I am having a hard time finding mercedes wire wheels, but Jaguar wheels seem to be plentiful. Also there seems to be a better selection on sizes, likely because most of the older jags used wires.

Thanks!

Hmm. Excuse me while the purist in me expresses an opinion on equipping a w108 with wire wheels:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHGGGGG GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, I feel better now.

Now, let's look at what you want to do. First, I'm unaware of any Jaguar model that used factory wire wheels that bolted directly onto the wheel hubs, in the manner of a conventional steel or alloy wheel.

The last Jag that I'm aware of that had factory wire wheels was the Series 3 E-Type, last sold here in 1974. That model had old-school wires that relied on one large center nut to mount the wheel to the car, and thus had a spline (threaded hollow tube) mounted to the center of the wheel hub as an attachment point.

Thus, in order to use Jag factory wires, you would have to find an adapter comprised of a spline to accept the Jag wheel, and a flange to allow the spline to be held in place by the MB wheel lugs. Bear in mind that even if such an adapter existed, the thickness of the flange would act as a wheel spacer, and push the wire wheel outboard to a distance equal to the thickness of the flange. Not fatal, but a factor to consider when trying to calculate the overall offset that a given wheel/adapter package would create.

Now, we've all seen a ton of XJ sedans and XJ-S models with wires that clearly were bolted on with five lugs. They're aftermarket. The most common purveyor of these wheels is a company called Dayton. Perhaps they have something with the correct bolt spread that would match a w108. Cost? $$$$$$$.

I just thought of something: Doesn't the w108 have a pin cast into the wheel hub that is designed to locate the wheel rim onto the hub? That could complicate the search for a properly-fitting wheel.

Who knows, perhaps someone else on this board has a slam-dunk solution. Anyway, good luck on your search, and be certain that whatever solution you come up with is safe. Nothing more annoying than driving down an Interstate and spotting your own wheel overtaking you in the passing lane.

Ok, fair enough........


Here is one example of what I was talking about:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43955&item=2457786097

Those are fully functional wire wheels.... oughta be trued and occcasionally tightened (like each few years) by turning the spoke nuts, same as bicycle. Had a set on my '65 Triumph Spitfire that started breaking spokes.... it sounded like popcorn going around corners when spokes started snapping when i was 16 yr old kid driving my first car like bat out of hell.

Word is that Jags had incredibly fragile suspensions made of tiny little A-frames and swingarm arrangements..... Hell, they even had inboard disc brakes that were mounted nearly half way down the rear swing axles - hence their use of wide track 7" tires to compensate for pitifully fragile, yet highly sensitive, suspension components.

Off the cuff, I'd say Jag wheels are just too wide at 7"..... results might be similar to putting 6 1/2" wheels on the 114/115 where wheels might rub while turning lock-to-lock.

And dont let anybody tell you what looks good/bad on *your* car... personally i like the flat-cake 15" bundt 126 wheels mentioned elsewhere..... Otherwise, Cadillac produced stainless steel wire wheel hubcaps that might be adaptable too.

Dog: If the spokes would break driving a featherweight spitfire (at least opposed to a 108) imagine what driving a 108 around a decent corner at 80MPH would result in! I wouldn't want to be in THAT car!

That having been said, I think this idea is very unsafe! I don't think any fairly heavy car used wire wheels, nevermind a heavy car with a suspension like a 108's. I honestly can imagine the spokes ripping apart on the inside front wheel as the swaybar suspension does its work keeping the frontend damn-near flat.

Now, I think a 108 would look ugly with those... but I like those 126 wheels, and Dog, you are reffering to my thread, right?

If I were going to put wheels on my 108 that allowed you to see the rotors and hubs I'd have to make sure they shone as well which is too much work for me - finding paint that'd stick to the calipers and repainting them often to make it look decent! (But PLEASE, just gloss black, no ricer yellows or reds!)

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Cadillac offered real wire wheels as an option on the rear-drive Brougham during the '80's, so a heavy car can live with wires. I think that fitment would be the most difficult issue to solve.

Wires CAN break. Elvis Presley took delivery of a then-new early-build 1962 Ford Thunderbird with the Roadster package. Part of the package included a set of Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels. Well, Elvis was reputed to be a pretty aggressive driver, and was whipping the T-Bird around on a Southern California road when a wire wheel collapsed. The resultant accident, while not serious, garnered a lot of publicity. Kelsey-Hayes and Ford decided that the spokes were undersized and recalled all T-Bird Roadsters and replaced the wheels with sturdier versions.

Those were 13" spoke wheels on the Spitfire..... common for the period, shared with MG's and Austin Healys..... easy to replace with junkyard parts.

Wheels never completely collapsed - just sounded crunchey driving slowly home after pop-corn snapping of lotsa spokes on one rear wheel while fish-tailing around corners...... i think the car weighed less than 2,000 lbs. This was my high school hotrod during the early 70s.

Interesting thing about hammer knock-off single hubnut that held wire wheels to splined coupling... they were threaded in opposite directions on each side - so wheel spinning would not loosen them.

My '73 280C (admittedly, a 114 not a 108) has bolt-on wire wheels that don't look too bad... they were made by AP (also called Appliance Mags sometime in their past). They don't have a MB logo center cap but I think they look fine. I've seen a number of 230/250/280SLs with wire wheels, too, so I know they were made (at least aftermarket).

I don't have a decent picture of the wheels themselves, but here is the car overall...

Catrinus
Portland, OR

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2461665536&category=43954

Saw them & thought of this thread!

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1999 Chrysler 300M - RIP @ 221k

Did I hear that the 15" wheel from a 126 will be a perfect fit on the 108?

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I too would like to upgrade my wheels to at least 15" I really like the hub caps that the car has now though and I understand yoiu can find the 15" caps BUT will the same WHEELS fit???????

As I recall, the Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels were put on some pretty heavy cars in the 50's and 60's, so I think they ought to support a Mercedes as well. Here's a link with a little more info on them:

http://www.diynet.com/diy/ab_auto_restoration/article/0,2021,DIY_13680_3018315,00.html

I have a set of Dayton knock off wire wheels that came on my 6.3 when I bought it. I had them on a '73 450SL and then on a 74 450 SLC ...they looked pretty sharp if you ask me

The spindel bolts on to the car using the lug nuts and then the wheel goes on using a wing nut....brass hammer to tighten.

Now they just sit in the cellar collecting dust.....

couple of things.

whats the biggest wheel/tire that fits on a 108/109?

are there 15" bundts that fit? seems like a 215/xx/15 is easier to find a tire for than 215/xx/14's, plus i wouldnt mind something a little taller, car's geared a tad short for its old age, imo

3) part of the strength of a wire wheel comes from the spoke count, i think my tr3 has 80 spoke wheels and the "better" "racing" wheels are 120spoke
3a) the tr3 has adaptors that bolt where the wheel would go, and then the wire wheel slips onto these and gets knocked down by the center wing nut. it might be possible (although tr3 wieghs 2000lbs and has suspect engineering at best, while the 108/109's are 3800lbs) to redrill the tr wheel adaptors to fit the benz bolt pattern.

mike

I strongly advise you to forget the wires. In the 1970s I ran two 107s with Zeniths. Zeniths used that center hub described by another Benz fan and you changed a tire with only a lead hammer. That was the case, if you had a Zenith wire spare, which we did. We could never keep them balanced. We had to balance the tires mounted on the 107 and on a lift, to even get close. The Zeniths were terrible. I gave one set away with the above warning and junked the other set.

Then the question was asked about the 126 steel wheel. This wheel looks identical to the Benz 14s and uses a hubcap that can be found in Europe that looks just like the 14's hubcap.

Part # 126-400-2802. This wheel's ET is exactly the same as the 14's; 25. They are wider than the 14s, measuring 15 tall and 7 inches wide. I've picked some up for 138$ per wheel last year. The 15 allows the use of modern tires. You can fit under a 108 or 109 ; 225/60/15. Don't believe it? Try it, we have been running them for years.