Wheel Sizes/Ride/Comfort on R231 SL 350

[C240Sport97]

Just a quick update for reference - MB Bristol on looking up my car offered from the data that 18's OK staggered - but not 17's.

Are they saying that 17" were/are available?

 

[Gbrowncls55]

The R230 Sports Package for the facelift cars uses the same size brake callipers as the non sports package cars. just "painted with mercedes lettering" Could be different for the R231 of course.

 

[C240Sport97]

checked my digital user manual ..

the 2nd pic is what is displayed when you click the i symbol on the 17" wheels and the BA 18" wheels

 

[Gbrowncls55]

This is I think not because they wont fit but because the sports package comes with staggered wheels as standard with no option within the package price to go to a "lesser" wheel and different look

 

[Gbrowncls55]

"The AMG Sports Package features 19-inch alloys, sports suspension that features revised damper settings and drops the car by 10mm, more aggressive front and rear bumpers, and different side sills. The kit also includes grey painted brake calipers and the SL 350 gets upgraded rear brakes." This is a quote i found from Auto express reviewing the R231. The upgraded rear brakes relates I believe to the cross drilling of the discs. As far as I know, these discs are now readily available and will fit any 350 variant. irrespective of wheel size.

 

[tonysmb]

I think that there's a risk of people getting confused.

As far as I am aware, all UK-market R231 SL350 and SL500 (certainly from 2013, and I doubt they changed so early in the model's life) had Sports Suspension with Adaptive Damping, AMG bodystyling, AMG bootlid spoiler, grey brake calipers with 'Mercedes-Benz' letetring, drilled rear discs etc. as standard-fit.

They were all listed as SL350 AMG Sport or SL500 AMG Sport, whereas the 63 and 65 were simply SL63 AMG and SL65 AMG. There was no listing for 350SL or 500SL, nor options to have any bodywork other than the AMG Sport bodywork.

However, German market cars (and, no doubt, other markets) had different wheels / body as standard. SL350s had 17" wheels (code25R), fitted with 255/45/17 tyres, 8.5J ET30 wheels x4, whilst SL500 had 18" wheels (code R34) with 8.5J ET 35.5 front and 8.5J ET 47.5 rear (tyres 255/40/18 and 285/35/18 respectively). The 17" wheels on the SL350 do look noticeably smaller on a German-market car when compared with a UK-market car.

In Germany, the AMG Sport bodykit, there called AMG Line, was optional, complete with Sports suspension etc..

I suspect that there was confusion about what was std. in the UK etc when the press initially had access to data and the reference to 'lowered suspension' is from a translation of a German document. It is referred to in UK-market document but was the only suspension offered/listed (though no doubt a special-order non-sport might have been possible if 'sir' wished to pay handsomely for the privilege).

The UK-market brochure clearly shows photographs from the German-market brochure (car with smaller wheels and non-AMG Sport bumpers etc.) altered to show the AMG bodykit and larger wheels.

 

[Gbrowncls55]

Whilst is true that cars after 2013 appear to be AMG sport cars, it seems about 30% or so of 2012 and 2013 reg r231 cars ( I assume before model year 2014 or older cars that had been waiting in a field somewhere!) are not and do not carry rhe AMG sport equipment (although as far as i can see most opted for a slightly larger wheel)

 

[tonysmb]

Fair comment: I've never seen a non-AMG Sport R231 but I now see that some 2012/13 ones advertised for sale aren't Sport packs. Learn something every day.

 

[tonysmb]

I can't now edit my post #26 but, of course, the rear wheels on 18" & 19" should read as 9.5J, not 8.5J (ET varies, either 47.5 or 48, depending on wheel style). 17" & 18" winter wheels are different again.

 

[SL63Mark]

My R231 feels very nice on 19 inch wheels and tyres. Coming from an R230 on 18s, I was expecting the 19s to be harsh, but not a bit of it. The handling is sharper than the 230, but the ride is still smooth. Very nice. So I think the 231 works well with 19s. I have also driven an SL63 with 20" rears. That was OK too.

 

[David44]

My 2013 SL350 is described as an AMG Line... it has no body kit or uprated AMG performance parts.



Extract from my build sheet

R70	18" 5-TWIN-SPOKE LIGHT ALLOY DESIGN WH. W. MIX. T

At some point somebody fitted the 19 inch AMG wheels as seen.

 

[Gbrowncls55]

Well for what its worth I have just switched from an r230 on 18s to a facelift r230 on 17s My wife (both are/were her car) tells me it feels much more compliant and less crashy over rougher surfaces which is what she was after. How much is differences in the car (age ,mileage ) and how much is wheelsize/tyres I cant tell. But a happy wife.......

 

[JohnJ]

My 231 is 2013 - Reg April - so it might be 2012/13 - and there is no reference to AMG anywhere, no boot spoiler - so might be one of those 30% or so - but has 19 inch wheels and as far as I know it came with them.

As another update - i have some 5/6mm left on the current tyres so am going to plug on with them for a while and in the coming months after checking with insurance move to 18 inch staggered. had a couple of quotes but the rears will be ET 40 rather than 47.5 - I am advised that is within acceptable limits - but I would be interested to hear if anyone here does not agree with that.

 

[Gbrowncls55]

My 231 is 2013 - Reg April - so it might be 2012/13 - and there is no reference to AMG anywhere, no boot spoiler - so might be one of those 30% or so - but has 19 inch wheels and as far as I know it came with them.

As another update - i have some 5/6mm left on the current tyres so am going to plug on with them for a while and in the coming months after checking with insurance move to 18 inch staggered. had a couple of quotes but the rears will be ET 40 rather than 47.5 - I am advised that is within acceptable limits - but I would be interested to hear if anyone here does not agree with that.

The sport pack cars don't have any reference to AMG even AMG line cars don't have badges. Only genuine AMG cars sl 55, sl63,sl65 etc carry badges although some people put aftermarket badges on for whatever reason