W124 Wheel Updgrade Photos - Page 3 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Benzwood · #31 06-14-2003, 01:01 AM

Here's what it looks like from the side with the newly black shield and caliper (I should have taken the photo with the caliper more exposed, oh well...)

Benzwood · #32 06-14-2003, 01:03 AM

And a comparison from the unflattering angle of before, where buckets of rust were clearly visible on the hub, to the new "aluminized" one, aaahhh....

Of course, the brake rotor itself is going to rust up again along the very inner and outer edges again where the pad doesn't scrape it clean, and it'd be too tricky to paint just that without risking gumming up the brake pads.

I have a motorcycle with exposed rotors that doesn't have this problem... maybe those are made of stainless steel or something? Presumably you can buy similar non-rusting rotors for your car, for a price.

Benzwood · #33 06-14-2003, 01:41 AM

Another angle showin' a bit more caliper:

Benzwood · #34 06-14-2003, 01:46 AM

So there you have it... the 8 hour $200 paint job for one wheel... which also completely removed all doubt of my sanity in my wife's mind.

The others will (I hope!) go faster and cheaper.

I like the black on the calipers and shields, I'm glad I went with it for those. I also toyed with the idea of painting the hub black for the obvious cleaning advantages. But I like the aluminum look on the hub.

I'm going on a driving vacation tomorrow and will be gone for a week, so I'll see how it holds up and cleans up and decide from there for the other ones.

The front wheels also show much less hub, and of course get dirtier, so I might go with black there regardless.

In both colors, I'm not using official brake part paint, but Duplicolor high-heat engine paint. Hopefully that's subject to similar abuse and will hold up well.

I did find some actual brake part paint locally, but the color choices were bright blue, red, or yellow... not exactly the understated look that I was going for.

And the heavy-duty 2-part paint sold by TireRack was just too spendy, especially for the amount I'd need to paint the whole hub.

Fanatic · #35 06-14-2003, 01:20 PM

WOW. Congrats. That looks AWESOME.

I'm sure the other wheels will go faster now that you have all the tools and know what to do. Enjoy you trip and post more pics when you do the other wheels.

yal · #36 06-16-2003, 11:23 AM

Two thumbs up!!!!

timreid · #37 06-16-2003, 04:50 PM

Don’t, we MB guys go the extra mile ( yup )-- you did a very professional job, a very good touch by painting the hubs. If ever quits raining in WV, I know what I’ll be doing to my wheel area, and I really like your choice of Duplicolor Aluminum for the hubs.
When you get back from your driving vacation, give us your opinion about your new tires?
Enjoy your drive, and those wheels.
timreid

Benzwood · #38 06-22-2003, 09:05 AM

Thanks for the comments! I'm back from the trip, and washed off the accumulated road grime, swarms of bugs, complete coating of pollen, etc... Yecch... Wisconsin backcountry is nasty for cars.

The wheel paint is holding up fine so far. One new thought on color is that the black (on the shield) shows waterspotting much more than the aluminum (on the hub). So it's a toss-up which color is easier to maintain... waterspot-aluminum or brake-dust-black.

So I'll probably use aluminum for the front hubs to keep the same color scheme.

Also for whatever reason, the brake dust doesn't seem to stick as much to these wheels. I'm not sure if it's because of the fresh finish, or that I waxed them before installing, or that the open design lets more air flow through, or some combination. But I'm not complaining!

Overall a pleasant trip, mostly highway speeds (60-80mph, a few bursts to 90+), with some back-road asphalt curves near our destination to liven things up. Family on board, so I couldn't test the performance envelope too much.

I'm still happy with the wheel/tire performance after just over 1000 miles. The only new note is that on rougher road surfaces they are significantly noiser than I originally reported, but I'd say no more than my previous tires. I am also running them at higher pressure than my old tires which may be a factor.

I have yet to try them in rain so that's still an unknown.

Benzwood · #39 06-22-2003, 10:51 AM

I pulled off the wheel I did because I was curious to see what had happened with the painted surface (and because the novelty of a hydraulic floor jack hasn't quite worn off

). I was a bit worried about putting paint between the hub and wheel.

The good news is that cranking on the wheel with the paint still soft seems to have squished it out as I hoped, allowing essentially metal-metal contact.

The bad(?) news is that only the outer portion of the wheel seems to be contacting the hub face. Note the photo where there is only a partial impression of the wheel.

I would have expected the whole mounting surface of the wheel to be flush against the hub face.

But in thinking about it maybe they purposely make the outer portion of the wheel slightly higher to avoid problems with making the wheel mounting surface completely flat (i.e. if there was a slight bulge the wheel would rock against the hub face). Anybody know?

haYnBenz · #40 06-23-2003, 04:13 PM

Absolutely awesome job!

Here's a link to some of the nut covers you were looking for on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2419917671&category=33749

You are truly an inspiration to us all. It is also very theraputic for me to know that buying a 3.5 ton capacity, 28" max lifting height SUV mother-of-all-jacks wasn't so strange after all. I too love my hydraulic jack.

Again, great job!

placo1 · #41 06-23-2003, 07:13 PM

For those of you looking for the original wheel bolts that have the sheetmetal cap on the end here are the part numbers. They are only sold in a kit which includes the silver center cap, 5 lugs and valve stem.

Wheel Bolt Set: 6-6-47-0105 List Price: $22.79/Wheel

You'll need 4 sets. I just bought these last month so I know they are still available.

Benzwood · #42 06-24-2003, 03:31 PM

haYnBenz, thanks, but I'm still driving around with only one fixed up wheel so don't get too inspired.

Thanks for the eBay link but I'm not looking for chrome, I want the OEM style bolts which match the painted aluminum look.

By the way, what brand is your jack? I'm actually a little worried about mine... last time I used it I had to crank it shut *very* tight or it slowly released, kind of spooky, and it didn't do it before. I may try an exchange or a different brand.

placo1, thanks for that info... someone else had said that the MB parts no longer had the cap on them. Maybe you got some older stock? Where did you get them from?

Also, according to the parts CD, it looks like they are available separately (P/N 124 400 04 70), but is that not the case any more?

If not, it probably wouldn't hurt to have extra center caps anyway, I guess... the plastic finish probably isn't as durable as the wheels. $90 for nicer bolts might not pass the wife test, though.

Especially since if I do that, then I should probably get one of these

soft sockets to protect my "investment".

Anybody have any experience with these and durability, or know of an alternate source? I only need the 17mm.

Benzwood · #43 06-24-2003, 03:33 PM

For those who're interested... here's a photo of one of the cheesey chrome-plated bolts that came with the wheels vs. the OE part with the built-in cap.

I was going to try refinishing my OE bolts myself using the same aluminum paint, but the corners on many of them are pretty beat up (probably from tire shop air tools), so I'm not sure it would be worth the effort. Might try a quickie job on one set just for kicks.

placo1 · #44 06-24-2003, 04:29 PM

I think I may have misled with regards to the wheel bolts. These wheel bolts are for the 500E and I'm not certain if they will fit a standard W124, hopefully someone with a CD can check lengths to insure they do fit.

I purchased mine at the dealership in Carlsbad. My parts guy gave me the exact same answer "the old bolts are no longer available" but when he checked the part number he saw them listed. He ordered one set just to see exactly what they were, he confirmed they are the originals and ordered 3 more sets.

I also just bought new wheels and needed new wheel bolts, this set believe it or not was actually a cheaper alternative to buying the new versions of the bolts with the zinc coating.

haYnBenz · #45 06-26-2003, 01:52 AM

Benzwood,

Mine is a Larkin model SUV 7000 3.5 ton capacity. Like I said, mother of all jacks. I just use it for jacking and then place jack stands under the car.

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