Wheels
Ah, less republican, more cool. Now you are stylin'!
Mille Miglia Bello Wheels
These wheels are very very very rare. It's hard to find wheels that will fit this car. I mean, this is no Civic.
But holy cow! What an upgrade, this will make you be ashamed of your car no more! This will make you the pimp-daddy's daddy's car! Getting these wheels, and some euro lights, is like the nerd girl taking off her glasses and putting down her hair! It's really a good looking car underneath!
You can get these wheels basically at one place: [The Tire Rack's Upgrade Garage.] I got myself some tires too, makes a great package. Just enter in your car, and it will show you these wheels.
Now to get "technical" This is the first guide I ever wrote!:
If you have a W123 and you want to get rid of those ugly republican old wheels, here is what you need to know.
1. Your current wheels are 14" x 6" with a Bolt Pattern of 5 X 112mm, (5 Lugs with spacing of 112mm between those) with +30mm offset.
2. If you want to get bigger wheels and lower profiles, remember, you may loose your Mercedes smooth ride by getting 17" or 18" wheels. So if you just want the looks, go with a nice looking 14" or 15" to give you the looks, and keep the same smooth ride.
Also with a 16" wheel, the tires will cost a minimum of $20 more each, v.s. 15".
3. Going up in size, you need to go to a smaller offset. +20->+25mm is ideal. If you go to a higher offset, your wheel may hit the strut, etc. Not to mention, that you have a 20 year old Mercedes Benz Diesel, this isn't a performance car, but a luxury car. If you are upgrading wheels on a W123, I doubt you are not trying to shave time off you're 0-60 time... :)
I went with the above 15" X 7" with +25mm offset. (5X112)
From a 1010Tires.com, I got this information:
My New wheel has the following characteristics:
The clearance from strut housing to the inside of the wheel will be 8mm LESS The outside edge of the wheel will EXTEND an extra 18mm
4. Also you don't want to mess with your speedometer. So if you have as stock 14" wheels, and 195/70 (70% of .7 * 195mm) (14" = 355.6mm)+(195 *.7= 136.5) X 2 = 273 (because you have the tire above and below the wheel) Thus total equals:
Check this site out as well
You will also need new LUGS! Your wheel people will know what to get.
I did submit this article to MBZ.org but they never gave me credit for it, and that kinda ticked me off, everyone else gets credit for their articles (crappy ones at that, no or small pictures, etc) So I made my own site -eh?
To protect your investment, you may want to get some Wheel Locks
