W124 Wheel Updgrade Photos - Page 6 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Benzwood · #76 08-06-2003, 11:27 PM

One more photo... the obligatory car-on-the-grass shot.

Now I just gotta fix those damn US-style headlights.

#77 08-07-2003, 12:52 PM

fine job sir. nah, your absolutely insane. OK, d@mn fine job!

one quick thought about the bolts. as the milles (i have another mille wheel on a bmw) are not OEM, and therefore may have a different mounting surface thickness, do you know FOR SURE that the bolts have a sufficent threaded engagement? just thinking and looking out for you.

also, did you get the H rated turanzas? i just put the H on a set of new 16" on a new set of after wheels. i went 205/55/16. im pretty happy with the tires so far. time will tell.

now, you better spend some time or $ on the wife after all that!

Benzwood · #78 08-07-2003, 03:53 PM

That's why I posted all this here... only fellow enthusiasts/nutcakes would appreciate the effort.

Actually I did finally get my wife to admit the car looked a lot nicer with the new rims. But the only person who noticed without being prompted was my 85+ year old grandpa... and he hadn't seen the car for over a year. The guy's still sharp!

The bolts I got were supplied by TireRack with the rims for this specific application so hopefully they are correct. There also seems to be plenty of turning required to seat them, but I'm not sure how to tell beyond that?

I do have H rated tires, same size as you. I haven't tested the 130 mph rating yet, 110 is as close as I've come.

I've also been happy with the tires so far. My wife took the car on a long trip so they have almost 5000 miles on them already and I've rotated them once, no problems so far.

#79 08-07-2003, 04:24 PM

your grandpa IS sharp! he probably spent a few hours with rags on his rides. spend ALL the time you can with him, as one day you will be wishing you spent even more.

bolts- as you bought from THE best source, im sure they sent bolts of the proper length. various wheels have various mounting thickness. the way i checked was to measure the length of bolt protruding past the mounting surface on the old wheel, and confirmed that the new combo was pretty d@mn close. 1or2 mm short (or long) probably is OK.

Benzwood · #80 08-07-2003, 04:52 PM

That's a big "duhhh" for me on how to check the bolt length, I'll try that when I have a chance.

Benzwood · #81 08-11-2003, 06:43 PM

Measured the bolt protrusion from the back of the wheels for the OEM vs replacement wheel/bolt... measurements in inches 'cause that's what my tool was:

OEM protrusion: 21/32"
Mille protrusion: 22/32"

So I have slightly more protrusion now, which I assume is better than less, as long as there are no hideous screeching noises.

My lug bolt paint job got pretty scuffed up as expected. Does anyone have personal experience with the Griot's socket set mentioned above? Reading it more closely, it sounds like it's designed more to protect the wheel than the bolts, i.e. the interior walls of the socket are normal metal other than some plastic to protect the very top of the bolt (not sure how you'd hit that anyway unless the socket wasn't deep enough).

From their site:

Quote:

These 1/2" drive metal sockets are surrounded with a soft protective plastic that won't allow the metal to make contact with the wheel. There's even an area of plastic inside the socket itself which protects the top of your lug nut from being scratched by the inside of the socket.

git0 · #82 10-05-2003, 02:19 PM

Benzwood

Extremely nice job. You are a perfectionist to go to that much effort. What a sharp ride.

I was wondering how the wheels are doing as far as appearance and cleaning as you indicated they are quite open in appearance. Did you end up having to clean the inside. I am curious as I was considering between the the same set of wheels or the AT Italia Type 8 (8 hole) from tire rack. Your comments are appreciated.

Benzwood · #83 10-05-2003, 05:22 PM

Thanks! The wheels have been holding up fine as far as appearance, but I do have to clean the inside if I want them to look their best.

The front wheels collect massive amounts of brake dust from the factory pads, just as they did before, but it's more visible on these wheels. I will switch to a different pad as soon as these wear out.

The inside of the rear wheels really collects gravel dust for some reason... a couple miles on a gravel road and they are thoroughly coated, and it doesn't blow out on its own.

I also sometimes get spots of road grease or asphalt in the inside that are tough to remove even with tar remover. There's a lot of road construction here right now that may be causing it. Apparently it gets thoroughly stuck due to the spinning of the wheel forcing it outward and then bakes on. The same thing probably would happen with any wheel, it's just that it's visible on these.

For washing, I've found that taking 2 minutes to lift the front end with my floor jack (parking brake on in rear) makes it much more pleasant to clean the front wheels. They aren't so low, and you can freely rotate the wheels while working on them, and/or reach around the side. The rears don't get very dirty and have a bit more working room, so I don't bother lifting them.

With the open design there is more visible surface area to clean, but on the other hand the large flowing curves are much easier to remove dust from than the small abrupt corners on the OEM 15-hole wheels. So I'm not sure if it's more time or not. It's tough for me to compare as my OEM wheels' finish was badly damaged so I could never remove all the brake dust. Also if you want your wheels truly clean, you can reach all the surfaces on an open design without having to remove the wheels like with a closed design.

Of course removing the wheels does make it real easy to thoroughly clean them, which I did when I rotated my tires. After spending the money on good tires, I got me that ol' time rotation religion.

I haven't had to use anything harsher than regular car wash to clean them (other than the tar spots). The clearcoat finish seems to be holding up just fine, and they clean up just like new.

So, overall I'm happy with them, and in real-life I like the look of my car in the parking lot compared to those with the standard 8-hole or 15-hole wheels (both of which I had initially considered).

But... that prep time for the dust shield/calipers/rotors was a killer.

If you have the money (or your rotors are getting thin anyway), I would just replace those rather than refurbish them. That would save a lot of time, and I later found that you can buy some non-rusting versions designed for nice appearance with open wheels. You could get some snazzy-looking ones with some trick cooling holes or something too.

And definitely replace the factory brake pads with some less-dusty versions while you have the calipers off.

If you aren't prepared to do all the prep work... I'd go with a more closed wheel. But... I really like the look of the Bellos. It'd be tough to settle for a boring standard 8-hole now. I like the look of the AMG Monoblocks and those would probably be closed enough to hide most of the rusty guts without prep work, but they are very spendy. I think you can find knockoffs, but not from TireRack.

Good luck, let us know what you do... with photos!

ksing44 · #84 10-07-2003, 06:25 AM

You really did do an amazing job cleaning up everything around your wheels. I am happy to have more closed wheels, so that I don’t have to worry about all of that. I would like to have red calipers peeking through the small spaces in my AMGs. It wouldn’t be real noticeable, just a discrete dash of color. That little dash of red color would give a hint of more sporting performance and it would show attention to details in maintaining the car.

ksing44 · #85 10-07-2003, 06:32 AM

Just wanted to give you a view of the AMGs showing the entire car and the gille. I just need that little dash of red peeking out from behind the AMGs.

Benzwood · #86 10-07-2003, 01:44 PM

Looks good! I like that blue paint color too.

You could probably paint your calipers as I did, but red would show brake dust very well and might be difficult to clean the through the closed wheels.

The paint I used has been holding up well. The only issue with it is that it waterspots easily after washing, but that's minor and probably wouldn't be noticeable at all in your case. But you can't subject it to brake parts cleaner. I've been just using regular car wash soap.

Of course if you can afford the AMG rims you can afford that fancy 20-bucks-a-wheel brush-on caliper paint too.

If you do paint them, show us how it turns out.

ksing44 · #87 10-07-2003, 05:57 PM

My wife retired to spend more time with my 11-year-old son, so our family lost half its income. We are on a much tighter budget these days, so I couldn’t buy the AMG wheels today. It was fun while it lasted. We paid off just about everything, so that we would be able to make it on one salary. At least I have this wonderful car, so I still feel like a lucky guy. I am hoping that I never have to buy another car, unless we all switch to “Smart Cars” and hybrids.