Stick with 19" wheels or bump to 20"?

[Tony adt]

Hi, just considering getting a set of 20"wheels on my ml350 blue tec 2012? I've got normal suspension, so was concerned that 20"wheels may upset the ride quality? Taking into account the state of the roads at the moment. Has anyone changed up?

 

[LostKiwi]

Stick to 19s.

 

[SmartAmg]

Hi, just considering getting a set of 20"wheels on my ml350 blue tec 2012? I've got normal suspension, so was concerned that 20"wheels may upset the ride quality? Taking into account the state of the roads at the moment. Has anyone changed up?

Thinking exactly the same,Tony, got 19s on my c207 at the moment, but seriously thinking about going to 20s, my choice would be Veeman F-S8s
20x9 all round, would look stunning. Yep you do tend to be a tad more careful when driving, pot holes, kerbs etc, but as for the ride it really is fine. And particularly with an ML I would have thought the profile of tyre wouldn't be to bad at all.

 

[kid-jensen]

The ride, presuming you are likely to be driving it in the UK, will be ****** awful if you go to 20".

This might not matter to you, but I guarantee you will become increasingly irritated by the banging and crashing from our 3rd world roads. And they're not gonna get any better any time soon!
There's only so much satisfaction you can get from staring at your Carlos Fandango wheels on your driveway, once you actually drive it, it will be miserable...

I would go down to 18" and fit 285/50s. In fact, I have, and NEVER regretted it.

The handling, if anything is better, and the improvement in ride comfort well worth the effort to change.

 

[SmartAmg]

The ride, presuming you are likely to be driving it in the UK, will be ****** awful if you go to 20".

This might not matter to you, but I guarantee you will become increasingly irritated by the banging and crashing from our 3rd world roads. And they're not gonna get any better any time soon!
There's only so much satisfaction you can get from staring at your Carlos Fandango wheels on your driveway, once you actually drive it, it will be miserable...

I would go down to 18" and fit 285/50s. In fact, I have, and NEVER regretted it.

The handling, if anything is better, and the improvement in ride comfort well worth the effort to change.

Don't agree at all, I've had 20s
on a few cars, they are fine.
Presume you've had cars with 20s ?

 

[Blobcat]

I wonder how noisy and bad 20’s are on the concrete motorways? The standard wheels are bad enough hate to think how 20’s would be

 

[EmilysDad]

My ML is OK with 20's but my car has Airmatic suspension .... it's no worse than my R Class was with 19's

 

[John Laidlaw]

I have 20s and they’re actually better than I thought they’d be, particularly as my arse is about 4in off the ground it feels like

 

[LostKiwi]

Don't agree at all, I've had 20s
on a few cars, they are fine.
Presume you've had cars with 20s ?

I have 2 cars on 19s, 1 on 17s and one on 16s.
One of the ones on 19s is ABC equipped and copes with it ok on 245/40 front 285/35 rear. The other came on 19s (235/35) and I went down to 17s (245/45). The ride comfort was significantly better but I went back to the 19s (255/35 ) after I damaged a rim (damned kerb). Looking at the 19s yesterday I have to get the front right straightened again.
The one on 17s (245/45) was on 16s (225/50) and ride didn't markedly deteriorate but that's probably due to going up one size in profile too.
The car on 16s has never had a rim straightened in over 5 years and possibly rides the best of the lot (205/45 and 225/40).

The astute amongst you will notice that none of my cars run the tyre size you'd normally find - all are with next profile up (Malcolm did this on the 230 to improve ride) or next size or 2 wider. Only the Smart is nearly correct.

 

[sonic]

My E350 is on 18" summer & 17" winter, I much prefer the 17" ride.
My wife SLK is on 18", its rock hard. The previous 171 was on 16" which I much preferred.
Perhaps its because I am over 70?

 

[Blobcat]

My E350 is on 18" summer & 17" winter, I much prefer the 17" ride.
My wife SLK is on 18", its rock hard. The previous 171 was on 16" which I much preferred.
Perhaps its because I am over 70?

My R171 is on 16’s and is pleasant - having tried them on 18’s I wouldn’t buy one with them on.

 

[Uncle Benz]

I have factory 20" on my w164. Wide too, as I have factory AMG body. I have conventional springs and the ride is fine. They are not the biggest factory rim on the w164 either. My stepfather has 21" wheels from new, conventional springs and his is ok. A bit less compliant but not really crashy. I'd say go for twenties if you fancy it. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

 

[McDonald]

My brother just took delivery of a Porche 992. The wheels at 20inch look enormous. I've not been in it yet, so no comments on ride but it looks terrific.

 

[sonic]

My R171 is on 16’s and is pleasant - having tried them on 18’s I wouldn’t buy one with them on.

Should have said we also have a set of 17" winter wheels for the SLK, & a much better ride.
The other problem with 18" wheels on a SLK, if you have a puncture the 18" wheel won't fit in the boot!

 

[kid-jensen]

OP,

It's your W164, your money and your choice, but wheels/tyres are such a huge chunk cash, you really don't want to hate them after the novelty and bling has worn off.

The suspension of the ML is, shall we say, "basic" with lots of high-mass parts as you would expect from a pseudo-offroader. Adding even more unsprung mass in the form of 20" alloys will only make just about everything worse, and more importantly, leave you open to nasty surprise bills every time you don't dodge that new pothole. A two-tonne(+) car really needs a bit of compliance in the most important first interface to the road (the tyre wall). I guess you could put 20" wheels on and keep the same sidewall height, but then you would need to mentally compensate for the speedo error every time you saw a speed camera.

Ideally, borrow some 20-inchers to see if the compromises are worth it, but I know that none of MY friends would lend me a set of tyres, even for a blast round the block!

I have test-driven a W164 with 22" wheels. The ride was ****** awful, as expected, and irritatingly, it didn't turn-in particularly well either. Loose-loose...... It also rattled like a 70's Fiat, the poor old body structure had taken such a pounding. Unsurprisingly, I didn't buy it.

 

[EmilysDad]

OP,

It's your W164, .....

It's a W166

 

[kid-jensen]

Apologies for my oversight. I understand that W166's are slightly better in the ride department, but my comments still hold....
OUR ROADS WILL NEVER GET ANY BETTER, so best to prepare for them getting worse...

 

[LostKiwi]

I don't get the big wheels on a 4x4 thing.
Sidewalks are your friend on anything less than billiard table smooth.
My Defender had 265/75 16s and rode very well given the huge heavy unsprung mass of live axles front and rear.
The 101s had 35" tall wheels of which just 16" was rim (9" high sidewalls on 9" wide tyres!).
Again it rode quite well (if a little bouncy at times
I never ever bent a rim on either vehicle even though they regularly went over extreme rocky terrain.

A 4x4 is a utility vehicle. It will never be a sports car. It was never intended to be one so why fit huge wheels with rubber band tyres?

 

[Blobcat]

I don't get the big wheels on a 4x4 thing.
Sidewalks are your friend on anything less than billiard table smooth.
My Defender had 265/75 16s and rode very well given the huge heavy unsprung mass of live axles front and rear.
?

Madness, may as well have a rubber band around a cotton bobbin! now 235 16 85's they're proper off road tyres

Unless you want to go full on Mickey Thompson Baja then I'd go to 17"

 

[EmilysDad]

.... so why fit huge wheels with rubber band tyres?

without going out to look I can't think of what the profile of my 20" tyres are, but they're hardly rubber bands