Will these fit on my 190E? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

2.6L · #1 12-23-2002, 11:22 AM

I've got a 89' 190E and I'm not to sure with the offset if these wheels will fit. I found these 18x8 Monoblocks Replica's it says their for S-Class 140/220 or ML320/430. Can someone help me out?

I know that they make 10mm wheel spacers for my car, but is their a 15mm spacer availible anywhere?

2.6L · #2 12-23-2002, 10:07 PM

Somebody please help all I need to know is the offset of a S Class and or the ML.

yhliem · #3 12-23-2002, 11:51 PM

offset is a rim specific measurement - it doesn't matter if the rim is from an ML or a Studebaker.

look on the backside of the rim where it says the size:

ie. 8Jx16H2 ET34

the ET value is the offset in mm

for a 190E, an 8" rim should have an offset of about 34mm to avoid rubbing. HOWEVER tire size has an impact as well. anything wider than a 225 tire will be likely to rub. plus, on an 18" rim you'd be looking at a 225/35 or so. not much sidewall there. you could find yourself having to straighten rims fairly frequently

2.6L · #4 12-24-2002, 12:08 AM

2 of the wheels I'm buying have an offset of 41mm. The other 2 are 20mm and 35mm wow I'm going to need my fenders rolled and like 2 different spacers.

This is going to be a headache but the wheels are very cheap I cant pass this up

What am I going to have to do to get these wheels to fit. Would a 215/35 tire be the best fitment or what I feel lost now?

yhliem · #5 12-24-2002, 12:55 AM

it's going to be even more of a headache than you think. those rims are not a matched set. they aren't even a staggered set. i suggest that you NOT buy them.

the ONLY time it's ok to have different offsets is if you are staggering your rims. and in this case, you need to have a matched pair at the front and another matched pair at the rear. if you are not staggering your tire sizes, then all for rims should be identical.

mismatched offsets, especially on the steering end is downright dangerous because the loads will be different on the hubs and other components due to the imbalance in the leverage placed on the copoments from right to left. it also changes the steering geometry and will make the car behave very differently in a right hand turn than in a left hand turn.

walk away from those rims because this is NOT something that can be corrected with spacers.

as for the tire size, that depends on what the stock tires are on your car. I'll use mine as an example:

first of all: one of the most important things to do when changing tires/rims is to maintain the diameter of the wheel/tire package. this is essentially rule number one.

the stock wheel tire combo on a 2.3-16 is a 205/55-15 tire on a 7Jx15H2 ET44.

doing the math:
(to get the height of the sidewall)
205mm x .55 = 112.75mm

(multiply by 2 to account for the sidwall on top of and below the rim)
112.75mm x 2 = 225.5mm

(convert to inches by dividing by 24.5mm/in.)
225.5 / 24.5 = 9.20inches of sidewall

(add the diameter of the rim)
9.20in. + 15in. = 24.4 in.

this is the diameter of the OEM wheel tire combo. any wheel/tire combo you put on your car should be as close to this as possible.

in my case, i went to a 16" rim from a 15" rim. by working all of the above calculations with substituting different tire section widths and aspect ratios and 16" for 15" the closest to the original diameter was a 225/45-16. it came out to 24.26"

the next size up would have been a 225/50-16 which would have given me a 25.18" combo - almost a full inch taller
OR
235/40-16 which would have been 23.67" not quite tall enough PLUS a 235 is wider, so it could rub AND the sidewall is not as tall, so i could risk damaging the rim and compromise the handling too much.

remember, MB takes the stock tire size into account when designing the suspension and specifying the spring rates of the springs and the valving of the shocks. make too drastic a change and it could screw up the handling of the car.

this is known as "Plus-1" sizing. it means my rim is Plus 1 inch in diameter, but the overall diameter of the combo is almost the same as OEM. "Plus-2" sizing would be a 17" rim with a 225/40-17" tire on it.

Now, i haven't said anything about rim width. width is important because for each section width, there is an optimum rim width associated with it. check with the tire manufacturers' documentation. this is important for ensuring that the bead of the tire stays seated on the rim.

p-metric tire sizing is based on the section width of a tire (the first number in the tire size) a 205 tire will work fine on a 7" rim, but 8" may be too wide for it and 9" is definitely too wide. if your tire is too narrow, for the rim it's mounted on, the bead won't seat properly and you could risk having it come off of the rim in hard cornering or it could just plain fail if you're really unlucky.

conversely, if the rim is too narrow for the tire, you're forcing the tire onto the rim and it'll want to come off as well. an all around bad thing to have happen. especially while driving.

the wider the rim, the greater your section width needs to be and as a result, the lower the aspect ratio will have to be to maintain the diameter.

ie. if you go from a 205 to a 225, as i did, but the aspect ratio remains the same: 55. your sidewall height will be

225mm x .55 = 123.75mm
as opposed to the 112.75 we calculated above

multiply by 2
123.75 x 2 = 246.5 vs. 225.5mm

convert
246.5 / 24.5 = 10.10in. vs. 9.20in.

add rim diameter
10.10in. + 15in. = 25.1in. vs. 24.4in.

so, as you can see, just changing the width of a p-metrc tire is not enough, you have to consider the aspect ratio as well and compensate for changes in sidewall height that result for the change in the section width.

finally, i'll tell you about offset. the offset of a rim is defined as the distance between the centerline of the rim and the mounting face of the rim. which means, for a rim that is ET44, the plane of the mounting face is SET 44mm OFF from the plane of the centerline. hence the name "offset".

what you need to keep in mind is that where mercedes-benz is concerned, an increase in the offset value will narrow the track of the car: the wheels will sit further towards the middle of the car.

ie. the difference between ET44 and ET34 is that the centerline of the ET34 rim will be 10mm further out from the middle of the car.

you also have to consider the rim width again. going from ET44 to ET34 doesn't necessarily mean 10mm of net difference. it also matters if there is a difference in rim width.

ie. my original rim was 7" wide and had an ET44. my new rims are 8" wide (for now, assume that the offset remains the same: 44mm); this adds 1/2" onto each side of the rim.

NOW take into account the difference in offset:
offset is 10mm LESS, which means the rim moves outwards 10mm. since there is an extra 1/2" on each side of the 8" rim, the outside face of the rim actually moves outwards almost a full 1" while the inside of the rim remains in roughly the same place as the inside of the original rim.