Hey guys, I am the one who bought the Eurospec (old ECM car with the oregon plates and great pics) out of DC last week, will get to setting up an owner thread eventually. One of my immediate changes is going to be to change out the current wheels (lorinser LM5 - reps I believe, on there now). Have researched the forum and been able to educate myself on some of the basics. Below are some of my rambling thoughts / questions (am grateful in advance if you get all the way to the end, as this is not really a get to the point club style post); I welcome all opinions, answers and general thoughts from the group, and obviously if anyone knows of anything for sale potentially fitting my needs please let me know - Thanks
Style: While not unique, my gut is telling me to go back to monoblocks. In general I love more thinly spoked wheels on lots of cars, but most of the e500e pics I have seen, the chunkier look seems to appeal more to my eye especially on the darker colors. I love monolites and BBS LMs on silver in particular, but on darker colors the chunkier look is currently suiting me (any more real world pics of non-chunky on dark colors to change my opinion would be appreciated). I like the Brabus Monoblock III and Rial wheels as well but from what i can tell these are tough to source. Open to suggestions/thoughts/recommendations on others i should consider but the ECM pictures of this exact car with the MBs just make me drool and want to go back to that look http://www.euroclassicmotors.com/galleries/500e1992.html
Size: will be either 18s or 19s, love the look of 19s in ecm pics, have read what some have said that 19s will ride like crap, know there are a few guys that have run 19s and interested to hear more of the real world "having lived with it" feedback from those actually running the 19s. For perspective, I have an 07 997s right now with 19s and i'm pretty sure a stiffer suspension than this car and while taut, for my blood the ride harshness of that car doesn't bother me. I will get to 19inch monoblocks discussion in more specifics later on!
Offset: know the 18 Monoblocks with et31s upfront and 35 in rear are considered straight bolt on, but in looking at pics some examples of these still look like a bit of a conservative stance to hold that is a bit sunk in still (others agree?). When I think about "net" offset (after spacers if applicable) where do people feel is the ideal spot to land? I know the acceptable range from low 20s to mid 30s depending on width, but that seems kinda wide, looking for opinions on an ideal ET to target. Apologies for being a wheel/tire newb here but would seem to me that a "square" set up for offset would make sense but sounds like et31/35 on the 18inch MBs is characterized as bolt on, do the front and rear wheel hubs sit offset from each other or do computers desire not to have a "square" set up from offset perspective, or is there something else i am not appreciating on the offset front for having square vs staggered offsets?
Spacers: Now its going to get provocative! Seems to be a very polarizing topic. I obviously would prefer not to use them if possible, but a lot of the wheels I am considering are just not going to come in a low enough offset to work and am not in the mood to drop boat loads of cash for custom ordered HREs or something of that ilk, so my options become rather limited to 18inch MBs if spacers are a non-starter for me. Being a wheel/tire newb (never run anything but stock wheels on every car i have ever owned), would like honest feedback on i) what specifically makes spacers "an evil trick of the hacks" from those who hold that opinion (please note my sarcasm, not trying to incite wwIII in my first post) and ii) perspectives of people that actually run them in the real world and why they either think there is nothing wrong with it and/or any problems they have encountered in running them. Finally for those in the pro-spacer club, is there a point where you start to ask for trouble with too large of a spacer (e.g. 25mm)?
19 Inch Monoblocks: Realize getting factory ones are rare, expensive and they came off of an S-Class that requires a different thread bolt than a w124 and at 46ET would require spacers. I'm dense when it comes to wheels so looking for help in understanding exactly what the bolt requirement of 12mm bolts with 14mm ball seats actually means in layman's terms as i understand these would be required for w124 fitment. Probably more important, would also be to know if this a bolt that can be purchased off the rack or does it require a custom fabrication to "make" by combining multiple bolts. I have found a set of fully refurbed authentic 19x8.5 square AMGs in Canada, asking price seems very steep to me at over $3K, but for fully refurbed assuming they are also straight and true as claimed do people think that is just the price of entry to get a turn key very rare wheel, and if i went with a more beat up set at closer to $1500, would I spend another $1500+ to get them right? Also if i ultimately went this pathway, am i asking for trouble with a 46et wheel that i would probably put 20mm or 25mm spacers on?
Width / Tires: running 18/19x 8/8.5/9/9.5 what sizes / profile tires are recommended to keep computers happy and any ranges i need to keep within on F/R to ensure no rubbing issues (a anytime rub will be a non-starter for me and help me narrow my search parameters), most everything i have been looking at falls within this range from 8-9.5 wheel width so understanding anything within this range that becomes problematic at certain "net" offsets becomes helpful too
If you have read this far you are a trooper and I am very appreciative of your time - thanks again, Rob
Style: While not unique, my gut is telling me to go back to monoblocks. In general I love more thinly spoked wheels on lots of cars, but most of the e500e pics I have seen, the chunkier look seems to appeal more to my eye especially on the darker colors. I love monolites and BBS LMs on silver in particular, but on darker colors the chunkier look is currently suiting me (any more real world pics of non-chunky on dark colors to change my opinion would be appreciated). I like the Brabus Monoblock III and Rial wheels as well but from what i can tell these are tough to source. Open to suggestions/thoughts/recommendations on others i should consider but the ECM pictures of this exact car with the MBs just make me drool and want to go back to that look http://www.euroclassicmotors.com/galleries/500e1992.html
Size: will be either 18s or 19s, love the look of 19s in ecm pics, have read what some have said that 19s will ride like crap, know there are a few guys that have run 19s and interested to hear more of the real world "having lived with it" feedback from those actually running the 19s. For perspective, I have an 07 997s right now with 19s and i'm pretty sure a stiffer suspension than this car and while taut, for my blood the ride harshness of that car doesn't bother me. I will get to 19inch monoblocks discussion in more specifics later on!
Offset: know the 18 Monoblocks with et31s upfront and 35 in rear are considered straight bolt on, but in looking at pics some examples of these still look like a bit of a conservative stance to hold that is a bit sunk in still (others agree?). When I think about "net" offset (after spacers if applicable) where do people feel is the ideal spot to land? I know the acceptable range from low 20s to mid 30s depending on width, but that seems kinda wide, looking for opinions on an ideal ET to target. Apologies for being a wheel/tire newb here but would seem to me that a "square" set up for offset would make sense but sounds like et31/35 on the 18inch MBs is characterized as bolt on, do the front and rear wheel hubs sit offset from each other or do computers desire not to have a "square" set up from offset perspective, or is there something else i am not appreciating on the offset front for having square vs staggered offsets?
Spacers: Now its going to get provocative! Seems to be a very polarizing topic. I obviously would prefer not to use them if possible, but a lot of the wheels I am considering are just not going to come in a low enough offset to work and am not in the mood to drop boat loads of cash for custom ordered HREs or something of that ilk, so my options become rather limited to 18inch MBs if spacers are a non-starter for me. Being a wheel/tire newb (never run anything but stock wheels on every car i have ever owned), would like honest feedback on i) what specifically makes spacers "an evil trick of the hacks" from those who hold that opinion (please note my sarcasm, not trying to incite wwIII in my first post) and ii) perspectives of people that actually run them in the real world and why they either think there is nothing wrong with it and/or any problems they have encountered in running them. Finally for those in the pro-spacer club, is there a point where you start to ask for trouble with too large of a spacer (e.g. 25mm)?
19 Inch Monoblocks: Realize getting factory ones are rare, expensive and they came off of an S-Class that requires a different thread bolt than a w124 and at 46ET would require spacers. I'm dense when it comes to wheels so looking for help in understanding exactly what the bolt requirement of 12mm bolts with 14mm ball seats actually means in layman's terms as i understand these would be required for w124 fitment. Probably more important, would also be to know if this a bolt that can be purchased off the rack or does it require a custom fabrication to "make" by combining multiple bolts. I have found a set of fully refurbed authentic 19x8.5 square AMGs in Canada, asking price seems very steep to me at over $3K, but for fully refurbed assuming they are also straight and true as claimed do people think that is just the price of entry to get a turn key very rare wheel, and if i went with a more beat up set at closer to $1500, would I spend another $1500+ to get them right? Also if i ultimately went this pathway, am i asking for trouble with a 46et wheel that i would probably put 20mm or 25mm spacers on?
Width / Tires: running 18/19x 8/8.5/9/9.5 what sizes / profile tires are recommended to keep computers happy and any ranges i need to keep within on F/R to ensure no rubbing issues (a anytime rub will be a non-starter for me and help me narrow my search parameters), most everything i have been looking at falls within this range from 8-9.5 wheel width so understanding anything within this range that becomes problematic at certain "net" offsets becomes helpful too
If you have read this far you are a trooper and I am very appreciative of your time - thanks again, Rob
