Confusion About CLK 320 OEM Wheel Sizes
 

Hello,
I bought my 2004 CLK about a year ago used. The tires on the vehicle appeared to be new; they are the OEM Continentals. The interesting thing I just realized is that the tires on the front are 225/50R16 and those on the rear are 205/55R16 - this is backward from the specification on the driver's side door jamb. I realized the problem after having a "blow out" on one of the rear tires when travelling a mountain pass going 80MPH. I guess there are two possible scenarios: 1) The wrong tires are installed on the correct wheels; 2) The correct tires are on the correct wheels, but the wheels are installed in the wrong place, i.e., the fronts are on the back and vice versa. Is there an easy way to tell if the wheels are installed on the correct axle? Is there an easy way to identify a rear wheel from a front? Is there a marking or something? Without taking the wheels off to inspect, it appears the offset (or standoff) on the wheels installed on the rear axle are longer than those on the front. Can the mistake (2) even be made? I don't know if my blow out adventure was due to the mixup or not, but it seems suspect. Also, I have noted from the start that the car didn't corner very well, maybe this is related. I have never had a car with different front and rear wheels/tires - can these be rotated?

Thank you!
John

According to TireRack, the fronts are 205/55-16 and the rear are 225/50-16:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/SelectTireSize.jsp?autoMake=Mercedes-Benz&autoModel=CLK320+Coupe&autoYear=2004&autoModClar=

I would guess that someone rotated them without knowing they were different sizes. You should be able to verify if the rims are the same by removing them and comparing the part numbers.

The rims/tires on your CLK are probably staggered front/rear . Mine is shod with directional tires as well, so tire rotation will never be an option...