[W126 Coupe] and speaking of tires...

[Axel Wulff]

Paul,

Personally I think your tires are too large, but to each his own.

Running 285x18x35 tires in the back on 9" rims will result in a wheel that
is 65.67cm in diameter or 1.4% larger than standard (205x15x65 on 6.5"
wheels = 64.75cm diameter). Running 285 on 9" wheels will cause the tires to
"bulge" out a bit as the tires will be 56mm wider than your rims. The
standard set up would be tires that are 40mm wider than the rims (205 tire
on 6.5" rim).

Your front wheels running 225x18x40 will result in a wheel diameter of
63.72cm, which is 1.6% less than standard and ~2cm less than the rear
wheels. That is a little bit more than a 3% difference but probably not
enough to confuse your ABS system at most speeds.

Don't know whether you can actually fir 285x18s, but someone else might.

Cheers,
Axel

-----Original Message-----
From: mbcoupes-bounces at mbcoupes.com [mailto:mbcoupes-bounces at mbcoupes.com]
On Behalf Of Paul Samarin
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2005 8:59 PM
To: Mercedes Coupes Mailing Lists
Subject: [W126 Coupe] and speaking of tires...

Just had one of my rear Kuhmos give out on me; I'm not sure if it was 
low and I drove it to destroy it (about 4 miles from home on the 
highway at about 40 -50mph before I noticed the tire seemed low and got 
to a service station.)  Anyway, it's gonna have to be replaced, so I'm 
looking again at options.  I liked the Kumhos brand new, but they seem 
to have gotten rough after only a few thousand miles.

I now have the following staggered set-up with the ZR rated Kumho ECSTA 
Supras:

Front:  8" wheel:  235 x 40 x 18

Rear:  9" wheel: 275 x 35 x 18

(Car is lowered.)

First of all, 235 is too wide for the fronts; I don't really like the 
handling.  So, when I replace those in a few months I'm wanting to go 
back to 225 or so.  And, I'd like to go even wider on the rears:  to 
285.  If I go with 285 x 35 in back and 225 x 40 in front, there will 
be a height/circumference difference--is that a problem?

Second, the old guy who pulled of the bad tire this am cautioned me:  
"I've been in the business 50 years next month.  These tires are too 
wide for your car.  You are destroying your differential and 
suspension."  So, any comments from the group on that would be 
appreciated.  Of course I'm gonna ignore the warning, but I'd like to 
hear from this august group once more.

Lastly, I just now noticed something strange:  The driver's side rear 
fender lip has been rolled, but the passenger side has not.  I had been 
rubbing on the driver's side rear when hitting a bump...pretty minor, 
but that *is* the side that I pulled the damaged tire off of, and the 
damage was on the inside sidewall.

Any and all thoughts and comments appreciated on all of that PLUS 
recommendations on tire brands.  I'm basically starting all over at 
square one and frustrated with it at this point.

Photos at link below.

Paul
http://www.mbcoupes.com/memberscars/S/paulsamarin/paulsamarin.htm

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