mshii

All,

After a pretty exhaustive search, I wanted to report to you all that I finally purchased a 2006 R500 8 days ago thanks, in great part, to your help. Although I wound up getting one without all of the options I wanted, I believe the one we have is decently equipped, in very good condition, and has pretty low miles. It has been SO hard getting used to life without keyless go , and I really wanted three zone climate control, but here is what we got as it reads on paper:

Pewter exterior/Macadamia interior
Bi-xenon with active lighting
Premium leather seating
Panoramic
Adaptive suspension
Second row storage
Wood/leather steering wheel
Premium sound

I had found another one with all of these options plus the optional 10 spoke wheels and rear seat entertainment in what seems to be a rare color, but due to some questionable antics from the dealer (who was 1,500+ miles away), I decided to take the safer route and get one that was closer to me. Overall, its been great so far. One thing I feel confident in is the notion that I know what I purchased, and I really appreciate all of you for that.

Thanks!

turbocad6

nice man, congrats... that's a beautiful color combo on this car, enjoy it with best of luck

TopEndS62

congrats.. R500 is a great choice!! Keep us updated with any new developments.

mshii

I surely will keep you updated. Thus far I've tinted the two front windows, and I'm considering changing wheels, but it really doesn't look bad with the ones that it has now. I like the AMG 19s, but if I remember correctly, 19 inch tires are hard to find and quite expensive. Are there any 20 inch MBZ/AMG wheels that fit the R with no modifications (spacers, etc.) that you guys know of?

TopEndS62

I like the 19's as well, I know that there were some badda$$ 20" rims for the S-Class.. Post some pics of the car man

AsianR350

I have 20" Alanz Rim OEM MB that designed for R63.

https://mbworld.org/forums/r-class-w...-thread-5.html

To response to your PM. I attached pic. of Overhead 10.2" LCD / DVD player

Spud_Racer

When these cars were new, the selection of 19" tires were indeed very limited. These days not so much. Tire Rack shows 51 tires that will fit the R500. And as a result, the prices are more reasonable.

Still, my 07 R500 has the optional 10 spoke 18" wheels and I'm perfectly happy with that knowing I have a wide selection of tires to choose from (76 on Tire Rack).

Oh, and congratulations on picking up a great family car. We love it as a family cruiser and hauler of people or cargo. I would never swap the R500 for a traditional large SUV. It's not even a close contest.

xxGenericSNxx

The Alanz rims aren't "designed for the R63." They were designed as original equipment accessory items for the full R-Class line.

That one video on Youtube of the R63 in Milan, Italy simply has these accessory wheels. They aren't R63 specific rims- just R Class wheels in general.

2008CL63

The US-Spec R63s came with 20" AMG wheels. The Euro-Spec R63s came with 21s. My R63 runs the US standard 20" AMGs with 265/45 ZR 20 rubber.

Not sure these would fit the R500 as its standard wheel offset is 67mm. The R63's 20" wheel offset is 60mm.

My owner's manual shows that the R500 did come with an optional AMG wheel (albeit 19") with the sport package. The offset of that wheel is 64mm.

xxGenericSNxx

Few points of clarification need to be made here. The R63s in Europe came with the 20" US wheels as standard and the 21" wheels as optional. The 20" rims are ET60 on all four wheels. The 21" wheels are ET48 on the rear and ET60 on the front.

The offset on R500 to R63 are all compatible with each other. The R500 wheels are just further inset than the R63 wheels. R63 wheels will fit every model of R Class with no problems regarding offset.

mshii

Thanks for all of the info, and sorry for the disappearing act. We've been putting miles on the R class (1,500+) while on spring break!

It's good to know that the R63 wheels will fit without issue. I've also liked the Carlsson wheels over the years, but I don't know how smart it is to mount wheels that equal a fourth of my vehicle's worth. If and when I add some, I'll let you guys know. I'm almost thinking lowering the R will help the wheels that it currently has look much better--not that it will totally eliminate the desire to want another set, but I can imagine the whole vehicle looking much more aggressive after taking this step. How many of you have lowered yours?

I'm having trouble resizing the photo I have. Once I get it, I'll post.

Thanks for sharing your rear entertainment set-up, Asian350.

xxGenericSNxx

The rear of mine was lowered using star diagnostic (full airmatic setup on mine).