Noob here so apologies for sounding dumb

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

tommych

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Messages
47
Car
C180
I've not been a car owner for very long but i bought a C Class in December and am smitten.

The wheels are tired and I'm thinking about either refurbing them or buying new ones. What are the sizes I need to look for? I literally have no idea.

3008ccb3c094adf1bfb6547f4b1b866c.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
What diameter tyres are fitted?

Your handbook will then tell you the wheel sizes (i.e. 7.5J /8.5J 16") supplied as standard.
 
Ok I'll have a look. Cheers mate.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Hello

Sorry to hear that TOMMYH. I would recommend that you start building relationships with some garages and mechanics. There is a great site called Car Service | MOT & Car Repairs | Local Car Garages & Repair Deals. It will introduce you to a network of acclaimed and local garages. Its just a question of typing your registration number.

Hope this helps

Seyi
 
Hello

Sorry to hear that TOMMYH. I would recommend that you start building relationships with some garages and mechanics. There is a great site called Car Service | MOT & Car Repairs | Local Car Garages & Repair Deals. It will introduce you to a network of acclaimed and local garages. Its just a question of typing your registration number.

Hope this helps

Seyi

You're sorry to hear what?! :dk:

Possible thread hijack? Certainly irrelevant to the OP's question. :fail
 
I've not been a car owner for very long but i bought a C Class in December and am smitten.

The wheels are tired and I'm thinking about either refurbing them or buying new ones. What are the sizes I need to look for? I literally have no idea.


Looking at your picture, that looks like a W203 C Class (2000 - 2007).
There were several options available for this model from the factory, including different rim diameters. The following link will give you an idea of what the choices were. Scroll down and click on W203 C Class to view them. A lot depends on whether you want to use your existing tyres, or change the wheel size and buy a new set. If replacing with a different set of wheels make sure you buy some with the correct 'offset'. This is stamped on the inside of your wheels and starts with the letters ET--.

Refurb is usually about £50 per wheel.

Mercedes Alloys - Alloy Wheels Direct
 
Last edited:
Further to grumpyoldgit's post:

These are the original wheels I have on my 2006 W203 C180 Kompressor Classic SE:

16" Mercedes 7 Spoke wheels in Titanium Silver - Alloy Wheels Direct (38594)

Tyre size 205/55x16 all around.

The wheels in the picture look like they are the same as mine. If so, then the wheel's dimensions are listed on the website above.
 
Last edited:
@EuroCarParts
Just a tip, when you have a vested interest you should really say, "we have a partner/sister" site rather than try to distance yourself from it by making it look like a pure recommendation.
 
Last edited:
Further to grumpyoldgit's post:

These are the original wheels I have on my 2006 W203 C180 Kompressor Classic SE:

16" Mercedes 7 Spoke wheels in Titanium Silver - Alloy Wheels Direct (38594)

Tyre size 205/55x16 all around.

The wheels in the picture look like they are the same as mine. If so, then the wheel's dimensions are listed on the website above.


Yeah. It's a C180 2004 model. Don't know if it's a W203 or whatever, but sounds similar.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Yeah. It's a C180 2004 model. Don't know if it's a W203 or whatever, but sounds similar.

Yes, if it is a saloon then it would be an W203 'Facelift' model (i.e. 2004 and onward). The Estate is S203.
 
Yeah it's a saloon. Jan 2005 it was registered.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I've noticed this random spamming from ecp all over the forum recently:ban:

As an authorised forum supporter they are of course allowed to promote their business but as markmifsud points out, they should be open and above board about any association they have.

Randomly posting the same, subtly modified, post in as many threads as possible is just bad etiquette (and not likely to endear one to those reading)
 
Tommych, first and foremost you have to get your head around how wheel rims are specified.

Number of bolt holes / bolt circle diammeter. This will read something like 5 x 130 (ie 5 holes on a 130mm diammeter circle).

Bolt size - W/S203 uses 12mm bolts, the next model on (W/S204 from 2007) uses 14mm bolts, as I discovered when I sold my s203, bought the current S204 and found my S203 winter wheels did not fit!).

Rim width/profile/size - this will read something like 7.5J x 16, where 7.5 is the rim width in inches, 16 is the rim diammeter in inches.

Rim offset or ET - a number, somewhere between about 25 and 50.

Do not assume that front and rear are the same - often they are, but equally often MB fit staggered wheels where the rears are wider than the fronts, so you may have 7.5J on the front and 9J on the rear - which also means the front and rear tyres are different sizes!

Look in the back of your owners manual, there should be some info about different wheel/tyre combinations suitable for your car. The alloywheelsdirect.net site is also good for this.

Then - it looks as if you have 16" rims at present. Do you find the ride pleasant, soft and comfortable or a bit too imprecise and lollopy? You can stiffen the ride, making the car more precise, by increasing the rim size, but at the expense of comfort. Last year I took my S204 from 16" to 17" rims, the ride is still comfortable for driver and passenger but a little more precise for the driver, so I'm glad I did the change. Some go even further to maybe 20" rims, but the ride becomes very hard, the tyres become expensive and the potential for rim damage increases a lot.

Once you have all this knowledge, you can make an educated decision on refurbing your existing wheels (mine were £65 per rim for full strip and powdercoat) or search for a second hand set on Ebay. I've bought 3 sets of wheels off Ebay, with patience you find something suitable at an acceptable price! My 16" winter wheels, in as new condition with virtually new tyres, cost less than the refurb of my 17" AMG rims, and the 17" AMG rims plus refurb cost was about 1/4 the price of a new set of identical rims!
 
Hi Chris.
That's a lot of information. Thanks for taking the time mate. Much appreciated. I will have a look in the book later tonight (sure the missus will grumble but she talks to me about stuff I don't care about...)
I didn't think wheels would be thy complicated to be honest. Thought they'd all be pretty standard. Oh how wrong I am. I have found a place near me that will strip the wheels back to metal and then start again effectively. They estimated £40 per wheel depending on damage and work needed. Might go for that and see how good they come up. But am definitely looking at getting a new set. It'll be like buying my kids shoes.

Again, thanks for all your help.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
£40 per wheel is far cheaper than anything I've seen before, I'd be a bit dubious (if it appears to be too good to be true, it probably is). What's you location? With that, members can give recommendations based on local knowledge and personal experience. For example, in my neck of the woods Lepsons are the accepted mutts, Rimtec are good but sometimes a PITA to contact. We often see threads asking for refurb recommendations!

Get your spec organised then do an Ebay search before you commit to the cost of a full refurb - you may (as I did) get lucky and find replacements for cheaper than the refurb, and can then either put winter tyres on the old ones (an automatic C on white stuff is useless unless on winter tyres) or Ebay them!
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom