Wide Tyres

[Craneboy]

I have an E320 Coupe with 16" 8 hole alloy wheels, these are instead of the 15" hole wheels, fitted with 255/50ZR16 Pirelli P6000. The potential problem is that they sit about 20mm proud of the front wheel arches, and reckon these might be against the local constabulary rules and regs. Can any MB fellow advise me of this or what size tyres i should consider fitting to the 16" rims on the front to run legally.
Im not up together with rim / tyres combinations, i believe the car had standard 15" rims with 205/60 R15 but how does 16" rims with 255/50ZR 16 compare to each other for the outer running circumference.

Many Thanks

 

[ben12345]

255/50 is mighty wide to be running on the front! Check you haven't got mixed up with the size 225/50, which is the size I would say is more appropriate for your car.

Maybe the offset of the wheels is incorrect for the car to be protruding from the wheel arch so much. Wheels to fit an earlier car (107/123/126 etc) would stick out more than they should in your application.

Cheers

 

[The German Flower Pot]

thats way too big

on my w124 coupe i had 17 x 225 x 45 & 17 x 235 x 45

have you checked for spacers as ive now got some and they make my wheels sit proud of the arches on the front

 

[television]

All of the info is here

http://www.alloywheelsdirect.net/information/fitting_chart/mercedes-benz

 

[Craneboy]

Wide wheels

Silly me, the size of the tyres are 225/50zr16, the part number on the wheels are 124 401 1402, dunno how i came to write 255 der. According to the MB Handbook, these were destined for the E500 with the flared front arches.
How much narrower is the 55 section compared to the 50 section, how much less would they stick out and is it ok to maintain the rear 50`s and have a narrower fronts, on the existing 16" x 8" rims.

Thanks again

 

[ben12345]

The 50 profile has more or less the same width as 55 profile. The width is the 225 figure. 225/50 zr16 is fine for your car.

My betting is still on the offset of the wheels being different compared to what a 'normal' w124 takes, hence the 500e flared arches. Changing the tyres may help very slightly, but remember that the wheel will still be in the same place, protruding past the wheel arch.

It is ok to have narrower front tyres compared to the wider rears. If you decided to go this route, 205/55 16 would maintain the diameter of the rears. 205 width tyres may look 'stretched' over the 8" rims though.

Cheers

 

[Craneboy]

Wheels

Many Thanks again, i reckon the easiest route for me is to revert back to the original type 15" rims at least then i know i aint gonna a get knicked.
Must admit though the 16`s do look the part.

Best Regards to you all.

Tony

 

[ben12345]

I don't think that the police would have you for the wheels that you have on there.
If you were a boy racer with a loud exhaust and driving dangerously, and the officer knows their stuff, maybe they would. I bet that if you did get stopped, they'd be more concerned about the condition of your tyres or if you'd been drinking.

Cheers,
Ben.

 

[bri957cc]

They will be ET35 8x16 - same as fitted to the R129 500SL.

I have the same size wheels on my W201, running 195/55/16 on the front and 205/55/16 on the rear. The 205/55/16 is pretty much perfect fitment for a w124 I'd imagine. Worth checking on here (http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html) though, will help you work it all out.