C280 Sport Wheels made in Italy?
 

I just purchased a set of 1999 C280 Sport wheels, 6-spoke style. The wheels say "made in Italy" on the inside. Is there any chance that these are OEM?

The auction listed these wheels as being "Original wheels from 1999 C280 Sport". I would have thought that any MB car would have German wheels. Am I wrong?

Thanks,
Troy K.
1995 E420 89k

It was my understanding that original Mercedes wheels would always have a tiny little Mercedes emblem and a Mercedes part number on the inside of the wheel.

Does anyone have these wheels, and could give me a confirmation? I tend to think that the wheels would be German myself, but I'm sure even Mercedes does strange things from time to time. I'd like to know fo4r sure before I confront the guy i bought the wheels from.

Thanks,
Troy
1995 E420 89k

I've been following your post from the tire section.

Try <www.club202.com> for your answer. This is a great site bit club202
has a lot of tuners and DIY'ers

you may also want to call <http://www.wheelcollision.com/merc.htm>

they have a picture of the wheel and seem very knowledgable

The wheels on my 1999 E430 are made in Italy. M-B subcontracts their wheels. The real question was asked and not answered - do the wheels have the star and M-B part number?

I checked the inside, and it has what appears to be a Mercedes symbol, with a part number that reads, "A208XXXXXXX" (I'm at work and can't remember the whole number). I would have thought that the part number would be 202XXXXXXX given that the wheels came from a 202 chassis.

It is good to know that Mercedes does put made in Italy wheels on their cars. The part number is a bit weird though.

Any more views?

Thanks,
Troy
1995 E420 89k

In other countries, MB mixes up wheels like crazy - W202, 208, and 210 wheels all get mixed up within those three chassis.

I think the W202 8-hole wheels have a W210 part number.

Part numbers tend to get the chassis number of their first application, and then keep it as applied to other chassis.

consider also that the CLK ( 208 ) is based on the C280 ( 202 ) chassis