Possible wrong wheels and tyres?

[ALNoteman]

I'm a new member and have just purchased a 2003 C-270 CDI Estate.
It looks like one of the previous owners tried to convert this to a boy racer sports car instead of a standard estate. The standard 16-inch wheels have been change for MB 17-inch alloys with low profile and wider sports tyres. This has made for a very hard ride and during the MOT showed up a front broken coil spring?

I must admit the road holding is quite amazing, as good as an Audi S6 I once had but the ride over potholes and speed bumps shakes the s--- out of us. I wonder if this is a dangerous thing to have done to maybe a car not designed to be a racer; being 73 I don't think I qualify as a boy racer but I do still enjoy a good powerful drive along a winding road?

Love to hear your commenst.

Al Noteman.

 

[renault12ts]

It's not dangerous...it's a normal upgrade. But, 16s would probably be more comfortable. What tyres are on these wheels?

 

[trapperjohn]

Hi Al,

Broken spring not uncommon on any car nowadays.

Road holding on a 270 is not bad even with the 16" wheels and tyres. Spirited drivers always welcome on this forum irrespective of age or gender. So 16's or 17's fill yer boots.

 

[ALNoteman]

Hi,
Thanks for reply! Right now the tyres are Autoguard 17 X 225 X 45, these are very cheap directional tyres (about 50-quid each) and were on the car so it may be one of the problems but they are new so I don't want to change them for a better quality yet and wonder when I do if I could change them for a 55 or 60 wall to give that bit more comfort without them hitting the bodywork?

Cheeers, Al.

 

[ALNoteman]

Hi John,

Thanks for that, I am impressed with the road holding and after driving a Nissan Terrano Mistral with the same sized but 4 cylinder engine, I can't belive the power of the 2.7 CDI it accelerates just like a petrol engine and just keeps going, so much torque, I'm going to get myself in the Kak with this car I can see that? The last Merc I owned was way back in the 70's, it was the 300 SEC with the air suspension and alloy 3-litre 6 cylinder engine and was a flying machine in those days but expensive to maintain the air bags.

Cheers, Al.

 

[renault12ts]

Hi,
Thanks for reply! Right now the tyres are Autoguard 17 X 225 X 45, these are very cheap directional tyres (about 50-quid each) and were on the car so it may be one of the problems but they are new so I don't want to change them for a better quality yet and wonder when I do if I could change them for a 55 or 60 wall to give that bit more comfort without them hitting the bodywork?

Cheeers, Al.

225/45 are the correct size for 17s on your car. If you go for a bigger profile the wheel tyre combo will have a greater diameter...which may lead to fouling issues on the front arches. The gearing and speedo will also change.

 

[grumpyoldgit]

My C270 has the staggered wheel set-up 7.5j x 17 front and 8.5j x 17 rear with 225/45 x 17 tyres front and 245/40 x 17 rear. This was one of the standard sey ups when new. 16" / 17" / 18" were available and all with or without the staggered set up.

Which model do you have Classic / Elegance / Avandgarde? I believe there was also variation in ride firmness according to the model.

 

[V12]

Have you replaced the spring yet? That will help. These don't ride that well unless you have an elegance spec with 16s on. Imo

Sent from my GT-I9300 using MBClub UK

 

[ALNoteman]

Hi,
You asked the model, I have the C-270 Estate Elegance with 17 225 -45 tyres, did I read somewhere that they could take an 18-inch wheel as well? Thanls for all your replies, I'm worried about the coming snow and ice as this is the first time for years that I have a 2 wheel drive car, my last three were 4 X 4 or AWD and you don't have many problems with those. Has anyone tried chains or socks or do these wreck your alloys. I remember terrible winters in the early 60's when I was an electrical contractor and would drive all over the UK in a Morris Issis with chains and they were great.
Al.

 

[ALNoteman]

Yes, the broken front coil spring was replaced by the dealer as it showed up when he put the car through its MOT. I've put any change of wheels and or tyres on hold now till I get the fuel problem sorted.

I noticed that the car won't start on cold mornings unless the tank is over half full so its in the workshop now being tested for air-leaks on the low and high pressure fuel lines. The mechanic has what looks like 5 long this glass tubes that are used to detect leaks on the injector heads so I'm waiting for results?

In the meantime, I fitted a 10-mm rubber bulb pump as a way of getting fuel back to the pump when an airlock had caused fuel starvation but it seemed to preven the car from starting even though I did prime the pump with fuel throug into a jar before coupling it up. I took the 10-mm fuel supply pipe off the filter, inserted an in-line connector into it then a 10-mm pipe that fed the suchtion side of the bulb pump, then from the other side I returned a 10-mm pipe back to the filter! It should have worked but didn't, must have caused a bigger airlock, so I removed it all again pending the mechanics report.
Cheers,
Al.

 

[x332race]

Winter tyres. I have winter tyres fitted to my C270i estate and it gets through most snow in winter. Have also had chains and socks on it but only good for short distances in uk where snow is on ground. Need tob e careful to get right sort of chains to suit low profile tyres as normal chains will hit the bodywork.

Fuel.....I bet that this is the plastic fuel lines between the filter and the injectors...the rubber "o" seals tend to fail over time and the normal sympton is trouble starting the car when cold outside. Best to replace the plastic fuel lines in total rather than just the seals as the plastic can get brittle.....not expensive....should get all of them for under £100 from main dealer. Easy to change.

 

[Chrishazle]

I had a 203 C270 estate for 2 winters, OK we're down south so get little snow, but when we did I had almost new Falken FK452's (205/55 16's) on the car and could not go anywhere! 2nd winter I had 205/55 16 Dunlop winter tyres and had absolutely no problem when the snow came. So my recommendation - keep an eye on here and ebay and get a set of 16's with winter tyres. I sold my 203 ones and bought a set for the S204 I now have, put them on the car a week or so back.