[W126 Coupe] Wheel Fitment Problem - HELP PLEASE!

[drakon]

I am running 275 tires on 18" rims (10.5 wide I think), and I have had 285
tires on in the past.  When I just got the tires and rims, I had the same
problem, but it was solved by adding spacers.  If you still feel
uncomfortable, I can check what my offset is this weekend when I do my rear
rotors.

 

Eddie

 

-----Original Message-----
From: mbcoupes-bounces at mbcoupes.com [mailto:mbcoupes-bounces at mbcoupes.com]
On Behalf Of JR560SEC at aol.com
Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2005 5:47 PM
To: mbcoupes at mbcoupes.com
Subject: [W126 Coupe] Wheel Fitment Problem - HELP PLEASE!

 

Greetings, everybody---------please put on your "thinking caps" for this
one:

 

After hearing for years that just about ANY oversize wheel width could fit
on the rear of the SECs (with proper offset, at least), I guess I just went
too far.  I was attempting to fit some 3-piece BBS RS 10.5 x 17 ET 38 wheels
on the rear of my 1990 560SEC.  The WHEEL LIP (not the tire; I don't even
know about that yet) strikes the inside of the wheel well when the
suspension is fully extended, and when the suspension is compressed, it
continues to strike until compressed to lower than normal ride height.  When
viewed from the driver's side, the area the wheel lip strikes is from 9
o'clock (straight ahead) to about 11:30 (almost straight up).  At that
point, there is a steel reinforcement piece behind the sheet metal, at the
bottom of which is the rubber bumper which limits suspension compression.

 

The clearance problem looks pretty bad at max. suspension extension----could
be about 3/8-inch (10 mm) interference, maybe more.  It looks like most of
the necessary clearance could be achieved using a B.F. hammer, except at
max. suspension extension, at which point the aforementioned steel
reinforcement behind the wheel well sheet metal is present and would prevent
"clearancing."

 

I plan to use 285/40-17 tires, if they can be made to fit.  The wheels are
sufficiently wide that the tires should not protrude much beyond the WHEEL
lip.  Still, I can't yet tell at what other areas within the wheel well the
tire might encounter clearance problems.

 

The fender lip is rolled from the factory from 12 o'clock to the rear but
not toward the front.  I will roll the fender if necessary to clear the
tire.  Since these are 3-piece modular wheels, the "fallback" alternative is
to buy two new inner rings to reduce the wheel width to 10 inches (for ET 32
offset) or even 9.5 inches (for ET 25 offset)---but I'd rather stick with
the present rings, if possible.  Where on earth would I find a couple of
inner rings, anyway?  I also can use spacers, though at this point I can't
tell if I'd have outside clearance problems anyway, even without spacers,
once the tires are mounted.

 

For what it's worth, the front has 8.5 x 17 ET 13 BBS RS with 235/45-17s
which fit with no clearance problems of any sort and, of course, no spacers
with that small an offset.

 

My questions:

 

1.    Has anybody successfully used 10.5 x 17s on a non-widebody SEC?

 

2.    If so, what wheel offset (or offset/spacer combo) did you have?

 

3.    What is the max. tire width anybody has used, AND the accompanying
wheel width?

 

4.    If I'm in uncharted territory, does anybody have a handful of
hubcentric spacers of varying widths (say from 6 to 15 mm) plus lug bolts I
could borrow, for trial fitment?

 

Thanks so much in advance, everybody, and I'll be eager to hear your counsel
with this messy problem.

 

Jim Rothrock, Windermere, Florida

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/mbcoupes/attachments/20050123/ca153247/attachment.html