[JJB236]

I have seen some cars that have stock tires that are wide apart (when measured from front driver's side to passenger side tire), and it gave the car much sportier, aggressive, and more balanced stance without changing the tires to wide aftermarket. These W124 bodies are very well complimented with wider stance and wide tires, especially when seen from the rear.

How many millimeters of spacers are right for W124? Which branch do you recommend? H & R? Is it better to put in ONE right size or multiple spacers?

 

[spirochete]

Hi,

Haven't used them on a Merc' but spacers were / used to be a common approach to getting the right 'look' on custom build.

You must of course be very careful in your selection of spacer(s) in respect of clearances, particularly on 'full-bounce' and full lock to lock.

Note that if you use a wide spacer (e.g. an inch ?) then you will need the appropriate extended wheel bolts to accommodate them. Whatever you do don't try and get away with a bolt that only locates by virtue of three or four threads once the spacer is on.....that's lethal.

One significant down-side is that the use of spacers changes the loading centre on the wheel bearings.......i.e moves it outwards so that the wheel acts like a lever increasing the load on the bearing(s) which with wide spacers usually means premature bearing failure.

Moving the wheel's centre line in relation to the rest of the steering and suspension components can affect the overall geometry setup and give rise to some 'quirky' handling.......e.g. tyres 'screaming' on full steering lock and accelerated tyre wear.

Very wide spacers used with standard wheels and tyres can give the car a rather odd 'roller-skate' look.

I've used spacers where a small amount of "adjustment" has been necessary for clearance purposes (e.g. 1/8 or 1/4 inch) but by far the best approach is to fit approprately sized rims and tyres and keep the wheel centre bolted right up against the hub.........where its supposed to be.

Regards,

Spiro'

 

[raymond-]

bravo, spiro. great write up. take a bow!

 

[Yal]

You can get a wider stance on the W124 just by buying wheels with a different offset. It doesn't take much of a shift in offset to get the look.

 

[JJB236]

Yal - 4/12/2006 9:53 AM

You can get a wider stance on the W124 just by buying wheels with a different offset. It doesn't take much of a shift in offset to get the look.

But a set of of 4 wheels(rims?) are over a $1,000 even for replicas, aren't they? Wanted to go cheaper route. I already spent $750 getting Euro 500E headlights (thanks for your suggestion). But get this, they sent me the E500 lights, ones with curves. Not I'm trying to decide whether to return them or to keep them.

 

[conleycrew3]

JJ

i cant believe that they have sent you the wrong lenses after all the searching you did on here!!

i can suggest that you get intouch with a friend of mine who can get you the euro lights, her name is jade and she works www.eddwortheys.co.uk (if the link doesnt woork ill fix it, its late and im drunk now)

i have her personal email if required too

cheers
Ben

p.s you are best either ringing them or emailing her, their web site is not that cool on the search at the moment so you could spend some time looking through what they have to offer for the mercedes range before you find what you are after

either way feel free to PM me and ill sort you out bud

 

[JJB236]

conleycrew3 - 4/15/2006 8:42 PM

JJ

i cant believe that they have sent you the wrong lenses after all the searching you did on here!!

i can suggest that you get intouch with a friend of mine who can get you the euro lights, her name is jade and she works www.eddwortheys.co.uk (if the link doesnt woork ill fix it, its late and im drunk now)

i have her personal email if required too

cheers
Ben

p.s you are best either ringing them or emailing her, their web site is not that cool on the search at the moment so you could spend some time looking through what they have to offer for the mercedes range before you find what you are after

either way feel free to PM me and ill sort you out bud

I had a hard time locating the 500E Euro lenses. Does your friend have the 500E Euro lenses?

 

[conleycrew3]

i will enquire for you today but its bank holiday here so pretty mucch everywhere is closed.

i will post my results here mate

 

[Guest]

Make sure you get LHD headlights. UK ones will be RHD.

 

[JJB236]

Hi,

Haven't used them on a Merc' but spacers were / used to be a common approach to getting the right 'look' on custom build.

You must of course be very careful in your selection of spacer(s) in respect of clearances, particularly on 'full-bounce' and full lock to lock.

Note that if you use a wide spacer (e.g. an inch ?) then you will need the appropriate extended wheel bolts to accommodate them. Whatever you do don't try and get away with a bolt that only locates by virtue of three or four threads once the spacer is on.....that's lethal.

One significant down-side is that the use of spacers changes the loading centre on the wheel bearings.......i.e moves it outwards so that the wheel acts like a lever increasing the load on the bearing(s) which with wide spacers usually means premature bearing failure.

Moving the wheel's centre line in relation to the rest of the steering and suspension components can affect the overall geometry setup and give rise to some 'quirky' handling.......e.g. tyres 'screaming' on full steering lock and accelerated tyre wear.

Very wide spacers used with standard wheels and tyres can give the car a rather odd 'roller-skate' look.

I've used spacers where a small amount of "adjustment" has been necessary for clearance purposes (e.g. 1/8 or 1/4 inch) but by far the best approach is to fit approprately sized rims and tyres and keep the wheel centre bolted right up against the hub.........where its supposed to be.

Regards,

Spiro'

Thanks for that detailed explanation. With the quality of your writing, I knew you're located in England. You an engineer?

 

[JJB236]

Hi,

Haven't used them on a Merc' but spacers were / used to be a common approach to getting the right 'look' on custom build.

You must of course be very careful in your selection of spacer(s) in respect of clearances, particularly on 'full-bounce' and full lock to lock.

Note that if you use a wide spacer (e.g. an inch ?) then you will need the appropriate extended wheel bolts to accommodate them. Whatever you do don't try and get away with a bolt that only locates by virtue of three or four threads once the spacer is on.....that's lethal.

One significant down-side is that the use of spacers changes the loading centre on the wheel bearings.......i.e moves it outwards so that the wheel acts like a lever increasing the load on the bearing(s) which with wide spacers usually means premature bearing failure.

Moving the wheel's centre line in relation to the rest of the steering and suspension components can affect the overall geometry setup and give rise to some 'quirky' handling.......e.g. tyres 'screaming' on full steering lock and accelerated tyre wear.

Very wide spacers used with standard wheels and tyres can give the car a rather odd 'roller-skate' look.

I've used spacers where a small amount of "adjustment" has been necessary for clearance purposes (e.g. 1/8 or 1/4 inch) but by far the best approach is to fit approprately sized rims and tyres and keep the wheel centre bolted right up against the hub.........where its supposed to be.

Regards,

Spiro'

Hey, Spiro, that indeed was a great write-up. Are you a jounalist or a writer? Just curious... (w Ash)