AMG Alloys

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

curlyearly

Member
Joined
May 28, 2008
Messages
55
Location
Stoke-on-Trent
Car
ML320
Do fitting wider AMG alloys and wider tyres, make a big difference to handling / ride or would you not know if you drove cars with / without. In essence, aside the pose, are their other benefits
 
A little wider and you won't notice much difference.
If you go to a larger diameter rim and a lower profile tyre, you'll lose some of the comfort.
What sizes are you thinking of and what are your present sizes?

.
 
Just last week I changed from 18" to 16" for the winter
Advantages
1. The road noise is reduced
2. The car is much smoother
3. It uses slightly less fuel (32mpg as opposed 30.5mpg)
4. Less prone to spin up on treacherous surfaces (they are winter tyres)
Disadvantages
1. The car looks stupid with 16" wheels and AMG bumpers

Roll on summer...
 
Today I removed the 18" staggered set up and switched to 16" alloys with the winter tyres on. This will also give me time to dress up the nearside wheels which the wife has hit the kerp with, while parking, several times.

Car looks horrible with the standard wheels on, but peace of mind over the next few months with silica deep treads.
 
Today I removed the 18" staggered set up and switched to 16" alloys with the winter tyres on. This will also give me time to dress up the nearside wheels which the wife has hit the kerp with, while parking, several times.

Car looks horrible with the standard wheels on, but peace of mind over the next few months with silica deep treads.

Better that way, and still have the car in one piece for next year.;)

Also... I wish I was married - then I'd have someone to blame the kirbing on.:eek: :D .

.
 
Do fitting wider AMG alloys and wider tyres, make a big difference to handling / ride or would you not know if you drove cars with / without. In essence, aside the pose, are their other benefits
Minimal difference, you won't notice, but they look the part.
 
Still don't know wether your going just wider or bigger as well??

If you go to a bigger diameter wheel, you need(?) to lower the ride height to keep things in proportion and looking good. The two cumulative effects do have an effect ride quality.
Mines 'just' acceptable, but others might think otherwise. It depends on your pont of veiw.

.
 
Better that way, and still have the car in one piece for next year.;)

Also... I wish I was married - then I'd have someone to blame the kirbing on.:eek: :D .

.
I must admit, I done it once, last week whille reversing. Hit the pavement. I said nothing when I got home.
 
I went from 17" to staggered 18" on the SL and there was no significant difference in ride comfort or noise. They look at lot better though :)
 
Got staggered amg 18s on mine and quite frankly the ride is utter cr@p.

Wifes last e class had 16s and rode much much better, also tramlines quite a bit on the 18s, on the plus side nice and easy to clean and look good.
Tyres are not cheap:crazy:

Wifes current c class has staggered 17s and rides better over the bumps than mine.

PS only pooftas fit winter tyres


Lynall
 
I have staggered AMG 17's on mine , and the ride is fine ...

Dad has BBS 19's on his and you have to keep an osteopath on call permanently .... he's got a set of 18's and they are noticeably nicer , but still not as nice a ride as my 17's ...

I think if you look at the 'sports' models of each particular range , and stick to the wheels sizes on them , you won't go far wrong , AMG and MB obviously spend a lot of time working out what is the biggest size that you can sensibly put on is ....

So a CLK , 17 , an E class 18 , an S , 19 etc etc .... big massive wheels will knock your bearings out quicker too ....
 
I think what is important is the distance between the rim and the road.
Apart from the difference in tyre brands, this will largely dictate the ride comfort you can expect.
The smaller the gap and the smaller the delay in way you feel the road and the way the road feeds back to you. It can certainly make the car more alive and sometimes you want that, at other times you don't.
Be aware that a 275/35 tyre will give you much the same distance from the road as a 245/40 so you can not look at the profile in isolation, but look at the distance that will give you to rim to road.
I agree with Howard that practical experience says that the largest rims to retain decent ride comfort are 17's on a C, 18's on an E and 19's on S and ML.
And that is what I have.:D
 
Our w210 had the standard elegance 16's on it with 205/55/16's I think it is, and the car was far too wallowy and the back end let go a couple of times on damp roundabouts.

I put on the 17" Alshain wheels on it with 225/45/17 fronts and 255/40/17 rears on. The difference is phenomenal!
The comfort is exactly the same, if anything still a bit soft, but the wallowing has gone completely and the grip levels have improved 10 fold.

So I guess it depends what size you are going from and what size your going to.
 
PS only pooftas fit winter tyres


Lynall
Oh is that right, you know about them then ? Your wife seems to have a lot more luck than you with her choice of rubbers !
 
Last edited:
Just fitted 17" AMG rims onto my W114 coupe as they have brand new tyres on and mine needed replaceing, they are about twice the weight of the steels i took off, have made the car noisier, ridges in the road now make a thump noise instead of a vague woomph somewhere in the distance, car still spins its rear wheels just as easy when turning out of a wet junction but stops better and corners better, it follows the ruts in the road a lot now and it never used to, it would drive up kerbs without you noticing before, now its hard work to get it out of the lorry tracks in the nearside lane.

brightenedmerc2.jpg


Pretty much all of this is expected though especially as my car wasnt designed for wheels anything like this big, actually i dont think they suit the car and as soon as i find something else i like i'll be selling them on as they were brand new before i fitted them.
 
W114 Coupé - Happy days

Great to see you've got a 114 - is it a 250CE or 280? I had both back in the late 70s/early 80s and they were great. We took the 280 on holiday to the South of France with baby, 3 children and 2 adults - who said a 2-door coupé isn't a family car? Acres of space.

I do have to agree with your comment that they "... don't suit the car". It's a good old Merc of the old school and deserves better. What about the standard size alloys of that era - you saw them on 107 series SL, SLC etc.

My preferred setup on the 280CE was eventually with standard steel wheels shod with Firestone (yes!) 205/70 tyres in place of the original 185s, if I remember correctly. Eventually sold it to out Pakistani landlord who was a decent chap who loved the car and kept it for years.

One final point, I thought all this alloy wheel business was about having less unsprung weight rather than more. How come your AMGs weigh more?

Best of luck to you and your CE and hope you keep it for years.

RayH
 
But i like rubber:D and i love heated seats as does the wife,well she will do once i wire them up.

Bad weather down,here terrible once below plus 10 deg out come the gritters and the whole of Kent stops, doesnt take much of an excuse :p

Went to Alps last year in disco snow everywhere im crapping myself worried about crashing etc and the locals in their normal cars with their normal tyres are going about their business and not slowly either, im sure i peed a few off.

To be fair to the wheels,now i have had the 4 wheel alignment done it does ride a lot better, doesnt tram line like it used to,wife actually commented today that she thought it was better over bumps than hers:) , see all that money i have spent on the car was worth it to get a positive comment fom the missus.



Lynall



Lynall
 
Last edited:

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom