i am looking to get new wheels & tires for my newly acquired 93 300e-2.8. it appears that the +1 16" size is 205 55 16's. i am always concerned about scraping the wheels on the curb and have found that some tires cross section help with this, particularly the ones that are more oval and don't "stand tall". alternatively 215 55 16's don't seem to be that much larger and would help even more. anyone know if there is enough clearance in the w124? i am assuming there must since the 400e has much fatter rubber on them...

400E used same tire size. You can use 225/50/16 (like me) if you have the CORRECT wheel (authentic MB 16" x 7J Euro 400E wheel).

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1988 Mercedes-Benz 260E

does this mean that clearance /offset is somewhat critical? i guess i'll check with Luke. most of the aftermarket wheels ar 7.5 inchers...

205/55/16 with 16x7.5 wheels with an offset of 35 should work fine.

I am not sure about 225, but I don't forsee them rubbing with a 7.5" rim, but it depends on the car.

Some rub some don't.

Alon

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'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon

Mine don't.

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1988 Mercedes-Benz 260E

225/50/16 will work on non-500 W124's provided the wheel offset (more critical than overall wheel width) is right. This setup is very sensitive to offset. The 205/55/16 (also a viable setup) is not so sensitive. If you are going with only 205 section width just go OEM sportline size and go with 205/60/15. As far as your concerns with curb and pothole protection, buy a tire with a rim protector bar. Ask Luke to recommend specific tires with them but its basically some extra rubber that sticks out further than the edge of the metal rim to take the "hit" and prevent any rim damage.

400E's are stock with the same size as the 300E 195/65/15. This is something that 90% of all 400E/E420 owners remedy somewhere between the 2nd tank of gas and 1st year of ownership. Generally the 300 and 400 w124's can share shoe size. Since this is such a popular topic/mod a search the shop forum for previous references to this topic should turn up a wealth of info. Let us know if you have any questions. As always, it never hurts to get Luke's professional opinion on things.

Hope this helps,
Lee

He's alive!!!

Lee, where have you been lately?

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1988 Mercedes-Benz 260E

i've seen those tire lips on the dunlop sp5000. i like that tire a lot too - drove a friend's camry that had been shod in 205 55 16's (coincidence?). tire rack has these mille miglia "bellos" with an MB center cap which is kinda growing on me. i am partial to the spoke or spoke like arrangements for ease of cleaning as well as looks. the stocks i'll keep but will be using for snows). thanks for all the help!

I have the set up you are considering...and oooohhh if tirerack had had the bellos when I ordered the tires I would have gotten them also
Here is a picture of my front left wheel with my sp5000's.

very nice! yeah, the bellos on their "see how it looks on your car" webpage doesn't look like anything because they are chrome and the wheel image looks like some black and white oddity! i saw the painted ones in a magazine spread and it looked real good!

Hello:

I have Toyo Proxes T1S 205/55/16's tires on my 260E. Not to mention it is lowered, I don't have problems with clearance.

If you are worried about scraping your wheels, Toyo Proxes T1S has rim guards. Not to mention these tires rock. Very smooth riding, stable and standing water isn't an issue. Steering response very good but could be better but I am not grumbling.

Aloha,
Eric

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1987 260E Charcoal Grey 157,000 Miles
1987 260E Forest Green 120,000 Miles

owww! i picked up the bellos with the sp5's then i saw the current brochures for the e class. those wheels are replicas of the sport package wheels that they are offering! i really oughta post pix - these things have put a smile on my mug (in spite of all the recent grim events)...

I have a set of 97' E320 wheels on my 89 300CE which is lowered. Continental CH 95 205/55/16 tires. The offset is about + 3 or 4mm from original. No clearance problems and enough overhang to protect the rim from a gentle curb scrape. This is the BEST setup I have ever had on this car and also the quitest set of tires I have ever owned. Beware of aftermarket wheels on Mercedes that can never be balanced properly. Craig

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90 300SL Pearl Gray
92 300CE Smoke Silver

re: aftermarket wheels - if you go with a reputable outfit like tirerack you should be ok. they don't sell anything that doesn't have SAE on all the proper letters of certification attached. also, they do their homework with offsets and clearances and i never even worry about it. OTOH if you go and buy your wheels from costco or pep-boys - you're on your own. for that matter, my brother traded in a set of 560 alloys for another oem set that had been chromed and got a big headache instead. he got a harmonic vibration at speed and after numerous trips to have balance & alignment checked it turned out that the wheels were out of true! so indeed, buyer beware...

as long as your overall wheel size is the same as stock, you will be fine. to find the overall wheel size, here is the formula:

[(tires width X profile (%) x 2) / 25.4] + rim size = overall wheel size

example: stock wheel size is 195 65 15

calculation: [(195 x 65% x 2) / 25.4] + 15 = 24.980315 inches

if you wanted an 18" rim, the tire size would be 225 40 18.

overall wheel size for an 18" rim is 25.086615 inches. (pretty close to stock)

hope this has been helpful.