New Brabus 18" replica wheels

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clk430scotland

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Joined
Jul 24, 2008
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7
Hello all

First post on your site today!

I am the lucky owner of a 2000 CLK 430 AMG Avantgarde Cabrio and have just treated the car to a new set of wheels.

Having admired the Brabus Mono S wheel but too stingy to dig deep into my pockets and find the brass to fund an original set I opted for a nice set of replicas.

They were delivered today and are now fitted on the car.....BUT here lies a couple of issues that I would really appreciate your thoughts on.

The car came standard with a set of two piece 5 spoke AMG split rims and Continental Sport Contact tyres (225/45/17). Having been out in the car the ride felt superb, almost no scuttle shake, no rattles or squeaks. The wheels need a refurb and then they will be perfect! However I often try to do some tasteful mods to my cars to enhance them, but always sticking with wheels associated with the brand.

First drive of the car tonight (which is now on 18" by 8 or maybe 8.5 (I think) 225/45/18 Front and 255 35/18 Rear) felt very hard and exagerated the scuttle shake through the steering wheel.

Perhaps I am imagining things, but for those of you who have upgraded your CLK from 17-18 inch wheels did you notice a detrimental ride?

Could it be the tyres. I have gone from 17" Continental Sport Contact to Avon ZZR tyres. Are they a harder compound and therefore a harder ride?

The wheels are of equal width front to rear but while the rears look fine inside the arches the front are marginally protruding beyond the front arches. Is this normal? Will it fail a MOT?

While the car looks great ( I will post some photos soon!) some of the above has put my mind in doubt and almost considering refurbing the original 17" wheels and putting them back on.

Quite a long post I know, but again your thoughts would bed welcome.

Thanks

Jonathan
 
Be aware that the handbook states that every CLK is availble with a staggered wheel setup ...... except the 430 ...

I have a 320 CLK with 225/45/17 on the front and 245/40/17 on the back ...

However , dad has a 430 CLK with 235/40/18's all round.

Have a look in the back of the handbook with the car , the 430 has to have the same size all round.

H
 
Be aware that the handbook states that every CLK is availble with a staggered wheel setup ...... except the 430 ...

I have a 320 CLK with 225/45/17 on the front and 245/40/17 on the back ...

However , dad has a 430 CLK with 235/40/18's all round.

Have a look in the back of the handbook with the car , the 430 has to have the same size all round.
Other than the handbook I'd like to see a very good reason why a staggered setup wouldn't work on a 430, it shares practically all it's components with every other CLK, and SLK/C class too!
 
Just telling you what the handbook says .....

I'll scan it in when i get home , i'm at work currently.
 
Just checked on the detali.ru EPC and there are no notes against the staggered AMGs when filtering for CLK430.
 
I'll scan the handbook for you tomorrow Nick.

It's in the hardback book that comes with the facelift ( which is at home ) , i only have the pre-facelift softback book in the car .

The only reason i'm so sure of it , is because i had a big row with dad when my staggered wheels turned up , he said they were the wrong sizes. I told him that they could be staggered , and that he has the wrong wheels on his car. He then showed me the handbook and low and behold , it was , no staggered wheels on the 430.
 
I'll scan the handbook for you tomorrow Nick.

It's in the hardback book that comes with the facelift ( which is at home ) , i only have the pre-facelift softback book in the car .

The only reason i'm so sure of it , is because i had a big row with dad when my staggered wheels turned up , he said they were the wrong sizes. I told him that they could be staggered , and that he has the wrong wheels on his car. He then showed me the handbook and low and behold , it was , no staggered wheels on the 430.
I'm not doubting that the handbook says it, the handbook says lots of things. Please also scan in the page that describes the speed limiter function, IIRC it's pretty funny.

The highway code used to state: "Always give way to trains". I like that they slip these little jokes in there.
 
And the disabled badge you can get for your car says ...

' The holder of this badge is disabled , or blind ' .... WTF .... :crazy:

They must have had a good reason to put it in surely , not just to promote discussion on forums ?
 
They must have had a good reason to put it in surely , not just to promote discussion on forums ?
It's fascinating really! Let's find out if the OP genuinely has those tyres listed on his car or if the sizes are as per my post. If the tyre sizes are wrong then it will cause problems, the ABS/BAS, ESP/ASR and cruise might not work for a start. If the tyre sizes are correct then the difference between staggered and same-width wheels/tyres all around is negligable.
And the disabled badge you can get for your car says ...

' The holder of this badge is disabled , or blind ' .... WTF .... :crazy:
I always wondered why they had braile on the buttons for the arndale carpark lift! It's for those badge holders you mention! :D
 
My wheels and tyres

Thanks for all your comments. For clarity the Brabus wheels I have bought are not staggered. It is only the front and rear tyre sizes that are different. with 225/40/18 on the front and 255/18 on the rear

Jonathan
 
Are the wheels all the same sizes then ?

I have 7.5 ( 225 ) on the front and 8.5 ( 245 ) on the rear .... i doubt you would get a 255 on an 8.0 ... and an 8.5 on the front would be too wide.

Staggered means wider tyres on the rear than the front .
 
Are the wheels all the same sizes then ?

I have 7.5 ( 225 ) on the front and 8.5 ( 245 ) on the rear .... i doubt you would get a 255 on an 8.0 ... and an 8.5 on the front would be too wide.

Staggered means wider tyres on the rear than the front .
It's normal to have tyres approx. 1 inch wider than the rims, but not unheard of to have tyres as wide as the rims, tyres much wider than or in the case of the Germans much narrower than the rims (when the rims are 10" wide in some cases :) )!

7.5 / 225 and 8.5 / 245-255 is a totally normal combination. You can fit 8.5s on the front but you'll struggle to fit anything wider than 235 on the front, tyre-wize. A 255 tyre is only 2 inches wider than an 8" wheel, which is 1 inch either side, not really a huge problem but probably a bad idea unless you have a really good reason for it. IMHO if you have the same width wheels all round you might as well have the same width tyres and save yourself some pennies and some bother regarding ordering new ones, rotation, wear etc.

If we've confirmed the tyre sizes and wheel sizes are as expected then the problem is probably related to something other than dimensions!
 
Hi
Is there any chance you could send me a photo of the split rims you are selling?

I'm in Glasgow so no problems re collection.

BTW are you going to post a few photos of the CLK?
 
AMG wheels and tyres

Thanks

Can you please email me your email address to [email protected]

I will take some snaps tomorrow and email them to you.

All they need is a refurb the tyres are have approx 4000 miles of use.

Regards

Jonathan
 

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