RoundTheBenz

Hi All,

I hit a pothole last night and I bent a rim and now have a flat (possibly need a new tire) and I have to try and decide what to do with the wheel in terms of repair or replacement.

I'm a real newb when it comes to wheels and tires. Can someone please give me some advice here? What should I need to know? Size, offset, etc? All I know is that I have 20" tires on the car. (2003 SL55)

Any advice would be really helpful. Thanks.

cal1

Hopefully someone like OKBarnett will pop in. He has answered tons of wheel questions for me. I can tell you what I know in about ten seconds. Our stock set ups are 255/40R18 in front and 285/35R18 in the back. The first two numbers is the aspect ratio. (don't fully understand it). The last is the wheel size. Look on the side of your tires and you should see the aspect ratio and wheel size printed on the sidewall. It can be hard to read though.

Yours will say R20 for sure since you have 20 inch wheels. Also, remember we have staggered wheels and tires so the front sizes are different than in the back.

Hope this helps.

kittyandgary

The 255 and 285 are the width in mm of the tire when inflated. The 40 and 35 are the aspect ratios of the tire (40% as 'deep' as it is wide when inflated). The 18 is the diameter of the wheel rim at the circumference where the tire bead mates up against the wheel.

I don't think any of the SL's came with 20 " tires, and only the 63's etc. came with 19" (e.g. the 2 piece 19" on the 2005's, etc.). Thus, I'm 99% sure your wheels are aftermarket, and the 20" is more prone to tire damage on potholes and aftermarket wheels are more prone to bending on severe impact than OE wheels.

You'll probably need to go to a wheel retailer rather than the MB dealer to try to get a replacement and keep the three you have.

OR - go on eBay, you probably can find a good deal on a set of four 18", or maybe even 19" Mercedes/AMG wheel with tires.

Bad winter for wheel/tire damage in our area this year, but not nearly as bad as last winter when the MB dealer sold over 600 tires/wheels due to pothole damage!

cal1

I am pretty sure the stock set up on the 03 SL55s was 255/40R18 in front and 285/35R18 in the back unless the car had the 030 performance set up.

RoundTheBenz

No 030 on mine. It has a Brabus Kit so that is concerning me a bit. What do I need to know about bolt pattern/offset? I am totally in the dark on this stuff.

okbarnett

you need to put in a picture and put the sizes of the tires, front and rear

TTtodd

Another option is to have the wheel repaired. Im sure there are a lot of wheel guys in the Atlanta area.

RoundTheBenz

Thanks all. I decided to put a set of 65 19" wheels on there. I'll get my ones repaired then and try to sell them.

cal1

I think 19s are a good compromise between form and function especially given the conditions of so many of our roads in America. Because I live in the land of the great pothole, I refuse to replace my stock 18s.

RoundTheBenz

Recent experience says I don't blame you!

So, I am getting these new wheels and like I said, they are 19's so what are your opinion on tire sizes? I'm thinking about 245/40/19 on the front and 275/35/19 on the rear or should it be 35 on front and 40 on back?

The ones I'm replacing, front were 255/30/20 and I'm not 100% about the back but I think they may have been 255/35/20 but like I said, I'm not 100% sure.

I'm going to get Hankooks. I've had then on various cars for 12 years and I'm happy with them so I'm just stuck on size. Like I said, total newb with tire sizes.

Attaching a picture of the style of the new ones.

cal1

I already screwed up once talking about tires in this thread, but I think you would want 285s in the rear. That extra 10mm wont make that much difference, however, I currently have 295s on the rear and I swear they look a bit more meaty. If you have a drop don't go to 295s though. I get a slight rub when the car is lowered an the strut gets compressed from road conditions.

I absolutely love the wheels in the picture. If or when I change out my stockers, it would be for that look. That gun metal looks good on most cars, but seems to me would look great on my pewter metallic color.

One more thing, I need new tires this season. I am trying to decide if Michelin PSS are worth the extra money or should I just go with Hankook V12s? My boss runs V-12s on his Maserati and loves them. He doesn't lay down the torque that we do though.

okbarnett

you should use 255 35 19 front, 285 30 19 rear hankooks are good but I just bought bridgestone potenza s-04 because my first set got almost 20,000 mi and they are cheaper (tire rack)

mcguirja

+1 These are the stock sizes on my SL63. Agree 19" is a nice compromise. I just bent one of my OEM AMG rims but it was a significant hit that did it. I was doing 80+ mph on I79 and hit a wicked pothole. Thought it had damaged my front suspension the impact was so hard. Wheel took a bit of a beating,but considering the impact it survived ok. I've replaced with new wheels but plan on repairing and reusing the oem's at some point in future.

The wheels in the picture (and in signature) are 19" x 8.5" Front, 19" x 9.5 rear, with the tire sizes referenced above.
(Edit : for some reason picture wouldn't attach but signature line has referenced tire sizes and this link will go to a different picture https://mbworld.org/g/picture/3294518)

RoundTheBenz

Thanks all. I'll go with the advice and get the 255/35/19 front and 285/30/19 rear.

Now my tire choice. I said previously that I was a big fan of the Hankook but when pricing them out, I came across the Yokohama ADVAN Sport A/S.

They seem to have pretty good reviews. Anyone used them before?

mcguirja

I haven't used Yokohama's but they are a great price at Tire Rack. I currently have Michelin Pilot Sports which I'm very happy with, but have also used Continental Extemecontact DWS which I also liked for the price.

My S Class had been chewing up tires at one point because of a problem I'd been having with 4matic. Decided to buy the cheapest but reasonably rated tires I could find which ended up being Sumitomo (considered a second tier manufacturer). Although they were very cheap I ended up liking them a fair bit, so a very long way of saying price (i.e. paying more) isn't always the best indicator of satisfaction.

Nosmo SL55

Attached is a Merc wheel & tyre chart that I found on the web somewhere when I was trying to make heads or tails of what I should put on my car. It may help others that come across this thread in future.

Not my work so a big thanks to the original author.

RoundTheBenz

I have a spare on there now which is a 19" and the edge of the tires is slightly inside the wheel arch. Not sure if I like it but I'm committed to the wheels now. Anything you think I can do to get the look of that extra inch? Thanks.

mcguirja

Does the spare have the same offset and or/width as the wheel you will be putting on? Depending on the offset/width of the wheel it might make a difference. You could explore spacers, although there are differing opinions on whether you want to use them on cars with as much power as these. I was going to put just 5mm spacers on the rear of mine when I recently changed the wheels and my mechanic (who takes a very personal interest in my car ) refused to put them on. I think there are owners on this forum that have experience with them so would have a better informed opinion than I do.

RoundTheBenz

So I just ordered the tires at tirerack. I broke my usual habit of only purchasing the Hankook because the price was too good to be true. I ended up going with the Yokohama ADVAN Sport A/S. The specs and reviews look pretty good and they are actually rated a bit better than the Hankook. $676 for the set of 4. I'll let you know how I like them when they're finally put on. Thanks everyone.

mcguirja

Look forward to hearing what you think.

Not to hijack this thread, I could start another and I know there are lots of tire threads on here, but general thoughts on all season versus summer? I live in Toronto Canada and would consider myself a 3 season driver. Often times early spring and late fall the temperature gets below recommended for summer tires, but since I don't winter drive this car I don't want a set of summer and a set of all season to rotate early and late in the season. I haven't experienced major issues with the Michelins I have at low temperatures but maybe I've just been lucky to date. For example it was in the 30's Fahrenheit this week but I drove my SL all week. Am I taking too much of a risk with summers only?

RoundTheBenz

So I thought I'd update the thread since the new wheels and tires are on. I took the advice given in the thread and went with 255/35/19 front and 285/30/19 rear. I got a great deal on Tirerack for some Yokohama's (under $700 including delivery). I got the wheels with gunmetal spokes and a silver lip. When I first saw them I thought I made a mistake and should have had all silver but others tell me they look good. Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks all.

mcguirja

Looks really good. I would have said silver might have been a better choice but I like this look better.

cal1

I'm curious as to which Yokos you purchased. I just reversed my position regarding stock 18s and purchased some very nice AMG 19s so now I am in the market for the exact size tires as you just purchased. I only drive my SL in the summer so will be looking for Ultra-high performance summer tires.

RoundTheBenz

I ended up with the Yokohama ADVAN Sport A/S. They are Y rated and have pretty good reviews in fact they had better reviews and tread wear than the Hankooks which I have used on all my other cars for the past 10 years.

Granted, I have only been driving on them less than a week but I'm quite happy. They are certainly better than the old setup I had. Just ride comfort alone going to the larger sidewall and the 19's versus 20's I had.