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8" wide front wheel on a 300ce?

5K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  bsmuwk 
#1 ·
Starting to get to work on my 90 300ce. I picked up a set of 16" SL wheels, they match the stock wheels, but are 8" wide rather than 7" wide. I also discovered during my first "go-over" of the car, that it has H&R springs on it, but appears to have stock shocks (not firm like Bilstein Sports). So needless to say, this is a bad combo, I plan to get some Koni's for it.

However, with the 16x8" wheel and 225 tires, it does seem to rub a bit in the front when turning and compressing the suspension. Is this expected? I have attached a pic of the current ride height with the wheels.

Of course, no matter what I do wheel-wise, I plan to get some thicker factory spring pads and bring the front end up a little, possibly the rear too, as it's just too low for my tastes, and Koni's as well to match the springs.

Should I expect that I can prevent these wheels from rubbing after doing those items?
 

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#2 ·
Mate have a look at Custom rims, wheel tire packages for your ride - RIMSnTIRES.com. This website used to tell you whether wheels would rub, how they effect your speedo etc. You enter in the standard size fitment for your vehicle and then your new/current one's and it tells you what potential area's of trouble there may be.

I would think in your case it sounds like the suspension height is a definite factor but you don't really say how low it is compared to standard.
IMO 16's rubbing would surely means your ride has been significantly lowered BUT it may also be the offset factor coming into play as well !

According to the charts I often refer to Mercedes released E CLass W124's with 16x8's with an offset of 34/35.

Do you know what offset those SL wheels have ?

I have 17x8.5" at the rear and 17x7.5" at the front of my 300CE.
Admittedly my wheel arches have been worked a little.

You also don't mention whether the rubbing is on the outside of the guard or the inside which can also be an indicator of where you problems lie.

Maybe update us with some more data to help you out a bit.
 
#3 ·
Great site. Based on my research it appears that a 7.5" is the maximum width you can run (with correct tire fit, offset, etc...) and a 225 wide tire is pushing it a bit, on the front. I'm sure there are cases where people have made 8" wide work, but it seems 7.5" is a safer bet. Rear has a lot more space to work with. I'll raise the car with pads and work out the suspension details first. However, it's clear the front wheels are sticking out just a hair too far. It seems something like the SLK staggered setup might be ideal for this car.
 
#6 ·
ET

It seems something like the SLK staggered setup might be ideal for this car.
I agree, that is an ideal setup, similar to Stormtigers staggered 17 inchers.

Perfect ET on a 7.5 x 17 rim is around 37 mm.

Depending upon the rim width, the comfortable ET range for a 124 is mid 30's to mid 40's.
 
#4 ·
SL Wheels and Suspension setup

Putting SL wheels on a CE automatically brings to question what is the ET of these wheels.

You didn't say what type of SL the wheels are from, but typically SL wheels have a lower ET than 124's do. Therefore they will tend to stick out farther and potentially rub the outer fenders. Lower the suspension and the wheels almost have to rub, depending upon the overall tire diameter.

The wheel-tire package needs to be inside a certain finite area with-in the fenders. There is some room for exceptions, but your dealing with a car designed for relativly narrow tires by todays standards.

When you lower the car's stance that envelope the tire must stay inside to prevent rubbing becomes even smaller. So all the factors really become important. 7.5 inch wide wheels with the correct ET and tire size will never rub, and 8 inch wheels will work but everything else needs to be within requirments, ET most importantly.

So check to see what the ET of those wheels are, also you don't say what the 225's sidewall height is. A tyipical 124 tire should be around 25 inches in diameter, In this case, putting 225 tires on a 16 " rim means you need to have 225/50's to maintain the 25 " diameter specification. A 225/50 x16 tire has a diameter of 24.9 inches, a 225/55 x 16 tire is 25.7 inches, a significant jump that will most like cause rubbing .

Post back the entire tire size and the wheels ET.
 
#7 ·
Don't have the numbers in front of me, but the tires are a 225/50. I think the stamped offset on the wheels was 34, but I'll have to check.

With the tires installed I have about 1/4" clearance between the tire and strut, so the offset is likely correct, but I think the width is just too great.

These were a cheap experiment, since I already had the tires and the wheels were only $200, so I figured I'd try them out for fit. There was conflicting info on offsets and sizes so I figured the only way to know for sure was to try them out.

The tires are snow tires, so I might keep the setup for Winter duty and get some staggered SLK wheels for normal driving.
 
#8 · (Edited)
I have the 500E wheels which are damn near the same exact spec as those 500SL wheels. 16x8 with ET34. I'm running 225/50 tires and I don't rub AT ALL. I wager I'm an inch and a half lower than you're car is and I still don't rub. Before you go putting in those springs pads and raising the height, put some new up to date shocks/struts that are up to the challenge of supporting a lowered car. You'll be surprised at the results.



For everyone who wants bigger and far nicer wheels - DO YOUR SUSPENSION FIRST. Experiments or not, you're going to save yourself a lot of hassle by making sure your suspension is in check and up to par. My suspension is entirely brand new. I'm on cut B&G springs with Bilstein sports everywhere - I'm probably one of the lowest C124's around this forum and I don't have any complaints or signs of rubbing anywhere. And if you're going to lower your car, make sure you get an alignment afterwards. Lowering your car changes your camber and your toe angles.

Camber doesn't kill tires, toe does. Too much of a toe in angle will rapidly wear your tires away.
 
#9 ·
I have the 500E wheels which are damn near the same exact spec as those 500SL wheels. 16x8 with ET34. I'm running 225/50 tires and I don't rub AT ALL. I wager I'm an inch and a half lower than you're car is and I still don't rub. Before you go putting in those springs pads and raising the height, put some new up to date shocks/struts that are up to the challenge of supporting a lowered car. You'll be surprised at the results..
I don't like my cars that low, so raising it will happen regardless of what wheel solution I find. They only rub very rarely right now, and new Koni shocks are a given as well. It sounds like it's possible that I can made do with these, but remains to be seen.

My current plan is to stick with these while I work out the overall suspension issues (control arms, complete rear suspension rebuild, Koni's, spring pads, etc...) then see how they roll. This is partly because I have a lot of suspension work to do, and don't plan to do a proper alignment until it's all done. Until then it will be a home/autocrosser alignment, which is passable, but not perfect.
 
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