I'm not sure what you (or the shop) plan to accomplish by adding spacers. If the handling issues are caused by the mass dynamics of the rims adding spacers will not fix it. you're just moving the rims further out to the sides.

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'94 W124.036 249/040 leder; 8.25x17 EvoIIs
'93 W124.036 199/040 leder; 8.25x17 EvoIIs, up in flames...LITERALLY!
'93 W124.036 481/040 leder; euro delivery; 8.25x17 EvoIIs
'88 R107.048 441/409 leder; Euro lights
'87 W201.034 199/040 leder; Euro lights; EvoII brakes; 8x16 EvoIs - soon: 500E rear brakes
'70 R113.044 050/526; factory alloys; Euro lights

Well the looser handling partially is due to the tires being a little less wide and the fact that they are not Michelin, which are truly awesome on this car...I test drove one without the michelin w/18's and it felt a lot looser as well....add the weight issue from the thick lips and heavy chrome and I have my answer....the braking problem didnt happen today in the rain. Strange???

The wider stance should make the handling better....the use of hubcentric spacers bothers me since they are not H&R, etc. but are generic....any spacers bother me...but for 2 years and 2 months it will do if it has to...

but what mm spacers should I run, If I run them?

OK I may be able to swap them out with Foose speedster 20's which have an offset of 18 in front and 25 in rear....which means if they clear the brakes, will need no modifying and will bolt on perfect, also causing no loss of sleep....and they are much lighter t0o...

I hope it works out
will keep you guys posted

CRAP!!!! UGH. I just got this car last month and had not looked at the wheels really close (they are crappy aftermarket chrome.. hate them so they've always been on my to-be-replaced list).

At any rate, I get a nasty shimmy in the steering wheel at high speeds. Seems like a poor balance or maybe.. an out-of-round tire. So I'm looking at it more closely and WTF do I see? SPACERS!!!

So now I'm on the fast track to find some PROPER wheels for my car. Gawd.. and all this after I go off about no spacers on my cars. I don't want to drive it now until I get those freaking things off my car!!!

I have another W124 with 16's on it with what looks like a healthy offset (no spacers) factory wheels in chrome. Half tempted to see if they will fit (smaller tires be damned).

Did I mention that I hate wheel spacers!?!?

I wonder what I should try to find in a 17" super-light wheel for this car.

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AMG and Brabus make some nice high quality understated wheels that will fit on those cars. The SL65's came with nice 19in AMG's from the factory and since most owners get rid of them you can pick up a brand new set for only like $2k.

AMG, Brabus, Kleeman, Renntech, and Lorinsor can probably hook you up with a quality set of wheels that fit.

Spacers should never be used.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Spacers, in and of themselves, are not bad... Most people have derived their knowledge of spacers/adaptors from the crap that was put on the road in the '70's-'80's.

Depends on the quality of manufacture & intended use. H&R/Brabus/Porsche/etc have all used spacers over the years, with no ill effects. These spacers have been used on 200 mph+ race cars, again, with no ill effects.

"Spacers should never be used" continues to be an erroneous conclusion...

As for "ruined handling", these cars as designed & delivered from MB were not intended to run large wheels when the suspension designers layed out the specs for the cars. The suspension parameters were established around a certain tire/wheel/spring/brake/etc. combination. Even the newest SL500 shows 19" AMG wheels as the largest option; again, MB designed the suspension to accomodate these wheels.

bnc

I'm in agreement with the tendency to trash spacers without any hard data.

The device is simply a steel or aluminum plate that extends the wheel outboard slightly. If the spacer is properly manufactured and installed, it is effectively the same as putting on a wheel with lower offset.

If the lower offset wheel offers handling or steering problems, then the problem is due to the lower offset, not the spacers.

Of course, if a low quality spacer is used and the centerline of the spindle is offset by the addition of the spacer, there will be unbalance problems.

However, if the spacer is properly manufactured, the driver will not be able to tell the difference between a vehicle with a spacer and the same vehicle with a proper wheel with reduced offset.

With hub-centric wheels, the spacer would need to fit tightly on the hub and have it's own little hublike projection for the wheel to center on. Do they make spacers like that?

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'79 300SD W116
'86 190E 2.3-16V W201
'92 300D 2.5 W124
'99 E320 4MATIC S210

The one's I've seen listed for MBZ applications on a variety of sites show the lip and indicate they are hub-centric. True, my prejudice against spacers is largley based on the crap I saw for cars in the 80's.

So maybe I'm just paranoid but the *concept* is just abhorant to me. Founded or unfounded.

In my case though.. I do have a speed-related shimmy and on another car I have (that has this shimmy from the factory.. a cheap tire or wheel will magnify it to the point of severy annoyance - what the MBZ is doing right now.. in some instances, is of similar magnitued).

I of course checked the dealer and a set of AMG's in 18x9 can be had for only $650 each. ouch...

There is a friend of mine in the performance auto bizz that is checking OZ and BBS applications for my desired width and offset. I tried to search the Lorinsner website and it's impossible (for me) to navigate so I stopped trying to find some there. I've not tried Brabus yet... and Ronal came to mind today as well.

The quest is on...

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Good point, lets take H&R hub centric spacers for the W126 for example. Sure they are probably safe but they will make the wheels stick out past the fender and it will look like a cheaply riced Honda.

Cars like these should not have crappy wheels on them, they are to nice and highly engineered for that.

Also remember if you do not use hub centric spacers on a MB and simply push the wheel out with the collar type you risk snapping the wheel bolts. The bolts are not designed to hold the weight of the car and they will snap causing the wheel to fall off!

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

There are different thickness spacers, dependent on the application. The thickness should match the offset change. If I have wheels with a 49mm offset and I want to put them on a W126 with a typical 24 mm offset, then the spacer should be 25mm, or one inch, with the assumption that the wheel widths are identical. The projection of the tire and wheel will be identical to the original 24mm wheels.

If the spacers are manufactured properly, the have a set of five counterbored holes that use socket head cap screws and attach to the original holes in the hub. Then, they provide a set of 12mm tapped holes to enable attachment of the wheel. From the perspective of the wheel, there is no difference between attachment to the spacer or attachment to the original hub.

You would have to be a complete moron to simply stick a spacer in between the hub and use wheel studs that are 1" longer than stock.

Time to pull a wheel and see what I have in there... hopefully it's not some eBay special spacer of some sort... althougth the 'Platinum' rims look to be of similar origin/quality.

UNHOLY MOTHER OF SATAN! My worst fears confirmed. Indeed it has spacers but they are not even attempting to emulate hub-centric construction. They are generic, flat, multi-sloted spacers ther were 'centered' by hand on the flanges and 'stuck' there with grease to keep them in place while the wheels (which at toally the wrong width and offset) were instaleld, AND at an improper torque I might add!! Geez. I had my kids in this car!

It's parked. Period! Until I can get some new wheels! Geez.. and I just sold my 300 yesterday. Good gawd.. I'm glad the entire front-end did not snap-off. In addition it was using the stock bolts barely engaged in the hub! I'll shoot some pictures before putting it back down on the ground. I checked, the offset is so wrong it will hit the calipers, which is whey the are there to begin with. I wish I could find the idiot that did this to the car.... ARG!!!!

OH.. I do have the original 8" wide +34 8-hole (the dealer verfied what wheel came on that car in 1992 and it matches) in the trunk so I can at least show someone what I need.

Great.. I was hoping to not have to spend a munch of money while I sell my house but.. this has GOT to be fixed.. ARG!!!

Upside.. I get to buy the wheels I want (must... focus... on.... positive).

Pics to follow...

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Look to see if there is one set of bolts to secure the spacer to the hub and another set of tapped holes to secure the wheel to the spacer.

Remove the spacer and determine the fit of the spacer to the hub. The clearance should be just about zero. In fact, you might have trouble removing the spacer, if it's a good one. It will be that close (.001 or so).

If it's designed and manufactured properly, I'd have no problems with using it.

HAHAHAHAH Whew! Well.. no worries about pulling of this 'spacer' check out these pics....

The 'spacer' can be slightly off center and still sit flat on face of hub:


An example of 'imited engagement' but not of the Hollywood kind:


Inside of the crappy aftermarket wheel. The '38' (which I'm assuming is the offset) is inside the hub flange and didn't come out in the pic. You should be able to see that it's a 16 x 7.5" wheel. WRONG!


And finally, the CORRECT stock wheel of which I only have one or they would be on the car right now!! 16x8" +34 offset.


I did not measure the spacer (I guess I should have but I'd be shocked if it was more than 10mm (probably more like 5mm). Man.. that just so makes me ill to think of how I trusted the lives of my little people to that setup. Frightening!! Truely frightenting!!!

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Why should I be surprised.

These are a classic example of why some folks on the forum have a very negative opinion of spacers, and rightfully so.

Those spacers are truly frightening.