Hi Guys,

I'm quite new to the MB forums...although having said that i've been trailing these forums for quite some time now, fantastic people with fantastic rides and advice keep it up!

I have a 2007 S350L, i'm from the UK btw, fantastic car, however i've recently come across an issue with rubbing on my rear tyres which is driving me nuts Ok the scenario is, i have the stock 20" AMG rims on the vehicle, ET43, Fronts 8.5J with 255/35/20 and Rears: 9.5J with 275/35/20 running on Dunlop Sport Maxx GT. After reading the posts on this forums i decided i wanted a more aggressive stance on the rear wheels. Hence to cut a long story short i purchased some Hubcentric H&R 12mm spacers for the rears with the correct length bolts. I fitted these on the vehicle and they look fantastic, HOWEVER, upon test driving the vehicle with just myself driving, the rear wheels seem to catch or rub on something when i go through a harsh dip I'm quite confused because i know some of you guys are running 22" rims with much wider tyres and dont have issues.

I mean 12mm spacer is quite moderate and the tyres are not even 100% flush with the fender, could it be possible in anyway that the tyres are catching on the Metal Tabs that join on rear fenders? On close inspection, the metal tabs do stick out a little, but could they really catch on the tyres with the suspension compressed? It's not such a big deal to cut them off but before i do this, i just wanted to check with the knowledge of you people on this forum, could it be catching elsewhere like the fenders edge?

I doubt rolling the fenders would be required for 12mm spacers? or am i wrong...

Appreciate your advice PLEASE

Sorry, my wheels are the 20" OEM AMG S63 wheels just like the attachment pic.

Any help would be much appreciated, i use the vehicle for business and pleasure which puts me on highway driving quite some bit, so it can be a real annoyance and dangerous when i hit those dips at speed.

Have a look up inside the rear wheel well where the rear quarter panel meets the rear bumper. There's a small plastic tab that protrudes into the well space. It needs to be Dremmeled down flush to prevent rubbing when the rear suspension is compressed.

I run staggered 20" AMG wheels (43mm offset) with 20mm rear spacers.

@mike5215

Thanks for your reply, yes my wheels are exactly the same as yours with the same offset. You have 20mm on the rears and i have only put 12mm and i'm having issues. Have you also rolled your fenders or just shaved down those tabs on the rear quarters? Do you have any issues with rubbing?...i guess shaving down those tabs may just do the trick, i hope!

BTW your ride looks really neat! Always look great in black...nice aggressive stock look

Please see attached pic, are these the tabs in question?

They seem to be metal...are they really long enough to catch on the tyre with my set up???

Nah, no rolling business for me. If I can't get the fit I want without messing with the car I won't do it. I think your tabs look like metal because they're silver? Mine are black and feel like plastic. I should have ground mine down but I forgot to do it before the wheels went on. I do get an occasional complaint from back there on speed bumps and on some freeway expansion joints.

Just had a closer inspection and a good knock around, they are definately metal, i guess they'd be the same on yours also, its actually part of the rear fender thats folds inside the wheel well and joins with the rear bumper.

I'm surprised how your driving with 20mm spacers on the rear and only get the occasional scrape i've got 12mm on the rear and can hear quite a few scrapes when it hits a deep pot hole, although having said that i was driving it yesterday and it also scrapped when i hit a smallish pot hole ... i dont know if it is a certain characteristic of the airmatic suspension, but it was almost like the pot hole had caught the suspension off guard and then it quickly reacted by stiffening up, because after that i got paranoid and tried to run it into a few deep bumps and it just wouldn't do it again
Anyhow, i guess the conclusion is to get rid of those damn tabs! I'd be very surprised if it was actually rubbing on the fenders, because 12mm rear spacers in conjunction with 275/35/20 isn't such a huge increase in comparison with the guys running 295's on 22" rims...

Yeah, that is strange. I guess any change in offset that pushes the wheel out enough to catch the tabs would be enough. I'm in Florida so very few potholes, and I'm always on the lowered "Sport" airmatic setting as well.