w123 lowering and wheel/tyre set up

[Mattwebb]

hi

could anyone recommend whats the best wheel set up for the 40mm h&r lowering springs ? im thinking 17" wheels but i dont know what j i should get the wheels in and what tyre choice is best for the car, Also will i need new shocks because of changing the springs ?

any help would be much appreciated

matt

 

[Charles Morgan]

I don't know anything about the necessary offsets etc to be able to run 17s, but I fitted 15s to my W114 coupe, vs the 14 stock, and have also fitted H&R 55mm lowering springs. I didn't know the correct shocks so contacted H&R directly and they pointed me to the stiffer Bilsteins than the stock B4 - you could contact them direct, I'm sure they'll be happy to help.

 

[hotrodder]

As said you really want some new dampers to match the lowering springs. Wheel wise w123s are a tricky one... most alloys look bloody awful on them IMO, especially large dia with properly low profile tyres and especially large dia modern examples. I wouldn't go any bigger than 16" dia and the only acceptable examples are period looking... BBS, Ronal R9 / AMG 'Pentas', Bundts/Mexican hats are the only examples that come to mind. Personally i think 123s are one of the few cars that nearly always look better with steel wheels
I've got a vague recollection that the stock wheels should be around ET25, something like a 15 x 7 would want to be ~ ET23 and 16 x 8 (assuming 8" isn't too wide to cause clearance problems, especially at the front) around ET11? [/vague guestimation]

 

[Mattwebb]

The springs are now ordered, can anyone link me to the correct sports shocks I will need ? I would like to get them ordered to ready

And yes I have gone for the bbs wheels I think 16" is the size I'm gonna go towards too !