just wondering if these wheels will fit my E320 1994 4-door and not stick out or look silly, or rub on the struts.

the offset is 35 which I have heard is ok but is it right for this width of rim on my car? I want them to look flush and not protruding.

also, the best size wheels would be 225 or 235 in width?

the seller isn't sure what model they fit.

do you think the silver middle is fine, or would shine look better than paint?

You will definitely have no problems running those, especially if your car is NOT lowered. 225/40/18 would be the desired tire size to shoot for. They will not rub on the struts, no matter what. Main issue with W124's is rubbing on the fender lips. That offset/width will not stick out or look silly either. If your car is lowered, they will still fit. But you will need to probably roll the fender lips, and space out the front fenders (as per AMG). If your car is lowered, 215/40/18 would be the desired tire size to run without having big rubbing issues.

__________________
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1991 300E - 212K and rising fast...

I do want to lower, hopefully by 40mm with Vogtlands if I can get them.
just went next door to my work (Tyrepower) and Richard reckons that 215 may stretch a bit. Which is a shame because I wanted to have this tyre on the front.
I wonder about rolling the fenders is that pretty easy? is it the part you can't see above the wheel tread that gets pushed up. and nothing to do with the wheel arch flares on the outside?
While with Richard I got a quote for 225/40/18 Continental tyre - $400 each . Play to Play I s'pose. Want no negative camber issues then.

Glad to hear they should work, esp the not sticking out part. Would you have any comments about ride? My brothers mechanic says ride wont be affected but I'll have better traction. Other say different. Depends on the road bumpiness? My merc is very floaty and goes wide on corners currently. it needs to corner flatter.

One thing I'm doing is getting my rear suspension overhauled new control arms and the lot, with new springs and shocks so hoping that with everything taut and terrific will help even more.

The wheels are being offered for $1000 (AU) for the 4.

The W124 really handles like a go-kart when lowered, the difference is amazing. But Vogtlands are a very harsh spring. Compared to the stock ride quality. Especially if the roads are not perfect where you live, the Vogtlands will shake your insides loose. But if you don't drive it everyday they are a nice stiff spring and they also drop the car the most out of any lowering spring.

Rolling the fender lips basically bends that metal inner lip (flap) of the fender. You are correct, it has nothing to do with the outside wheel arches. Just that inner fold of metal. It will definitely be required with Vogtlands. With Eibach springs, I didn't have rubbing problems until hard cornering.

My only experience with Vogtlands is with 17" wheels and a 225/45 tire. With 18" wheels and a 40 sidewall that's going to be even more of a bumpy ride. But it's a trade-off, do you want the car super low and to handle like it's on rails, but have ride quality suffer? Or do you want the car to be lowered a little bit less, still have great handling, and have a fairly comfortable ride?

I have Eibach springs with Bilstein Sport shocks. The car corners great, but still has a stock feeling ride for the most part. The Eibach's don't lower the car as much, but if you play with spring pads, you can get a nice, classy looking drop. H&R springs are very similar to Vogtlands in drop, but I've heard they ride a bit better. But Eibach's will give you the best ride quality and handling quality trade-offs out of any of the springs.

Unless you are dying for the look of 18" wheels, 17's are honestly the best fitment for this chassis. Plus 17" tires are cheaper and more readily available. The old rule of thumb for upgrading wheels...... goes stock wheel (15") size plus 2" for best characteristics.

Here is a picture of my car with 17x8 ET35 wheels, 225/45/17 tires, and of course Eibach's. #1 spring pads in front, #2 in back. As you can see, the wheels sit perfectly flush with the fender. I honestly think adding 500E sway bars to my setup would be the cats meow. And would make up for the difference in stiffness between the Vogtland/H&R and Eibachs's.

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1991 300E - 212K and rising fast...

I don't drive the merc every day but I still want the right kind of compromise between ride/handling. Definitely don't want to lose the merc feel but it could be acceptable a little firmer if I can improve handling. My daily driver got damaged in an icy hail storm that passed our city last week, rare for Australia. So many cars on the road I see now have real bad hail stone marks. My 320 was parked under the car port but some stones made it underneath at the back so i need to claim on the boot and tail lights. My Daily doesn't matter.

So your photos are of 8 inch rims and 225 tyres, what I am looking at. This seems to be nice. You have made me think again about 17's though, which I have always thought a better balanced increase but the 18 inch wheels I notice more around of them and better designs. 17's seem hard to get. and $1000 for the 4 is a great deal. Does it really make the ride a lot bumpier going from 17's to 18's?

I must look into the Eibachs, are they stiff enough? Thanks for the feedback on the Vogtlands, I previously thought or have read that they retained a nice ride while stiffening things up. Did you have the Vogtlands in a 124 chassis?

The front fenders/wings are already rolled on a '94. You might however have issues with the plastic cladding aft of the front wheels, I did with my 225s on bumps and they're tucked tight with 8" ET40s.

Going from 15s to 18s will certainly make a considerable difference in ride quality, and life expectancy of the suspension components. You will also need to run higher tire pressures to protect the rims from damage if you drive anything but the smoothest roads. Potholes etc will take out a rim every time with the low-profile tires, I had to learn this at the expense of 4 new forged BBS wheels.

Depending on what you need, a good wide set of 16x8s and 225s will give you a substantial handling improvement with minimal ride harshness, going 17 will increase the handling/response somewhat, 18" more, but at a cost of practicality (the abovementioned road condition damage) and reduced ride quality.

The simple answer is that the tires are the first component of ride. They absorb a good deal of the high-frequency bumps and thumps, the less sidewall the more is transmitted to the chassis.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

love the info JohnM and babymog.
rim damage was another concern. can a rim bent on a pothole actually be repaired btw? hate to chuck out all due to 1 coming a cropper.
I think I will put head before heart and get either the 16's or 17's.
if I do, and they are 8 inch wide rims, would these have a tendency to hit the plastic cladding like the 18's as you mention?
If so, I will look for 7 1/2 inch wide rims, but again I'm sure these are harder to find in a style I will be after (sigh).

16 x 7.5
17 x 7.5

Here: 16x8 ET40 Fit 124 (photos) is my thread on the 16x8 ET40 with photos. In the last posting is a link to a similar thread with ET40 wheels.

The tires in this photo are 225/55-16, which are too large dia. The correct tires for the 8" rim is 225/50-16. However, I found that the 215/55-16 is a nicer look with a little stretch, and a great handling/riding combination, doesn't give anything up to the original setup in tramlining/ride/pull/etc. but really helps the response. This is on a '95 E320 with stock springs.

I did buy/try a set of 8.5x18 ET?? on the front and 9.5x18 on the rear (can't remember the offset of either), looked really great, but as this is/was a daily driver at the time, it made more sense to me to run the 16s, and the tires are much less expensive for the 16s. I'd never switch back.

If you're really into the look, I understand, 18s are great. For track stuff, 18s are great also. But for the real world, the ability to corner hard on less than perfect pavement leans toward a little sidewall and more modest tire pressures.

Good luck.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Very good points all around. Honestly, finding a non-staggered set of Merc wheels is hard enough as it is, whether 17 or 18. Even here in the USA. Unless you live in California. . It will be very difficult to damage 17" wheels with that 45 sidewall. My butthole would definitely be puckering up a lot more if I had expensive 18's and that 40 sidewall. Of course, any pothole big enough will do damage if you hit it just right.

Yes, I have experience with Vogtlands and the W124. Both driving the car and riding in the passenger seat. I honestly see them as more of a track spring than anything else. You lose all of the Mercedes ride qualities with Vogtlands, ever ridden in a lowered BMW? Rides like A$$. The Merc w/ Vogtlands isn't quite that bad, but it is still quite bumpy and you literally feel EVERY single bump in the road.

The Eibachs are comfortable for cruising and when you want to take a corner, they are ready for anything you can throw at them. Vogtlands pretty much eliminate all body roll, whereas the Eibachs you still have a little. But don't get me wrong, your car will handle GREAT with the Eibach's. It's nothing close to stock handling. Like I said, I think the softer Eibach's with stiff 500E sway bars would be the ultimate setup for comfortable ride and amazing handling qualities.

As far as 8" wide wheels rubbing on the front body cladding, this is true. But this rubbing only occurs under extreme cornering conditions, IE....mountain driving, track days, etc. But can easily be remedied by installing the aforementioned "AMG" fender spacers. Which are basically nylon spacers that you stick between the front outer edge of the fender (underneath the turn signal) and at the bottom of the fender. I just went to the hardware store and found the appropriate nylon spacers and got some longer bolts. You can buy the AMG spacers, but the hardware store has everything needed. This really makes the front of the car look "wider" from the front while also fixing the rubbing issue.

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w124-e-ce-d-td-class/1457694-widening-front-fenders-amg-spacers.html

Good luck....

__________________
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1991 300E - 212K and rising fast...

Yes. There are 3 specialized alloy wheel repair shops here in Colorado within 100 miles of me. I'm sure if you did a Google search, you would be able to find a handful near you. They can fix even the WORST of bends/cracks/bad hubs these days, even with spoked wheels & multiple piece (2PC/3PC) wheels. I was told anything can be fixed.

For bends, they classify two different basic types of repair...inner lip and outer lip. I had an inner lip bend on one of my Brabus replica's. It was bad enough to cause the wheel bearing to growl...so badly I thought I had a front wheel bearing problem, until I rotated tires, and the noise soon appeared on the rear! And you could visibly tell the wheel was wobbling. I paid $100 and it's as good as new! The outer lip repair is $180 because they have to refinish the wheel after the repair is performed. But it good to know when you do hit a pothole....that there's someone that can help out.

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1991 300E - 212K and rising fast...

JohnM.
This was my concern and your confirmation leads me to thinking that it is just not worth the worry of +3, in the end I just want to drive and enjoy it. The look is important, but having a correct and practical solution is much more satisfying. Actually I think that 17 inch wheels on the 124 look better because it is more right for the car, and the eye can tell this.

JohnM.
It's great that you have been able to directly compare both setups which is a huge help for me, as I'm evaluating what products to buy and want to get it right first go.

babymog
interesting..
what would be the figures for the tyre pressures for, as you mention, (1) more modest tire pressure and (2) higher protecting tire pressure? I know that people opinion about what tire pressure you should have differs but I remember doing a drivers training day back in the 90's and the 'experts' there told me to pump your tyres harder than most people would consider (36 psi is what they said) and this is what I have my tires at.

babymog
Ouch for the BBS's. If the diameter of the wheels stays the same how is it that the suspension components suffer? I have read this before and wondered, is it because the rim is bigger so there is more weight, or is is the harder banging of the wheel because of the reduced sidewall, transmitting shock up through the other parts?

JohnM.
why the no 1 front and 2 back pads? does it make the back sit a bit higher because of fuel tank weight will bring it back down. as I understand it if you had #1 pads then the ride height would be as low as it could be, and if you have pads higher in number it raises the ride height is this true?

the 500E sway bars, on the back I think that would reduce understeer. But would you also go for the same on the front. I've heard aboput a limo bar (for the front) but I'm not sure what a limo bar actually means, off a "limo"
I was quoted $954 for front torsion bar from my local dealer, the Sportline sway bar.

Bearing in mind all the helpful info provided I have bought these rims, and they are still on their way



EVO II. (I pulled image off a different Ebay might not be my exact rims but I think they are I just liked the picture )
My only concern was they may be slightly sporty in visual nature, compared to the elegance of say a monoblock Aero II which was my other preference. But they are not painted as I prefer a metallic finish, and these are Titanium Silver. I haven't done my research but from looking I think this silver is darker than Mercedes Standard Silver, which is what my current rashed 8-holes are so it will make a nice change. Given my paintwork is MB blue-black I think the darker metallic finish of the rims should be sweet. Although I do like the sheen of the polished 8-holes but time will tell when they arrive I will know then when they're on the car. And they'll be 17 x 7.5 not 18 x 8

So, they may have a degree of more sportiness, but they also look nicely minimalist and functional in their presentation which goes with the 124 philosophy. Sharp edged - aspiring - not for show - but a wheels wheel. I pointed them out to a friend and he perceived the lack of a step up lip was a benefit because it makes the wheel look flat and kinda stock looking. The spokes are not too thin - something I wanted to avoid, but the presence of them makes a refreshing change, and I think when the car is moving these will look hot.

Got them online from alloy wheels direct and here is the link
http://www.alloywheelsdirect.net/mercedes_alloy_wheels/e_class_124_alloys/17_mercedes_ceginus_evo_ii_wheel_875#

There website was "too easy".

What I like is they are genuine Mercedes rims and I believe they are light compared to some others. They are the perfect size, offset so no more doubts. Below is another wheel I uncovered this time from an Australian website



It's referred to as "Hammer" in the product description. althjough not sure if it hammer don't think so techncially not correct? As far as I can tell it is an SL replica. This probably my favourite mercedes wheel it's like a Monoblock aero II on crack, I like the bigger openings but still mostly solid faced appearance. But .. obviously a replica at AU $1200 for 4. I just don't know enough about genuine Vs replica rims to gamble on not going for genuine rims over an aesthetic preference. But still, interesting to see someone doing such a nice wheel recreation in the unorthodox sizing of 17 x 7.5 'Hammer' at a great price too.

Tonight I also ordered some new shocks. Went for the Bilstein HD's.



After reading some of RBYCC's posts (sorry could be a different forum) about the use of HD's in Porsches in a lowering spring setup, I went for them instead of the Sports. I only did this because of the prospect of a slightly better ride as the HD's go up and down a bit higher in their action while still working fine with a shorter spring. But it was a toss up between HD and the Sports and I hear many saying they find it hard to tell the difference between the two types of dampers. In the end the Ebay listing I encountered (after a few hours hunting about) was for the HD's so it was almost decision made, although seller said he could get the Sports if I provided the Part No.
I got them from an Ebay Store thepartsladi US $746.52 inc shipping to Australia. The ausse dollar now 93 cents against the US V. happy with this deal.

I am trying to find an international seller of the Eibach Pro Kit springs. Any ideas? Local distributors are (relatively) pricey in Australia. Also, is there a tyre or list of tyres that through experience people have recommended for the 124,
I want a nice quiet ride but I suppose if you want a high performance tyre then it would probably be noisy. I would sacrifice some performance for overall quietness.

My 124 is a nice and straight ride that I waited 3 years of looking about for, until I found (not many in my end of the world) but it needs some work on unseen areas. The suspension up for some attention as it rides as if - I remember one BMW forum member saying - it's on a spring loaded cloud. But I'm sure this can be fixed.

8" wide, ET 34 + 225 section tyres will stick out too far (ie. look wrong) and will rub in certain situations (ie. combination of corner+bump) on a stock-height car, never mind a lowered one.
Been there, done that, using genuine Mercedes wheels.
You have been warned !