16" Wheels on an E270 cdi

[simonjamesturne]

Having just downgraded my wheels from 17" rims to identical design 16" rims I've been amazed at the improvement in ride quality. The roads around my village are particularly bad, but still even with the crappy Chinese tyres that came free with the wheels the difference is astounding. Hopefully I can look forward to a lower spend on suspension parts from now on?

 

[Bakili]

I am after upgrade to 17"

Will keep 16" as winter wheels

Sent from my iPhone using MBClub UK

 

[sspeed]

Having just downgraded my wheels from 17" rims to identical design 16" rims I've been amazed at the improvement in ride quality. The roads around my village are particularly bad, but still even with the crappy Chinese tyres that came free with the wheels the difference is astounding. Hopefully I can look forward to a lower spend on suspension parts from now on?

Haha I think I know just what you mean....
I am battling with indecisiveness at the moment..
What style are your 16" wheels ?

 

[simonjamesturne]

The wheels are the Ankara style. It took quite a while to find a set of 16" in this style as I think most W211's either had the basic wheels or were upgraded to 17".
A side benifit is that the tyres are now halve the price the 17" ones were!

 

[simonjamesturne]

Had the chance of a reasonable run today with some higher speeds. There's no vibration through the steering so I guess the new 16" wheels aren't bent (always a risk with secondhand wheels), at least not so you'd notice.

The cheap Wanli tyres the wheels came with bother me though. They are quiet at speed and at a crawl, but at 35-40 mph they make a loud droning sound. If it wasn't for the fact that I've just removed the 17" rims with Conti 2's, which were very quiet, I'd think that either the prop shaft or a drive shaft had failed. Lots of noise under braking too, but only once the speed has dropped down below 30 mph.

The tyres are brand new so I'd like to get some use out of them at least until the winter, then I'll get some Conti's fitted. Is it normal for cheap tyres to make noises like this and do they settle down with time? (ie wear into a more round shape)?

 

[simonjamesturne]

Right that's it! I can't stand the noise any more, these Wanli tyres are going now. Will be fitting a set of Conti Winter Contact 830's. I wish I'd bought the wheels bare, but thought that the offer of 4 free new tyres was too good to miss, now I have to pay to have them changed !!!!
So here's a warning, even free tyres sometimes cost, especially if they are Wanli tyres!

 

[A210AMG]

My E320Cdi had 16" as std (it was an Avant guard model).

I put the 18" sport alloys on, to be honest it didn't make that much difference to the ride as the suspension is quite soft anyway?

I did keep the 16" for winter tyres however.