Is anyone running 19 inch AMG alloys on a W212 / S212 SE?

[reverend]

I fancied a change of alloys on my S212 SE from the factory 17s and took a chance on the W213 AMG alloys which I liked a lot.

I've tried them on the car - the offset is 5mm different between the standard ET48 17x8 wheels I had on the front and the ET43 19x8 on the new wheels but it seems like the clearance is absolutely minimal to the metal piece where the spring sits, I'm not sure of the exact name of that piece.

They've currently got the W213 spec tyres on the front which are 245/40/19 but the inside of the fuel flap lists just 245/35/19 as the right size.

I'm guessing ideally that a spacer is needed to get the offset matched to the original ET48 reading and a skinnier tyre is required to bring the space back.

Saying that though, even though the fuel flap has the 19s on there and pressures for them, I noted in the manual that 19s are only for cars with sport suspension, direct control or Airmatic - none of which are on the SE / Avantgarde models.

I've reverted to standard for now and thinking of selling the 19s but thought I'd ask first if it's as simple as needing a 5mm spacer and lower profile tyre if other people are already using 19s on the front.

I've got to admit I did give it a short test drive and it felt fine (better than expected actually for the jump from 17 to 19), but I'm just not happy with the complete lack of clearance between the inner side of the tyre and the cup on the bottom of the strut as it can't be safe like that.

As a complete aside I did notice that when I took the factory 17s off they were made by Dicastal in China which I wasn't expecting to see - most of the alloys I've looked at have been made in Europe in Germany or Austria but possibly just because they're 18 / 19 AMG alloys made by Ronal.

I did buy new genuine MB bolts all around as the factory wheels on the W212 used the 27mm bolts and the W213 are 45mm (I'm not sure why the EPC lists them as 30.7mm and 48.5mm though?)

Thanks in advance for any advice - I'm currently 50/50 as to whether just to revert to stock and sell the alloys on or just spend on spacers and front tyres to make this work - potentially it's screwed up the geometry too which may need specialist work if I do try and get it sorted.

 

[clk320x]

Looks good

 

[MercedesDriver]

My guess is that in order to make it all by the book you’ll need spacers, front 245/35R19 and rear 275/30R19 tyres + geometry check + a call to insurer.

 

[reverend]

Don't worry about the insurance side - I'm 40 with 2 kids so know better than to mess with insurers. The LS460 behind in one of the pics is in group 48 so that's the one that pulls my pants down

It does look nice on the 19s but the clearance side of things worries me - I'm wondering if maybe the cars on the non-SE suspensions all have shorter space for the spring to travel hence them all having a firmer ride but with more clearance for the tyre.

We've been out for a drive today (it's back on the 17s now) and I've just stuck my hand in and even with the 17s there's not much clearance between the tyre and that metal piece under the spring, you're talking less than one finger width.

Maybe that distance stays static and I'm worrying about nothing with the clearance but just want to make sure as changing wheels isn't something I've done on a car for 12 years

 

[MercedesDriver]

With spacers I wouldn't worry about clearance since 19" Mercedes wheels for non AMG W/S212 are 8.5Jx19 ET48 front and 9.5Jx19 ET48 rear. The ones you have are a bit narrower ET43 19x8 so there should be no interference once you add the spacers to get from ET43 to ET48 and fit recommended tyres as per the fuel flap sticker.
See here 19" Mercedes 5 Twin Spoke wheels in 7X21 High Sheen with Titanium/Himalaya Grey - Alloy Wheels Direct (1865803)

 

[reverend]

It took a while to get this fully sorted (ie a point i'm happy to start loading the milage up) but it's all done now and just covered 160 miles at 43mpg with a fully loaded car.

To recap, to do the swap properly you need:

1. New TPMS sensors (or reuse the ones from the old wheels). I bought some Autel MX-Sensor 1-Sensors which emulate pretty much any 315 or 433 sensor on the market and can be matched to the old TPMS ID's via an Autel MaxiTPMS Pad. Mercedes in their wisdom locked my model to TPMS IDs starting with 0 which rules out 94% of the market. For reference my 213 OEM Schrader TPMS IDs started with a 5.

2. New smaller tyres on the front - the 213 has 245/40/19 on the front and I replaced these with Goodyear F1 Asymmetric 5 in 245/35/19. Otherwise the tyres hit the spring supports.

3. New smaller tyres on the rear - the 213 has 275/35/19 on the rear and the S212 is specced for 275/30/19. I'm running with the Michelin Primacy 3 35s for now for the extra rubber as there are no space constraints with the rear air suspension on my wagon / estate (may be an issue for non-estates without rear air suspension). When these go I'll be going for the Goodyear F1 Asymmetric 5 all around.

4. Spacers - it might have actually been fine without after the tyre change but I added 3mm H&R spacers (I couldn't seem to get the 5mm anywhere).

5. New bolts - the 213 wheels use longer 45mm bolts so the standard 212 27mm wheel bolts won't work (I'm not sure if any other 212 wheel uses the longer bolts). I picked up new MB bolts with a new locking set as well - I've binned the part numbers unfortunately but both were in stock at my local MB dealer.

6. Geometry check - just to make sure things are happy.

I got caught in some of the worst aquaplaning I've ever seen tonight on the M1 heading North into Leeds and I did get a slight wobble but the car carried on happily. It did feel a bit weird but guessing that was because of the electronic steering numbing feedback a bit.

 

[AMGeed]

Good job, and those new rims look far nicer.
Getting the alignment checked was a good move too to prevent uneven wear.

 

[Popell]

Thread resurrection, I’m putting alloys from 213 on my 2010 212 E350.
The fronts do indeed foul the spring seat with 245/40. I would consider going to 35 profile but in the meantime I’ve ordered some 5mm spacers after mocking up the same size with washers, clearance now a couple of my. Rears seem to fit without problem