Hey Gang,

Anyone know if a 14" flat wheel from a 126 560SEC will fit a 123 wagon without too much heroics???

~George~

Possibly. The wheel will bolt onto the hub, but the offset may or may not be correct. The correct offset for wheels on the 123 chassis is "ET25." Also, Mercedes Benz made these alloy wheels in a couple of different widths.

A 560SEC should have 15" wheels. 14" flat wheels only came on the 190E. Outside of having more than 25mm offset, they'll probably look silly on your car. Probably looked even sillier on an SEC. If you like the flat wheel look, look for a set of 15" wheels with oval holes as opposed to rectangular holes as on the later W201, W124 and R129 wheels. Wheels with rectangular holes will have too much offset. Also look for a matched set since that style of wheel came in 6.5" and 7" widths.

The forum nomenclature is bundt cake wheels for the style from the 70s through the 85 S-class and 15-hole wheels for the style from 86 to the early 90s. 8-hole wheels and later styles won't fit your car... at least not properly.

Sixto
91 300SE
81 300SD

I've seen a 123 wagon with the flat wheels off another model MB, somehow those fit, and fit right, not silly looking.

I've read about wheel swaps on the site here, references were made to spacers & longer lug bolts. Are spacers & long bolts easy things to get a hold of? Has anybody else with a 123 made any wheel swaps?

~George~

I meant that 14" 190E wheels with deep offset might look silly on anything but a W201 because they'd be set deep in the fenders. I didn't mean that flat wheels in general look silly on a 123. And 15" wheels with up to 25mm offset fit just fine. Sorry for the confusion.

Spacer and lug bolts are easy enough to find, but they're not cheap if pruchased new. tirerack.com should be able to help. If you stick to wheels with 25mm offset or less, you won't need to mess with spacers or lug bolts other than what came with the wheels.

Sixto
91 300SE
81 300SD

don't get spacers and different lug nuts, it's not worth the hassle.

Have you ever seen those trucks with small, wide wheels. Kinda look like big roller skates? What happens on those is the spacers and wheels put to much strain on the axle and the front end components and there's some major breakage.

I understand that on a w123 your not going to put that big of a spacer on the wheels, but your still tinkering with the way the tire and all that are suppose to sit.

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