Potentially stupid question about bolts

[01alam]

Hi all,

My friend currently have alloys on his C240 and he wants to "down-grade" to steel wheels as he has a set of nicely painted ones which he saids suit the car???

Anyway the question is whether the alloy wheel nuts and bolt need to be changed to steel ones or are they suitable for steel wheels. I know when upgrading to alloys from steel, different nut and bolts are needed to match the material and prevent dent the holes.

Please enlighten!

Thanks
Angus

 

[Dieselman]

They need to be shorter otherwise will foul the handbrake mechanism.

 

[Ian B Walker]

Or if the long bolts are partially threaded your steel wheel will wobble a little

 

[219]

I've posted this before , possibly on another forum , but for the benefit of those who may not have thought about this .

Many Mercs have 4 alloy wheels + steel spare . They SHOULD have a set of short bolts for the steel spare , but sometimes these things go missing along with the tools when cars change hands .

So what do you do if you find you have a puncture , and don't have the short bolts ?

Easy : the long bolts are only a problem if you're trying to fit the steel wheel at the back where the bolts protrude into the drum and foul the handbrake shoes .

You can get away with putting the steel spare onto the front with the long bolts ( unless as Ian says they are only threaded part way ) - if you had a rear wheel puncture , then just take the alloy wheel from the front (where you just put your steel spare ) and put that onto the back in place of the alloy with the puncture .

Hope this helps someone out on a dark night .

Best thing is to check you have a set of short bolts ( approx £1.50 each from Merc)

 

[ernie]

204 Spare Wheel Bolts

I checked with my Dealer as I noticed that I didn't have short bolts for my spare (recently aquired 204 C220 CDi) and there was nothing in the handbook. They told me that the standard bolts were correct. Hope this is good information.....anybody know?

Ernie

 

[219]

Maybe this is true for newer models ?

I know that certainly up as far as W201 , W124 , W126 you need the short bolts to fit a steel wheel . I'm afraid I don't know so much about vehicles newer than these .

Perhaps someone else can comment ?

 

[Ian B Walker]

I may be wrong but I believe that the spare wheel of the new models is an alloy spare and that the bolts used are universal.

 

[w124coupe]

I may be wrong but I believe that the spare wheel of the new models is an alloy spare and that the bolts used are universal.

My S211 has a spare that looks OEM for for a 1965 Mini but the handbook tells you to use the standard bolts - the flange on the wheel is shaped to take up the slack.

 

[pos.k]

on my old '04 W203 that had the sport pack wheels, the steel spacesaver spare came with a set of 5 shorter bolts in a plastic clippy thing.
My 08 W209 with the AMG sport pack wheels has exactly the same spare bits.

hope this helps for the 'newer' cars

 

[V12]

Some newer cars have a steel space saver which does need different bolts, some have an alloy space saver which doesn't...

There is no black or white rule to how MB do it now-a-days...

 

[grober]

Not a mistaka you wanna to maka! Time to stop speculating, jack up the car and do a manual rotation test with the proposed wheels + bolts. I reckon you will almost certainly need the shorter bolts.

 

[ernie]

Added Information

I checked with my Dealer as I noticed that I didn't have short bolts for my spare (recently aquired 204 C220 CDi)
Ernie

Sorry, I should have added that my 204 came with 'mixed size' 17 inch alloys and a steel space-saver spare and it was for this combination that my dealer said that the standard studs were OK.

My previous car was a W203 Elegance with standard 16 inch alloys and steel spacesaver spare and this used short bolts which were attached to the spare wheel in a little plastic 'thingy'.

Having said all that, I think it would still be better to do an 'on-site test' before needs must at the side of the M1!

Ernie

 

[01alam]

Thanks for all the comments, very useful, it make sense that shorter bolts will be needed, will ask him to get some, otherwise will report back if we do decide to fit them this weekend!

Thanks
Angus