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With the right tire size they should fit at the rear, but I seriously doubt 20x10 will fit on the front.
These are heavy cars that are notorious for bending/cracking 20" rims though, so if you've got any kind of rough pavement/potholes in your area you'll want to think real hard before going to 20s.
To get 20s to fit on an R230 you have to use tires with very short sidewall aspect ratio, which makes for a rougher ride and makes it easier to bend/break rims, especially with a heavy car. Tire height is limited on these cars by the front tires - the bolt head for the upper ball joint sits over the tire, so you can only go to ~26" diameter. Then, you don't want a significant difference in tire height front-to-rear or you'll get ESP/ABS errors..... so you have to stay pretty close to 26" max diameter front and rear.
Yiu can probably go with 28” tall tires if it’s not lowered, but if it’s lowered larger tires are probably going to rub the front wheel liners and possibly bumper.
OK, decided to take a few minutes to get an exact measurement for front tire clearance. Car - 2005 SL600; Tire - Michelin Pilot Sport AS3+ 255/40ZR18.
This tire has a calculated diameter of 26" and clearance to the upper ball joint bolt is 23/32". So a 27" tire should fit with 7/32" of clearance. A 28" tire will not fit.
When I was shopping for new wheels and tires, my concern with this clearance came from considering tire diameter expansion at speed due to centrifugal force + temperature rise. I plan to take my car to The Texas Mile to see what it'll do, and I really don't want a front tire rubbing on a bolt head at 170+MPH. I searched for any kind of actual data for tire diameter expansion but all I could find is general comments that say most street radials don't grow very much - nothing like drag racing slicks, but not zero expansion, either. So for my required qualities (decent ride for casual driving on imperfect roads, compatibility with top speed runs) applied to the sizes that were actually available from the manufacturers I preferred, I settled on these Michelins. I just wasn't comfortable with the clearance that would result from moving up to the next higher available size.
OK, decided to take a few minutes to get an exact measurement for front tire clearance. Car - 2005 SL600; Tire - Michelin Pilot Sport AS3+ 255/40ZR18.
This tire has a calculated diameter of 26" and clearance to the upper ball joint bolt is 23/32". So a 27" tire should fit with 7/32" of clearance. A 28" tire will not fit.
When I was shopping for new wheels and tires, my concern with this clearance came from considering tire diameter expansion at speed due to centrifugal force + temperature rise. I plan to take my car to The Texas Mile to see what it'll do, and I really don't want a front tire rubbing on a bolt head at 170+MPH. I searched for any kind of actual data for tire diameter expansion but all I could find is general comments that say most street radials don't grow very much - nothing like drag racing slicks, but not zero expansion, either. So for my required qualities (decent ride for casual driving on imperfect roads, compatibility with top speed runs) applied to the sizes that were actually available from the manufacturers I preferred, I settled on these Michelins. I just wasn't comfortable with the clearance that would result from moving up to the next higher available size.
Bruce it looks like your bolt is shaved down already and is flush with the nut!
The clearance you have is small, but not too much, I think with a slight shave to the bolt head and also your tyres will wear down too so the gap will increase.
I went with 19" as I lowered my car on Eibach Pro kits by 30mm, so the overall look makes the wheels seem larger than they are as they are closer to the wheel arch.
I have run 20" wheels on three R230s, all with staggered setup. They look great and drive fine. The fronts have to be not as wide as the rears so that you can turn the steering wheel. Really wide in the rear to grab the road better when you have a renntech tuned TT V12 or a supercharged M113K. I have never had a bent wheel or fitment issue due to having 20's. Tirerack dot com can advise on what wheels will fit on a car. I bought wheels from them when I had a rear tire that kept leaking LOL so I said, OK let's go with all new, and that sure solved the issue. I have a set of black 20" wheels that fit an R230 that have nothing wrong with them, I just got something different. I would sell those wheels pretty cheap if anyone near Seattle was interested. 04 SL600 07 SL550
01-04-2024, 05:52 PM
