Hello All


It seems a lot of people are taking off Mercedes original equipment tires and rims and trying to sell them on eBay.


It made me wonder what years / body styles would interchange with each other.

And if I could fit some really cool looking newer rims on my old 1981 300 D.


As always I turn to the Mercedes shop forums for expert advice.

I tried searching for a while and came up with a few posts of what people had tried with their cars.

But not any lists of what works with what.

If anyone has any partial lists, or just one or two examples, I would be glad to start, and try to maintain an interchangeability list.


Thank You
RichC

__________________

When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix

Im not close to an expert, but from what Ive seen so far most of the parts are interchangable. Or there at least really close.
Ive found that even a years difference can change a few millimeters on some aspects of the cars. Enough to cause minor problems and a little aggrivation. I took the seats out of my 82 300 cdt and put them in the 83 because they were more comfortable at first. while installing them I noticed that they are different. After looking at them for a while I noticed there are many very small differences. I even noticed that the whole body of the car is a different size.

Id be willing to bet that most of the models of close years are very close and can probably be fitted with a little bit of elbow grease.

also
Im pretty sure you can send in your old rims to be chromed. Instead of buying another set and having an extra set of rims to sit and rot in the garage. Although i couldnt tell you where to find this service.

__________________
'83 300 CDT
'82 300 CDT- flooded and locked up, looking for new engine
'81 380 SL - Sold
'86 300 E - small probs.. 60k miles.. great condition overall

I just pulled 4 rims out of the 'used car parts emporioum' this weekend. They are off a 380SE W126 (not sure the year) and I'd like to put them on my '85 300SD. Turns out, the new rims are 15" rims and are much wider than my stock 14's. Anyone know the size of tire to put on so my speedo isn't screwed up? Also, if anyone has done this swap before, does the ride suffer any from the reduced sidewall height? I want good looks, but don't want to sacrifice ride quality too much.


Many thanks,

Travis


1985 300SD "Schultz" 250K, WVO conversion almost done

many posts on the issue..
most all mb's have a 5x112 bolt pattern, the key figure is et offset and rim width.
123 chassis is et 25 (but i have seen other numbers).. 126 wheels should fit, being the offset and rim width are similar
a wider wheel = more surface area, resulting in more road hold and therefore less mileage (maybe 1-2mpg)
a shorter sidewall will be stiffer, resulting in better performance and worse ride (depending on how short you go)
if it were me would test fit the 126 wheels up front to be sure they didn't rub,
and then run 215/55/15 for a good all around tire.
but do some searching and look at some galleries to figure for yourself..
good luck.

This may be an over simplification, but there are three variables other than style. The variables are; bolt circle, rim width and offset.

The bolt circle is the same for most cars. The wheel width is USUALLY not an issue unless you are trying to put some really wide wheels under a car that does not have the wheel well room and offset.

If you are just doing some simple interchangability and not wanting to put wheels from a 1959 Pontoon onto a 2006 SL, you will usually be okay if you just use the same offset. The offset is stamped somewhere on the inside of most MB rims. As mentioned by an earlier poster it will begin with ET, such as ET37. If you stay very close or preferably identical on the offset and the width is similar, there will usually be no problem.

Good luck,

Your speedo is based on the circumfrance/diameter of the tire. The diameter of the tire is equal to the width in MM converted to inches times the profile doubled (top and bottom) plus the diameter of the wheel. In other words for a 195/70/14 tire: (195 / 25.4 mm in an inch) X (.7 x 2 or 1.4) + (14 inch wheel) or 24.748. If you are not mathematically inclined you can just all this up on TireRack.