E55 KEV

I decided to look at my wheel wells just to see if I could go wider like JamE55 did with 19X10 rear aned 19X9 front. Plenty of space in the rear but a discovered tire rubbing up front!

I replaced my OEM E55 Monoblock rims with Antera wheels and the same size tire of 245/40/18. The specs are:

AMG Monoblock II
18X8 et31

Antera Type 183
18X8 et35

The change in offset is only 4 mm. The change from 31 to 35 pushes the wheel in by 4mm. The tire was completely touching the control arm on both sides. Now I need a 5mm spacers or need to use 235/40/18 tires up front. I am confused and shocked because Jam is using 19X9 et 32 up front with the same tire width.

The rubbing is here:

Chad Oliver

WTF???? could it be a camber issue? I was under the impression that your vehicle would be better suited than mine in the wide tire clearances. You can try putting some chalk on there and driving normally see if it tranfers, It could just be rubbing under a hard load. You certainly don't want a busted tie rod or upper ball joint. Good Luck!

JamE55

That's really interesting?? What brand name of tires are you using KEV? Does it rub on straight or only when your making laft or right turns? That's really weird?

Ted Baldwin

................I have tried to use 245/40/18 toyo tires with 18x8.5 Lorinser Lm5 wheels in the front of my CLK and I was lucky to discover the same problem while still at the shop. With the tires in place, you don't notice any problem, the car drives fine. But with any bumping, that knot descends and scrapes the tires. I was trying to make some use of my 245 tires i had taken out of the rear wheels and replaced with 265's. At least for the CLK, 245's are too big for the front and 235's are the widest you can put in front. Seems like this might be the case for the E-class. I don't know how Jam is doing it without spacers.


Ted

JamE55

Ted

What series of 245 tires are you using?? Mine are 245/35/19fronts. Think since 35 series are very low profile that's one of the reason it does not rub. Very little rubber to touch the control arm.

Ted Baldwin

What series of 245 tires are you using?? Mine are 245/35/19fronts. Think since 35 series are very low profile that's one of the reason it does not rub. Very little rubber to touch the control arm.

..............245/40/18. You may be right 35's being lower profile and thereby avoiding the problem. E55KEV also used 245's. Interesting.

Ted

JamE55

Here's my advice try using a 35 series tire and see if if still rubs. If not then maybe that's your solution. Good luck!

E55 KEV

Guys, thanks for the replies.

The tire is rubbing under zero load - it touches when the car is sitting still? The change in offset pushes everything in only 4mm and the offset calculators says the Jam's setup is inward 14mm. How can this be? There is a ring around the front tires from the rubbing. The tires are Nitto 555 in OEM size 245/40/18. Jam's lower profile of 35 would not matter because the tires are basically the same height and the tire hits at the top of the darn tire.

E320

wrong offset?double check it

JamE55

Welcome KEV! But that's really weird your setup? Mean why would it rub if you have the correct offset. This may sound crazy but i still think you should try the lower profile tires.

E55 KEV

JamE55, what lower profile tire to use without getting a speedo error? Remember the tire height must remain reletively the same.

The tire is US OEM size of 245/40/18. There are no 245/35/18 and if so that size is too short.

E55 KEV

I already checked the Antera fitment guide and the back of the rim and everything reads ok. But the guide does not list the tire size required. I speculate that is may need the 235/40/18 tire.

This must be taken into consideration. Antera is an Euro company. The Antera fitment guide is for Euro cars and the Euro E55 has smaller width tires. The Euro E55 uses 235/40/18 up front. If my tire was 10mm narrower at 235 instead of 245mm in width that would be 5mm more space on the inner side because the new rim pushed the setup inward 4mm.

I have noticed that most Euro fitment guides never list the US E55 tire sizes of 245 & 275.

E55 KEV

JamE55, this is weird.

The looked at "section widths" for the following 3 tires and the 245/35/19 you are using is actually narrower than the 245/40/18 you took off.

Bridgestone S-03:
245/40/18 is 10"
245/35/19 is 9.6"

Dunlop SP Sport 9000:
245/40/18 is 10"
245/35/19 is 9.8"

Nitto NT-555:
245/40/18 is 9.72"
245/35/19 is 9.65"

So my new Nitto 555 is narrower and measured at 9.72" and the my OEM 9000 is measured at 10" - both are 245/40/18.

E320

If you're tires are narrower than the stock i guess you have a wrong offset.

E55 KEV

My tire sizes are the same - 245/40/18. However every tire makers tires do not measure the same. There are slight variations to all tires even if they state the same size. There are variations to widths, heights etc. But just very small.

stephens

E55 Kev
It sounds like the rim is the problem, as you have pointed out the tyres are US OEM fitment. Standard fitment is 35mm offset, based on the info you have posted on the Nitto tyres widths, your original tyres would also rub on the original rims, if the offset on the new rim was calculated correctly.
ie .25"=10mm (approx) -difference in width of Nitto to original tyre.
The difference in stated offset of new rim and OEM rim is 4mm.
Based on this you should rub even worse with your stock setup as the tyre would protrude 1mm further to the control arm. This doesn't take into account what would happen when the tyre deflects under load which would compound your problem.

I suspect if you have the new rim measured, the offset may not be correctly calculated.

JamE55

KEV

My current tire setup is 245/35/19F and 275/30/19R. Sounds like even though the wheel fitments are correct maybe it's just incompatible????

JamE55

E55 KEV

Not really sure why that is. Maybe Peter can shed some light on this?

E55 KEV

This rubbing situation is weird. But that speculation would mean that all E55 in the US are rubbing and I doubt that is the case.

E55 KEV

Jam, are you sure that Wheel Experts did not put some sort of spacer on that front wheel. Because taking your front wheel inward 14mm is a lot. Check for rubbing just in case. If no problem just send me your wheels.

stephens

Exactly, that is why I am suggesting that the wheel that you are trying is not actually the offset that is being suggested.

lee2375

there is no spacer on james' wheels....that is extremely odd.

do you hear noise while driving?

JamE55

Damn!!! Ok KEV what's your address so i can send you my wheels! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trust me no spacers on these babies!!!!!!!!! I actually looked at the hub of the front rim and it looked pretty thick that's why no spacers needed. Where did you buy your wheels anyway??

E55 KEV

I got them from Status Imports But I mounted them myself because I like to do my own work if possible.

The problem is the US wider tire size because the Antera specs for the wheel is euro and the euro tire is 235/40/18. Plus the Nitto NT-555 has a wider contact patch. This tire has bigger 'shoulders' than most tires of the same size to give this wide contact patch.

Status Imports is getting me some 4mm spacers - this will bring the offset back to 31mm like on the OEM AMG Monoblock.

Brabus, Renntech, Carlsson all recommend the Euro size of 235/40/18 for W210 front.

E55 KEV

Jam, your E55/HRE offset is a miracle. But I just figured it out.

Maybe the addition of the Brembo brake upgrade pushed the rotor placement out a little further than the stock E55 brakes allowing for the wider rims of 9" with et32. Maybe that is it.