I came by a pretty good set of alloy rims for my 82 240D at a good price, and so I bought them. In examining some of the wheel posts it appears that I have purchased a set of 14 inch alloy wheels off of a 126. These are 6 1/2" wide with an offset of 30mm. Will they work on my car??? It appears that 240D's normally use 6" wide wheels with a 25mm offset?

They will take some clean up and refinishing before I put them on the car, but I would forego all of that if I find out that they won't work. If they will work, what size tire would work best with the car and new rims?

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1976 240D
1987 560SL
2007 E320 Bluetec
1998 C280 (now son’s car)
1982 240D Manual - Sold

Unless you are planning on using extra wide or large tires, I don't think that you OR the car will know the difference.

I have gone through well over a half million miles worth of tires on 123 cars and for long tire life and service I have come to believe in Michelin XH's in 195/75-14's. I no longer see the XH's or XH4's so I don't know what the current passenger car line is called.

Since I will no longer buy Michelins because they are a French company, I really don't know where to start. Continental is my second choice, but they are not big in 75 series tires.

I believe that one of the reasons this size has worked well for me is that the 123's are a little heavier than most cars that take similar sized tires, so the 60 and 70 series tires don't have as much load rating.

Good luck,

First thing you need to do is test one on the front. With the different offset and wheel width, you need to make sure it is going to clear the tie rod ends.

The higher offset means the wheels are going to sit in closer to the vehicle.

Ken300D

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1982 300D at 351K miles
1984 300SD at 217K miles
1987 300D at 370K miles

LarryBible,

....so you are saying they will work fine with 195/75 tires???

Thanks. I can test one without tires to see if it will clear the front suspension.

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1976 240D
1987 560SL
2007 E320 Bluetec
1998 C280 (now son’s car)
1982 240D Manual - Sold

Yes, if it will clear the suspension, I believe a 195/75 will clear everything else. It would be a wide tire with which I would be afraid of interference.

I thought that the increased offset number meant that the wheel was further outboard. Goes to prove that I learn something new every day. Thanks for the info.

Good luck,

the wheel dimension are correct for your car but, for tire size use
195/70-14 or 205/70-14

to find a tire look here

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Please, call me to place orders or for more info
use my name for on-line orders

You can be offset either side of center. Wide performance wheels from the 60s cars had what is referred to as "negative" offset. They had the "deep dish" look from the outside. So, a greater negative offset in this case would sit the wheel further out from the car.

Our Mercedes have "positive" offsets. This makes the wheel look fairly flat viewed from the outside. A greater positive offset makes the wheel sit in closer to the car. I know I have tried an ET38 or ET39 on a W123 and it will not fit (by a long shot) on the front due to tie rod interference. It's going to be very close with a 6-1/2" ET30 wheel.

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/tech/offset.htm

Ken300D

Things you learn painfully - you remember. Buying wheels with the wrong offset taught me well. Fortunately the W126 wheels (with 21.5mm offset) I bought thinking they would go on the W124 actually fit well on the W123.

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1982 300D at 351K miles
1984 300SD at 217K miles
1987 300D at 370K miles

Most 14" Bundt Cake rims are ET30 (30mm positive offset), 6" wide (although I have seen one 5 1/2" from a grey market 4 cylinder car); the 6 1/2" wide versions from the "S" and "SL" cars came in several different offsets including ET 30 and ET25 (and some unmarked examples from the early 6.3 motored cars measured about 28mm), and I have some of almost every version in my garage or on my '85 300TD. If you have 6 1/2" rims with a 30mm offset, you need to watch the clearance between the tire sidewall and the rubber boot on the end of the tie rod end -- if you use tires of 70 series, such as the 205/70 or 195/70, you are not likely to have any problem. I prefer 225/60 tires for reasons of giving handling priority over ride, and with these on 6" rims the sidewall will sometimes just barely touch the rubber boot as the tire flexes through various cornering load distortions, although it took only a 6mm spacer on the 6 1/2" rims to create lots of room. The 6 1/2 X 14 ET25 rims used on early '80s cars should have no clearance problems at all, unless you resort to some BFG 245/50 tires like my son has on our '83 Toyota Celica; but you wouldn't want that anyway, because they'd rub the fenders on the outside.