W124 Wheel Updgrade Photos - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Benzwood · #1 06-06-2003, 01:57 AM

Some photos of my 1992 300E wheel/tire upgrade.

I had the original 15" rims with Michelin tires which were on their last legs. My rims had been poorly refurbished by the previous owner or perhaps the independent dealer from whom I bought it, and I've never really been able to get them looking good.

So... since my tires had worn out it was a good excuse to buy rims too. The rims are 16" Mille Miglio "Bello" and the tires are Bridgestone Turenza LS grand touring.

I ordered them from TireRack on Tuesday, and they arrived Thursday! I paid only for standard shipping.

So, I quickly abandoned any pretense of getting any of my real work done today

and set out to put them on.

They arrived nicely packed with a foam sheet over the face of the wheels, then sandwiched in cardboard and strapped. No shipping damage at all.

Benzwood · #2 06-06-2003, 01:59 AM

The tires were noticeably wider, more so than I thought they would be. And with a funky green stripe... what's up with that?

Benzwood · #3 06-06-2003, 02:00 AM

The rims are noticeabley bigger, as expected. Overall much sportier look.

Benzwood · #4 06-06-2003, 02:02 AM

Quality of the rims seems very good, with nice thick clear coat. There were a couple pinprick defects in each wheel in the paint, which were sealed in by the clear coat. A little disapointing but nothing noticeable at any distance. Overall I was impressed for the price.

They also came with genuine MB center caps. The original MB center caps on my car were a bit nicer in that they have a reinforcing wire along the back of the clips which seems to make a more seamless fit. But, the finish was worn on my old ones, so brand new all-plastic it is.

And they came with a set of lug nuts, which were a disappointment. They are some sort of aftermarket, roughly finished and then chromed. Not a good match to the silver painted wheels. My old lug nuts had a cosmetic slice of metal on the top of the nuts that matched well. I may check with Luke to see if they have better lug nuts or look into Mercedes OE. They aren't very noticeable once installed, though.

So... I washed and waxed the wheels, and cleaned the tires and put protectant on them.

Then on to clean up the hubs a bit... front hub before/after photo:

Benzwood · #5 06-06-2003, 02:07 AM

And rear hub before/after. For some reason both rear hubs were far rustier than the front. I would have expected the opposite, if anything. Anybody know why that is?

Still quite a bit of rust remaining on the circumfrence of the hub, but my elbow grease was running low and daylight fading.

Also note the red and white paint marks just visible on the top of the shield around the rotor. Both rear shields had similar splotchy paint.

I may paint the shields and the brake caliper (black or silver) now that they are more visible. Possibly the circumfrence of the hub can be painted too to cover the rust without interfering with operation?

Benzwood · #6 06-06-2003, 02:10 AM

Here's the whole-car before photo:

Benzwood · #7 06-06-2003, 02:11 AM

And after... center caps not yet installed as I was letting it dry out good first.

Quite a bit later in the day as you can see from the lighting change. Took longer than I expected to do things right.

Benzwood · #8 06-06-2003, 02:17 AM

Overall the wheels stick out the sides of the car just a touch more than looks "right" to my eye. But it's not noticeable if you're not looking for it. They are within the fenders.

Here's a closer shot of a wheel, taken from an unflattering angle to show where some of the hub rust is now visible.

Also note the wheel weight visible in the lower-left. I had expected there to be more of a raised rim that the weights could be tucked behind, but that's not the case, it's a smoothly rounded interior.

It would be cool if they could put weights only behind the spokes of the rim to hide them. It seems thoeretically possible to do, though it might mean more overall weight.

I'm also a little worried that the lack of any definite "front" to the rim means that I'll have to keep the entire interior clean to be looking nice. Part of going to 5-spokes was to make for easier cleaning, but that may not be the case.

But hopefully with proper maintenance (unlike the previous owner) they'll stay clean much more easily. We'll see.

Benzwood · #9 06-06-2003, 02:30 AM

DRIVING:

A quick trip to Sears to get an adapter for my socket to work with my torque wrench... cranked up the lug nuts, and put the caps on. Then I set out to wear down a few bucks worth of tread.

Steering feels a little "heavier" than previously, but sure-footed.

With hard cornering or acceleration, the tires were glued to the road compared to previously. I did notice more body roll, which I suspect is from the tires gripping better so the body gives instead.

At highway speeds, the tires were extremely quiet. Before buying them, I had heard mixed reviews and was a little worried, but very pleasantly suprised. In fact, the noise I now notice is wind/engine noise that was previously drowned out by the tires.

The ride is noticeably firmer, presumably due to the lower profile, and you can feel the cracks in the road. A little BMW-ish in feel but not objectionably so. The reduced noise more than makes up for it.

High-speed performance was a lot better, which I hadn't really expected. At 90 mph (uh... on a closed-course, of course) stability was significantly improved, much less floaty. I'll have to get back to you with any higher speeds during daylight.

Benzwood · #10 06-06-2003, 02:36 AM

CONCLUSION:

I was mostly upgrading for cosmetic reasons. This is a family cruiser and performance isn't much of an issue (other than the rare occasion I get my hands on it alone, or for emergency maneuvering).

I didn't know if I would like a wheel with such an "open" look and was originally looking at something closer to stock. But I'm glad I went with the Bellos. Already makes my heart happy coming out to the parking lot.

Overall I'm happy with them so far. The rims aren't perfect in quality, but that's noticeable only to a perfectionist (like me). They seem very good especially for the price. The lug nuts were the only real cosmetic disappointment, and that's fixable.

If we have a sunny day tomorrow I'll take a better "after" photo with the center caps installed.

Performance-wise, the 16" rims definitely are better, and comfort doesn't seem to have been sacrificed. A little more road feel, but less road noise.

Of course, 15" rims with the same brand tire may have produced even better comfort. And to be fair to my Michelins, they were on their last leg, so I'm not sure how much of their noise was due to wear.

Now I have to get around to replacing my headlights with Euro-style lights, as they are now glaringly dating the car. And if it wasn't a family car, I'd probably get sucked into upgrading the suspension. The madness would never end!

Bob I · #11 06-06-2003, 08:34 AM

I recently ordered new lug bolts from a Mercedes dealer for a W124 E420. The new ones are nothing like the original equipment and also look cheap. They no longer have that extra piece of metal on the top. The Mercedes parts department claims that Mercedes no longer sells these better quality bolts and have replaced them with the plain version. I'd be interested in what your search finds.

yal · #12 06-06-2003, 11:19 AM

The center of the rotors can be painted. I just did this on mine. I have E420 sport 16 inch rims which don't have a big a gap between the spokes as the bellos but the rust is very noticible so I painted them and the calipers.

I bought new rotors so it was much easier but if not I would take the old ones off to work on. I cleaned the middle created a template out of art paper and then sprayed the hub with two coats of high temperature 1200 degree Rustoleum BBQ grill paint. Comes in different colors I used silver. IT REALLY makes a word of difference, highly recommended.

Benzwood · #13 06-06-2003, 04:52 PM

Thanks for the info Bob, I'll let you know if I find anything. I've e-mailed Luke first to see if he knows of something. If I can't find anything maybe I'll try my hand at refinishing my OE bolts, not much to lose.

yal, is that ceramic paint? I actually have a can of Dupli-Color silver that I bought at an auto part store, it's High-Heat ceramic rated for 1200 degrees. I used it to put an emblem on my hoodliner (yeah, yeah, I know) and it's held up well. How long have you had yours painted, and has it held up well against brake dust and cleaing products? Do you have a photo?

I'm not real keen on brake-related DIY stuff (that whole bleeding thing...) so I'm reluctant to take mine off. But maybe I could get it cleaned up enough still mounted using a rotary wire brish and/or some rust remover solution. I think I could tape it off well enough to spray paint it while still mounted. TireRack also sells brush-on paint for calipers (while still mounted) and that would presumably work for the rotors too but it's spendy.

yal · #14 06-06-2003, 05:24 PM

Benzwood- Yes it was ceramic paint and I don't have the corrosive brake dust OE pads in there. I've had them on there for about a month so I guess that isn't much of a test. I used the brush on stuff for the calipers and that looks a lot more durable..only time will tell.

By the way I would switch your pads to axxis deluxe pads. If I had to do it again I would have switched to them when i bought my rims.

Benzwood · #15 06-06-2003, 05:40 PM

How long have you used those pads, are they noticeably cleaner? And where'd you get them?

I've read some good things about the "green stuff" pads sold by TireRack but they seem to be available only for the front for my car.