width. Thank you!!