I'm looking to pick up a set of OEM "bundt cake" wheels for my '83 300 SD (which have some cheesy aftermarket chrome rims that are starting to bubble), and see people parting out 123s in my area. Are the wheel sizes the same? How can I judge a good used wheel from a bad one? Are the sizes written anywhere on them?

--Chris

The wheels are basically the same but bundt cakes came in several widths. 5", 5.5", 6", 6.5" and possibly 7". I'm pretty sure the offset is the same within a width size but with several OEM manufacturers and more aftermarket manufacturers you never know. Factory wheels will have an MB part number embossed on the hidden side of the wheel. The 107 400, 116 400, 123 400, 126 400, etc. prefix tells you what series of car the wheel orginally came on, but 116 400 prefix wheels on a 126 wouldn't surprise me. Your best bet is to get a set of matched part numbers.

Another set of numbers on the wheel should be of the form 6.5 J 14 H2 ET 23... or something like that. 14 is the nominal diameter in inches, 6.5 is the nominal width in inches, 23 is the offset in mm, I don't remember what J and H2 mean but they have to do with the tire mounting interface and such.

126 SDs came with 6" wheels.

If you happen across 15" bundt cakes, you've struck gold.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

I agree...

I actually saw a set in person. They were mounted on .. I think.. a 280SEL 4.5 or a 6.3 !! But anyway.. they looked really good with the meaty tires on them.

of course.. starts with a beautiful car (W108/109)

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2008 BMW 335i Coupe

I think the bundt cake rims were probably used the longest and on more MB cars from the factory than any other MB rim. What year did they start them? I know they stopped around 85, but I saw a 560SL with bundt cake rims on it. They were manufactured from 86 to 89. So, maybe they went on longer, or maybe a change for looks. I don't care what anyone says, on my list of MB rims, bundt cakes look the best on the classic benzes, classic in this context being anything manufactured before 1985 and after 1962-68.
-Joe

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

What year did they start them?

The C111 concept car had them in 1969, it had Michelin 205VR 14 tires.

I've seen 15" on ebay go for about $250 each for genuine ones. I think they came only on the w116 m100 6.9....

My mom made Bundt cakes in the 70's I liked the chocolate with the coconut filling ...... She still has the pans but cant find the mixes anymore.......

All the pictures of C111s I've seen show the 5-spoke AMG/Ronal A9 wheels. Should be something to see with bundts.

The earliest factory/dealer fitment of bundt cake wheels I've seen is on the last R113s. I've seen a set of 6" bundt cake wheels with 108-400 prefix part numbers. I've also seen a set of 6.5" wheels with Ronal markings and 107-400 prefix part numbers.

The standard 6.9 came with 14" wheels like any other 116 but it had 215 tires. 15s might have been optional.

I like the bundt cake scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

Source: Car and Driver, December 1969, page 64.

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I tried to put a set of 16' late series MB rims on my 83 300sd series car and I had problems with the lug nuts going in too deep and they would catch on to something and would not allow the wheel to turn. This happened only in the rear wheels. I don't know if anyone else has encountered this problem but it would be worth checking.

I believe the W123 rims are generally .5" narrower than the W126 rims, they have equivalent offsets which compensates for the different width. In short if you get W123 rims the will most likely be narrower (unless from a 300TD which I've been told are the same size as W126).

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Jeff M.
Mercedes W123 DIY pages are now located here.
1983 / 1984 300D Sold
2000 CLK430 Cabriolet ~58k Sold
2005 Avalanche 4x4 ~66k

I know this is a silly question but....
does that .5" matter?

Not really but you can see the difference if you had them side by side. The tires will fit on them pretty close to the same, if they weren't 14" rims I would point out that tire closer to the same width as the rim would help improve handling but in this case I don't think it really matters.

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Jeff M.
Mercedes W123 DIY pages are now located here.
1983 / 1984 300D Sold
2000 CLK430 Cabriolet ~58k Sold
2005 Avalanche 4x4 ~66k

The manual states 15" wheels were for underdeveloped countries with poor roads, they were 6.5" for the Bunt rims.

The '83 123 300's all had 6" wheels if they were Bunt's, 240D's had 5.5" Bunts and were 30mm offset on 240D an 35mm offset on the 300's.

126 cars had 6" & 6.5" rims.

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'10 Chrysler T&C Stow-N-Go White. Grandpa's ride.

'13 Chrysler 200 Touring Candy Red. Grandma's ride.

Age and cunning will always over come youth and vigor.

That seems rather backwards to me. I sometimes feel I live in an underdeveloped country due to our frequent earth creters in the road. When driving the MB I hit a pothole and enjoy the ride, but when driving the Talon since the rim is 16" it also occasionaly enjoys this as well as it catches the lip of the rim and bends it inwards. In the 103k or so miles on it I'd say at least 4 rims were damaged and 1 utterly destroyed by this. The solution for this is to buy tires to wide to allow the pothole to hit the rim, or get smaller rims.

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Jeff M.
Mercedes W123 DIY pages are now located here.
1983 / 1984 300D Sold
2000 CLK430 Cabriolet ~58k Sold
2005 Avalanche 4x4 ~66k

Remember most of our highway system (interstate) gets neglected and has had little repair and up keep in the last 20+ years. Our interstate system is almost 3 world quality now, due to lack of enough funds from what little road tax we have in the US.

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'10 Chrysler T&C Stow-N-Go White. Grandpa's ride.

'13 Chrysler 200 Touring Candy Red. Grandma's ride.

Age and cunning will always over come youth and vigor.

While this is true that they haven't worked on roads much lately to update them for traffic or build much new I don't think it is that bad in most states. Mine is just an exceptional state as it seems to constantly have construction through the warmer months and earth creters year round. As for the road tax, I suppose we don't pay anything like Europe in fuel taxs but $.55/gal must be going somewhere.

1500th post!! Thanks for all the help and knowledge everyone!

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Jeff M.
Mercedes W123 DIY pages are now located here.
1983 / 1984 300D Sold
2000 CLK430 Cabriolet ~58k Sold
2005 Avalanche 4x4 ~66k