18" or 19" alloys wanted

[yellowsatan]

don't mind which shape wheels they are, just as long as they fit my clk w208.

 

[Howard]

19's will shake your teeth out ...

We used to run a set of BBS splittie 19's on our 430 CLK , now they sit in the garage for a rainy day ...

Got a set of 18's BBS splitties now , the drop of an inch makes all the difference.

TBH i wouldn't go any bigger than 18's ...

 

[yellowsatan]

thanks for the advice howard, however, i would really like to avoid too much of a gap showing between the wheel and the arch, and i don't want to lower the car at all, however, i'd like to keep my teeth till at least 23, lol. i have the elegance comfort suspension on mine, would this make the ride a bit smoother with the 19's? if not might just have to get 18's then

 

[smiddyboy1]

from 16's to 17's

I changed from 16 inch to 17 inch and what a diference it made. Bone shacker or what, just grind the teeth when you see a pot hole that you cant avoid!!!
I'm considering changing them back for the comfort ride, although i do like the look of the 17's

 

[Howard]

It might do , the Avantgarde suspension is IIRC about 20/25 mm lower as standard than the Elegance ....

We had 35 profile tyres on the 19's , honestly , it was miserable ....

 

[yellowsatan]

howard, did your car look better with the 19's, or was there not much to notice?

 

[Howard]

Yeah , it probably did look a bit better with the 19's to be honest , but not enough to soldier on with the bone shaking ride ...

It hasn't been lowered , so there is a bit of a gap on the front wheels with the 18's on , but it's so much nicer to drive ....

This is with 18's .... can't find a piccy on my laptop ( i'm at work at the mo ) with the 19's on ... sorry ...

 

[yellowsatan]

thanks for posting the pic, thats an good looking clk by the way would deffo be interested in seeing what it would look like with the 19s though. how much did you pay for your wheels just out of interest

 

[Howard]

Ummmm ....

There's a bit of a story there , a pal of my dads owns the UK distributors of BBS wheels , so the answer is ...... not a lot ....

 

[aka$h]

Ive had 19's and I wouldnt do it again, unless its a 4x4. The ride is harsh, the tyres are very expensive and the wheels end up being egg shaped very quickly with pot holes and speed bumps. The look nice but thats about it, this was my old clk:

This was a CLK I had a little while later on 17's:

 

[aka$h]

Ummmm ....

There's a bit of a story there , a pal of my dads owns the UK distributors of BBS wheels , so the answer is ...... not a lot ....

If I join the que now, how far down the line would I be

 

[Howard]

Ha Ha !!

We've tried him already , and he's not keen on getting stuff cheap for people ... it's not cos he's mean , just because its so much aggro ... he never really sees the wheels, they all come into the warehouse in containers , and are then shipped off .... a lot of the stuff he deals with at the moment is the 20" gold 5 spokes you see on the Jag XKR's and the Bentley wheels. So i guess to order one particular set out of the whole container and then mess about sorting them out is just more aggro than it's worth to him really i suppose ....

He's generous with lending his cars to me though ( C55 and Bentley Conti GT ) so i don't push my luck ...

The CLK is his old car that we bought off him , and it had the 19's on it when we bought it , and dad moaned that it was doing his back in so we got a nice set of 18's for it at a good price

If there was a list though , it would be trailing off the desk , out the door , and down the street .....

Sorry mate !

 

[smillion]

Yesterday mounted the kerb at speed to avoid a car and both wheels (19" on 35 profile) got well and truly carved up. Only a low kerb as well.

And so I am wrestling with the same question.

And I think the time has come to at least revert back to 18" to give the rims and tyres a chance.

I've had 19" rims for 4 years and as akash suggests, lots of bother with pot holes, kerbing and tyres. They are expensive and its easy to forget that when a wheel with such a low profile gets kerbed badly the tyre wall gets damaged. One pot hole can mean new wheel and tyre.

In the 4 years I've run them I've replaced probably 7 wheels and tyres through damage alone (pot holes and my own stupid impatience in NCP car parks getting to the barrier - why are they always on a angle?). Not to mention the wheel replaced by the merc garage when they kerbed it on their ramp (they are that low!!) and the valet parking for a London hotel.

Time for 18" all round I think (same style) - and that would be my advice to anyone considering a change.

Good luck

 

[aka$h]

Ha Ha !!

We've tried him already , and he's not keen on getting stuff cheap for people ... it's not cos he's mean , just because its so much aggro ... he never really sees the wheels, they all come into the warehouse in containers , and are then shipped off .... a lot of the stuff he deals with at the moment is the 20" gold 5 spokes you see on the Jag XKR's and the Bentley wheels. So i guess to order one particular set out of the whole container and then mess about sorting them out is just more aggro than it's worth to him really i suppose ....

He's generous with lending his cars to me though ( C55 and Bentley Conti GT ) so i don't push my luck ...

The CLK is his old car that we bought off him , and it had the 19's on it when we bought it , and dad moaned that it was doing his back in so we got a nice set of 18's for it at a good price

If there was a list though , it would be trailing off the desk , out the door , and down the street .....

Sorry mate !

Was only pulling your leg mate, after messing around with aftermarket wheels for quite some time, its OEM all the way for me. Thye seem to be far more durable, a light scuff is only a light scuff, not time to buy a new wheel.

Bet you dont mind taking the GT out for a cruise every now and then, shed loads of torque!

 

[yellowsatan]

hmmmm, seems like no 19's for me then. its just that they look so awsome!, oh well 18's look pretty sweet as well i suppose:bannana:

 

[Howard]

Was only pulling your leg mate, after messing around with aftermarket wheels for quite some time, its OEM all the way for me. Thye seem to be far more durable, a light scuff is only a light scuff, not time to buy a new wheel.

Bet you dont mind taking the GT out for a cruise every now and then, shed loads of torque!

The GT is just unreal ..... took my neighbour for a spin in it the last time i had it ( his dream car ) and actually frightened myself going down the Hampton Court Road ....

It was one of those ' Right , i'll put this tenner on the dash , and when i hit the gas , if you can reach forward and grab it, you can keep it !' moments ...

You'd never get the tenner in the GT .....

Gotta say though , that BBS's seem well made , we've never replaced any of ours , and being that they are OEM manufacturers for Bentley and Jag plus others , i think they are probably in a slightly different league to the Halfords specials ....

EDIT :- Yellowsatan ( great name ) i'll ask dad if he wants to sell the 19's if you like , but i've asked him before and he's never been keen , prefers to keep them in the garage ( just in case , he's a bit of a hoarder ) they won't be that cheap though as they have brand new tyres on them ( put on when they were refurbished ) .....

 

[yellowsatan]

does anyone know if these would fit my clk? all 4 wheels are 18" x 8" and the offset is 37. Any help would be much appreciated

hey howard, i'd appreciate if you asked your dad if he would sell them, let me know how much if he agrees.

 

[Howard]

Seek and ye shall find

 

[yellowsatan]

dang, thanks again dude, don't know what i'd do without you, lol.