So I figured I had better finish this thread for anyone with a similar problem. Since the gas station/truck stop said we had to move the car in 24hrs, I called around (it's now the next day, Sunday- and ALL the tire shops are closed, but Costco and Walmart were open and both said they had tires that would fit and could install them in an hour.) I figured I would take the rear pass wheel and get the tire replaced, then use the spare on the front, and put the rear tire back on the rear. I drove back to our 300 at the truckstop in the 190d- and the front driver's side tire on the e300 was now flat... I yanked the rear wheel out of the trunk to inspect it, and now in the daylight, you could clearly see that the inner lip was bent. With a flat front driver's side now, I was essentially screwed- the spare was on, but now I had 2 flats...

I called another tow truck company and he said it would be "bout 5 or 6 hours at the full rate..." I didn't bother to ask what that rate was, and politely hung up.

So... I sat and stared and thought and cussed.

Then I measured. And I got a really good idea. The bolt pattern on our '87 190D IS THE SAME as the '96 E300! I laid the wheels face down next to each other, and the 190's spare was obviously smaller in diameter, a different depth, and the lug bolts are shorties, but I decided to try and work around that. I had not other choice really. I jacked up the rear of the 300, pulled the spare off and temporarily mounted the 190'd spare- no clearance issues (in the rear) no rubbing, no issue other than the lug bolts. So I put the 300 on a jack stand- put the wheels in the trunk, and drove to Meynard's- and found out the lugs are 12mm with a 1.5 pitch. I then called Auto-bone from my cell. They said they stocked them ($5.99 each!) but only had one. So I called Underpants Auto Parts and they had 3 at one store and 2 at another for $1.99. So I went and got em.

I returned to the 300 and mounted the 190's spare on the rear driver's side using the new lugs. Then I jacked up and pulled the driver's side front wheel- and saw it was bent even worse than the rear. And just like the helpful posts from Aquaticedge and Ferdman pointed out- the rim had been been bent enough to make contact with the control arm. It wasn't that bad- but bad enough to rub. I mounted the 300s spare on the driver's side front and took it for a test drive. No rubbing, no pulling, no issues. So I drove home, got the wife and then she followed me as I drove the 300 back to the house.

The next day I found some used wheels from a 2002 w210 on craigslist and went and bought them. So- now I have those on the car- and 2 "good" 96 w210 wheels and tires from the passenger side, and the 2 bent wheels and tires from the driver's side in the garage.

So, I need to thank Aquaticedge and Ferdman for the help with diagnosis, Costco and Walmart for being open to sell tires on Sunday (though I didn't get to buy them- it's good to know SOMEPLACE will sell and install tires on a friggin Sunday) and the forum for the ability to share this info.

Lesson learned: U can't have just ONE Mercedes... -J