stevedel

so after owning my 220 for about 2.5yrs now, i finally put on some wheels that i had for about a month now. my tires were worn on my factory wheels, so naturally i had to upgrade to plus sized wheels with lowering links to get the stance right.

after almost a week of waiting for the tire shop to find the right valve stems, i got the wheels mounted yesterday. (excuse the 4x4 mode)



then today, i went to my friend's shop to install the lowering links.



we got a lil' ahead of ourselves on the first adjustment and put it just a tad too low. lol it was totally undriveable at this height, but it looked dope.



sorry for the crappy, cellphone teaser pics. i'll post some proper pics later. for those that are curious, the wheels are OZ Opera II 20x9.5 et35 wrapped with Falken 452 245/35 all the way around.

Arlen777

Good job!!! looks really good and pretty driveable to me, i drove like that for like 2 months until got upgraded to 20's, now cant wait for my fenders pulled to drop it again. Make some front and rear pics

stevedel

it was rubbing like crazy in the rear and would flex my front fenders at full lock, so it wasn't exactly practical. besides, the wife would've killed me since she sometimes drive the car too. we raised so that there is no fender gap at the low position and about 1 finger at the raised position. i call the raised position the "wife friendly" height. we still had to grind the tabs off in the rear to eliminate the rubbing at the final height.

stevedel

for the past 2.5yrs i rolled around like like this



since new tires were necessary, i upgraded to these



straight 4x4 style; holy wheel gap batman



i broke my rule of suspension before wheels, but i took care of that the very next day. however, since the car was originally equipped with the gold package, i had to get rid of that. no more grandpa style!



(bonus homage to old school pager codes )



nice and smooth out back now



thanks to the lowering links from adjustableairride, i got my ride height proper.





thank goodness for airmatic, 'cause now my wife won't kill me cause she can drive the car like this





overall, i am fairly happy with the way things came out. however, the more i look at the car, i feel like i can dial in the stance a lil' better if i spaced the rears (flame suit on ) a tiny bit.

S500 Man

looks good now get newer style headlights and tail lights and mirror lights and your done!

ssonss1

Beautiful! love the white, reminds me of my S. Some 03+ lights an you'll look like this




Perfect stance on your car

stevedel

I kinda like the look of the fluted headlight lenses on the non-AMG body and think it might look weird with updated tails and early headlights. I definitely need to get rid of the orange sidemarkers and plan to remove the tint once the weather cools down here and maybe put on a wood wheel.

I remember someone used to sell body colored sidemarkers that still illuminated; does anyone remember where to get those or if they are still being made?

RedG

Nothing wrong at all with having the wheel lips flush with the fenders. Being a good luxury platform it pulls it all off nicely. You should check out what some VIP-style guys have done to these: www.vipstylecars.com

LAWYER2

The wheels look absolutrly PERFECT!! Where did u pick them up and how much (if u don't mind me asking)

stevedel

funny, that I wasn't even gong for or even though about a VIP look. just wanted a nice set of wheels with a god stance. the reason I mentioned putting my "flame suit" on, is because spacers, low offset and stretching is widely frowned upon in this forum. if getting my lips to fit flush makes it VIP, then so be it, that's all good with me.

i found the wheels on ebay and basically stole them for $1K considering they were never mounted previously and used to sell for nearly that amount per wheel when the first came out. there is another guy from Miami that has a staggered set of the same wheels on a silver S500 (he has a pic in the picture thread).

suprnate

Funny, I never thought about sourcing the OZ Operas for my S Class, even though it sits right next to my C Class with Operas! Haha... I might just have to get out there and find me a set of 20s! I love them! Great Job

cheez80

WHAT? a link to VSC on mbworld? what's next, unicorns sprouting out of my exhaust?

(just kidding, i think most members would have a cow if they saw what went on at VSC hahaha)

S500Miami

[IMG][/IMG]

Here is my Silver 2002 S500 with the staggered 20" Opera II's in straight up 4X4 mode. I seriously need to look into lowering it a bit after seeing how nice your ride looks.

Your car looks really nice and I love the way you can set it up for the wife to drive.

Oxygen

Awesome job on the transformation... the car looks fantastic!

Nice to see a car around here that looks great and not ghetto.

I never even knew they had a "gold package"... must have been something custom? Looks like the stuff is plated or something.

Also please do not change your headlights or tails... it takes a lot to appreciate the first generation W220 and once you do the headlights and tails looks awesome even today in 2009!

MR.J

my heart just stop..




steve your car sits nice pretty flush ..

stevedel

I think the stance might benefit with a 5-8mm spacer in the rear, but I would probably have to raise the rear a smidge if I did. I may just adjust the front links 1 full turn to negate the appearance of reverse rake since the rear arches are naturally lower than the fronts.

paperchase

I have always liked these wheels and thought they would suit the W220. They remind me of another staggered setup I had on my old car which you can see here: http://www.mbcoupes.com/500e/1994E500.htm

My questions are how much do the wheels weigh, as weight can really affect handling and how is the drive quality on 20s with this particular wheel. I have the staggered AMG 18" setup and am tossing around these identical wheels and tires on my W220 S55. I need to spruce it up or move on to the next fancy. Perhaps a CLS55.

Oh yeah, one more question: what is your tire size on the fronts. There is some debate on fitment with this OZ wheel. I've been told 245/35/20 but tire rack says otherwise.

Longtime reader, first time poster.

Thanks!

stevedel

honestly, i don't know how much the wheels weigh. as far as handling goes, i'd like to say it's comparable to stock, but the fact is i drive very leisurely to begin with and even more so now to be more conscious about avoiding damage to the wheels. my achieved ride height doesn't help any either. the rears barely clear inner fenders in the down position and the fronts rub slightly over dips when turning.

i'm running falken 452 245/35 all the way around on a 20x9.5 et35 so i can still benefit from tire rotations. IMHO, a monoblock style of wheel on an MB is not overstated and a timeless look that appears like it could have rolled off the assembly line with them.

paperchase

Thanks for the response. I don't get the whole lowering thing, especially if it causes rubbing. If you keep the same rolling diameter as stock then there should be no need to lower the car. There should be no more gap then there was with the stock wheels. I actually liked 4x4 mode.

I live in a major metropolitan area and so I'm concerned with 20s but 19s are the new 18s on OEM cars so 20s are really only +1. Also, I should mention I'm looking at the staggered setup of the OZ Opera's. Did your wheels rub before you lowered the car? I want bolt on, no lowering, no fender rolling, no rub.

Thanks, again.

stevedel

i prefer the more agressive look of the lowered stance w/out wheelgap. the rubbing is very minimal; i.e. entering a driveway with the steering wheel at nearly full lock. at stock height, the car drove the same but a bit louder and more harsh due to the lower profile tire.

alkemist

No lowering=

Ifari

Spare me the ghetto talk Oxygen...I'll remind you that all though you may not like it...'ghetto' boys were pimpin' rides long before your L7 azz ever knew what bling and 20 inch rims were...so lay off with the snobbery...it ain't cool!

gopijatt

car looks sick after u put the lowering links on!!! I just ordered myn from adjustable air ride

Gondon

had to pry those front links off it looked like the letter V haha

Doing the rears tomm

tusabes

Dont run spacers if you dont need to. Less vibration and the best ride will be had with no spacers...not worth the better "look".

BTW Awesome rims, I sold a set like that off my sl600. Love those OZ Operas