Big Alloys, Lowered Suspension and Camber settings

[darrenb1707]

I have recently purchased a set of 19" alloys for my 2001 CLK 230K Avantgarde. They are 19x8.5 wide with a ET35 offset and were originally supplied with 235x35R19 tyres all round. However when I tried to fit them I found that the fronts fouled the upper control arm bolt. I then got the supplier to refit the fronts with 225x35R19s to reduce the overall rolling radius. This had the desired effect and I am now clearing the control arms with about 5mm. The alloys look great but it has now made me want to lower the car.

I know the Avantgarde runs lower anyway but I want to drop it 60mm with a H&R full kit which I know is a lot. Anyone any experience with H&R kits? Alternatively if 60mm is too much I have also seen GMax kits that have a 40mm drop. Again, any experiences with these would be appreciated.

I've read a few threads that mention that negative camber increases when the car is lowered. Does anyone know roughly how much that would translate to in mm? I'm obviously running quite tight tolerances and I dont want the tyres to foul again if there is even a small change to the camber.

I'm aware that I can purchase the camber correction bolts from MB but there have been some conflicting experiences of these mentioned in the forum. I intend to get a 4 wheel alignment done once its lowered but I would like to know what issues I'm likely to run into.

Any help and advice would be appreciated! Thanks

 

[MarkCL]

Are those wheels/tyre sizes even a valid option for the CLK 230K? If not then you're speedo will be out for starters (either reading too fast or too slow) and you might even have problems with your ABS & traction control. All wheel/tyre combinations fitted to cars should stay within the reccomended rolling radius - go outside those limits and you get the problems I mentioned above as well as the fit issues you mentioned with the original wheel tyre combo you had when you bought them. Worth checking before you get too stuck in just to be sure your new look won't turn your car in to a potential accident waiting to happen.

Cheers,
Mark

 

[darrenb1707]

I calculated the rolling radius for both sizes and they are marginally larger than standard. My speedo underreads by about 0.7 mph at 70mph (ie at a true 70mph I'll be doing 70.7mph) so the overall difference is minimal in normal driving. When you take into account that at an indicated 70 I'm actually doing 67 (I checked it on my GPS detector with the original wheels) means it's not a big problem. Not had any problems with ABS or Traction control and the handling overall has improved (although obviously it's a bit harsher over rough surfaces)

Before I bought the alloys I checked a number of suppliers and they all listed 235x35 as the correct tyre fitment for the W208 CLK. I think offset is the key and I know I've pushed the envelope a bit regards the fitment!

I also researched a number of Mercedes sites in the US and they all talk of the CLK being problematic with big alloys. No pain no gain!!