I have a 1992 400E / W124 and have only had a few months, and love this car - but I knew it would need tires when I bought it. Only 64.5K miles on it when I picked it up (second set of 195-65-R15's). Just broken in and so I am looking to move up to 16 or 17" wheels and new tires. I have found some CLK 320 wheels A208 401 00 02 produced in Germany week35/1998 - they are 7Jx16 H2 with ET37 (offset). My stock wheels are 6.5Jx15 with 44 offset. The tires on the CLK wheels are new Kuhno 205-50Z16's, and I tried the wheels on the front of my car, and they seemed to clear OK. NOW the problem was that my stock lug nuts were too long to pull the wheels up tight, so I could only somewhat visualize and not roadtest the clearance issues. If I just buy "new style" shorter lugs - will this whole set-up work on my car? I would have preferred to see the tires be 205-55's but figure I can live with this set-up provided everything is safe and won't reduce my ground clearance too much. I really think it should be OK since I am only going 1/2" wider (1/4" per side off center-line), and the reduced offset should give back 7mm (approx.1/4"). The clearance looked a little close on the caliper - but still seemed to clear.
I'm open to any information the group is willing to volunteer.
Thanks,
CABenz - BayArea
1981 300D 298K son drives now
1992 400E 67.5K Dad's ride
Nothing like a Benz!