Here are pics of my 400E with new Giovanna Rio's in 17x7.5 taken with my new digital camera!
















Let me know what yall think... ;-)

Peter

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Peter Balias
pbalias@hotmail.com
1992 400E
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?...103&p=46824109

Looking good!

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1996 E320
2000 C230 Kompressor
1988 190e 2.3 - 225K miles, owned for 7 years. I cannot say enough good things about this car. Very well built, even at 225 it ran like new.

Nice wheels!.
Can you tell me the sizes of the tires you are using and how much does it cost?
Thanks.
Pras.

Nice car!!!
What kind of exhaust is it?

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J.H.
'86 300E

Nice Rims...beautiful car!!! (wonder what the wheels would look like on a 300E...hmmmm). Ironically, Giovanna is my Mom's first name!

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

Peter it looks HOT !

How is the overall ride, stiffer ?

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'94 E420 ///AMG
Mono-White
AMG Body Kit
18" Brabus IV's w/Pirelli Nero's
Clear corners
Burl Wood Shifter
Sport Wood Wheel
Avantgarde Grille
Remus exhaust

NICE !!!

Get some euro lights quick!

Thanks everyone for the compliments!

To address some of the questions:

The rims are Giovanna Rio, chrome, in 17x7.5. I was going to go to 18x8 but after doing my research, decided not to.

The tires are 215.45.17, I am thinking about changing the tires to 225.45.17 because I think the 215's are a little too low-profile looking to me. Problem is, nobody REALLY knows for sure if they will rub or not, and I don't want to toss around the money for trial and error, know what I mean? I paid $315/rim and $99/tire mounted and balanced balanced. Mind you, this was a heavy shop discount. I opted to balance the rims myself though as I consider myself a perfectionist and wanted to make absolute SURE they were perfect.

The exhaust is a Magna Flow muffler in place of the stock one. I'm sure it weighs at least half as much as the stock muffler. I am currently planning to remove the center resonator. The tip is one made in Germany that my buddies at the muffler shop just so happen to carry. I think it fits the car perfect, and it even comes out of the stock opening in the bumper, something alot of aftermarket exhaust systems for this car won't do.

These rims will fit ALL 124's. I have dropped mine almost 2 inches with H&R's and the smallest spring pads.

The ride...hmmmm. Well, the ride is where I want it to be. It is extremely tight in the corners, the springs and low profile tires and wider wheels reduced body roll to almost nothing. The car is NOT "bouncy," but I do feel potholes a little more now than I used to. But, who cares, I think that is little to sacrifice compared to what the car looked like bone-stock.

As far as any future upgrades go...I plan on buying the Euro lights and a Xenon headlight system (off of a 01 E430) as soon as I clear my credit card bill again. I am also going to go with the all red or red/white tailights (I can't decide yet). Other than that, I don't really need to do anything else to the exterior. I want to keep the body pretty close to stock as possible.

Oh, I almost forgot: If you plan on dropping your car this low, you MUST buy the control arm and tow bushing kit from RENNtech. Otherwise, you have a SEVERE camber problem that will eat your rear tires like crazy. I went ahead and dished out my 400 bucks for these 4 stupid little bushings (I obtained them cheaper through a shop discount) before I put the new rims and tires on. In the long run, I think it will be money well spent as it saves on tire cost.
- my 2 little pennies!

Peter

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Peter Balias
pbalias@hotmail.com
1992 400E
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?...103&p=46824109

Pbalias,
what is the color of your car? The reason I am asking is that I saw a 300E in a metalic-gray, or was it a gun-metal gray, the other day and I would like my next MBZ to be that color.

Mark.

I think the color is called Black Pearl Metallic. Only reason I know is cause I just painted it. Its verrrry pretty in the sun (look at the front bumper corner from the very last picture on my original post).




Peter

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Peter Balias
pbalias@hotmail.com
1992 400E
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?...103&p=46824109

Peter,

Although some say that chrome wheels are overdone and we have hardly any chrome model rims for sale in the Netherlands, I like these rims a lot!!!
You have written down the size of the rims, but what ET size are they?

If you want to change the taillights, you should go for the red/smoked or red/white taillights. The all read taillights look a kind of pink and have a red housing (the original lens-housing is black). I had all red taillights in my former 190D and they looked a kind out of place when the sun shined on them.

The color on your car probably is the DB199 coded color?

greetingz,

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1990 300SL-24
1993 C250D with a minor 600+k kilometer
www.MBenzNL.com(the Netherlands)

If you don't mind me being nosey, how much did a paint job cost you? I'm assuming your car was also black Pearl before the paint job... Did they take out any dents or aberations in the body?

I'm thinking about 'refreshing' the paint on mine (which is also black pearl aka '199' ) but am not sure what this will cost...

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Mark Herzig
1995 E300D 153K
1985 300D 142K (sold)
1979 450SL 122 miles (sold)
1992 500E 127K (sold)
1987 300SDL 132K (sold)
1986 300E 161K (sold)

Peter,

The Car looks Great.

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Regards,

Saliya

My Parts For Sale Page

http://members.cox.net/alpinab6/400e/400e-51.jpg http://members.cox.net/euro-m5/sig
1992 MBZ 400E - 300HP
1993 Euro M5 3.8-377HP
1993 Euro M5 3.8-365HP

Again, thanks everyone for the compliments...

MBenz...I think the offset on the rims is like 38 or 37, cant remember. The rims dont stick out AT ALL, nor do they rub AT ALL and I've dropped the car about 2 inches.

Mark...I own a bodyshop/garage in Houston. First, every single removable peice on the body of this car was removed, including all the glass. Then, the body was stripped to the bare metal, as were all the other parts. Any small door dings and dents were fixed (not Bondo, fixed). Then we applied rust inhibitor, sealer, primer, more sealer, 3 coats of paint, and 4 coats of polyurethane clear. The car was then wet sanded and buffed. Then I applied a hand wax to protect the new paint, and will continue to wax it once a month. I figured I wouldn't paint the car again, so I used all PPG products, except for the paint itself that was Glasurit. I consider the PPG the best so decided to pay the extra money for the materials. OK...so, a price? I would charge around 3000-3500 for this paint job. It may sound like alot, but the labor was quite extensive. We spent about 3 weeks on the job, but only putting about 4 hours or so a day into it. All the body panels and mouldings, except the chrome ones, were painted the same color as the car. The paint is beautiful! I wish the pictures I took reflected the paint work a little better.

Saliya...I bought the H&R's from you...remember???

PEter

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Peter Balias
pbalias@hotmail.com
1992 400E
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?...103&p=46824109

Hey Pete,
Beauty before pleasure huh?
Drool,drool, drool.

Clauser1