Confused about W coding

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MarshMan

New Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2015
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23
Car
c180 classic SE
Hi all,
I've only had my car about a week, and via this site am gradually learning things. One of the things I thought I'd sorted was the W coding, but today I've been confused again. My car is a 2003 C180K Classic SE, and I thought I'd discovered it was a W203, but then today this link:
Mercedes-Benz Fitting Chart and Wheel Fitment Guide | Alloy Wheels Direct
says that my car has W202 wheels (195/65R15)
Please help! I want to put some new tyres on it, but don't want to do that on blistered rims if they're the wrong size anyway.
Max
 
Last edited:
2003 C class has to be a W203, as the 203 is 1999-2007, so maybe a previous owner fitted the wheels, found some that fitted and were cheap! My 2001 C270 was on 16" rims with, IIRC, 205/55 tyres.

In the back of your owners manual there should be a listing of wheel/tyre sizes for the car. I'd imagine that on 15" rims and 65 profile tyres the ride is quite soft, imprecise and wallowy - my current car is on 16's (205/55's summer, 225/50 winters) and is a bit too soft and imprecise for my liking, so I'll be trying 17's this summer.

To find out for sure what's on the car, take a wheel off and look on the inside of the spokes, you'll find all sorts of numbers including the MB part number, ET/offset, rim width (7J or 7.5J) etc. Between that and the info from the owners manual you can decide what you want to do next - many owners change wheels for (mainly) larger rims, but beware this as it can make the ride too firm and increaase tramlining. Also bigger, low profile tyres tend to be more expensive and prone to damage.
 
Last edited:
As above, thats a W203 with W203 wheels.

What do the current tyre walls say?
 
195/65r15
 

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Mine are certainly bubbling nicely now.
 
Completely cosmetic
 

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