Rear tyres on a C220cdi Coupe

[MartinSurrey]

Hi guys - currently have 205/55/R16's all round, however the owners manual tells me my car 'çould' have 205/55's or 225/50's, and 3 or 4 websites have told me the same (inc Kwikfit) - the idea of more rubber on the road on those torque propelled back wheels is appealing, but just wanted to get you guys opinion / experiances

 

[Rory]

Depends on the width of the wheels - many MB's have a "staggered" set-up, with 7J wheels on the front and 8J on the rear. 7J has 205/55R16 and 8J have 225/50R16. Quick way to tell is if the rear wheels bolt holes looked more recessed than the fronts.

 

[markjay]

I had the option of choosing the 'Sport' trim with staggered wheels but preferred to have the same size wheels all around so went for the 'Classic' trim.

It allowed me to rotate the wheels back-to-front and vice versa every service.

But then only I have a C180K which I drive quite moderately, so I would have probably not benefitted from wider rear wheels anyway.

 

[MartinSurrey]

Depends on the width of the wheels - many MB's have a "staggered" set-up, with 7J wheels on the front and 8J on the rear. 7J has 205/55R16 and 8J have 225/50R16. Quick way to tell is if the rear wheels bolt holes looked more recessed than the fronts.

Cheers Rory - actually the owners manual says it's the same 7J x 16 ET37 wheel for wither tyre - I thought that was odd!

Maybe I should stick with the 205's and be done

 

[markjay]

On another note... the 205s happen to be one of the most common tyres sizes in the UK, and are therefore very cheap in comparison to other tyre sizes.

I got top marque ContiPremiumContact 2 MO for £85 per corner fitted - at these prices it is easy to keep the car booted with top fresh rubber.

Previously I had Dunlop FastResponse for £60 per corner...

 

[grumpyoldgit]

I believe there was several wheel size options for the C Class, including a choice of 16" - 17" & 18" rims. Mine has the 17" staggered set up which are 7.5j fronts and 8.5j rears, with 225/45 & 245/40 tyres respectively. Obviously the tyres are more expensive the bigger they are, so I think I would agree with you about sticking with what you have.

 

[Rory]

Cheers Rory - actually the owners manual says it's the same 7J x 16 ET37 wheel for wither tyre - I thought that was odd!

Maybe I should stick with the 205's and be done

I guess you could 225's if you wanted to - most tyre to wheel size guides say 6.5-7.5J wheels for 225/55R16 so it's odd that MB use 8J wheels. I have that size on the rear of my car and they look OK, not stretched at all.

 

[MartinSurrey]

Maybe I should stick with the 205's and be done

And thats exactly what I just did - Bridgestone T001's for 68 quid a piece with a free guarantee from National Tyres (via Tyre Shopper · Cheap Tyres Online with Price Promise Guarantee!) - Bargain!

Thanks all for the advice