[W126 Coupe] spacers

[Sam Sisic]

Alexander,

If the used tires you have on there are "directional", do you have them oriented in the right direction of rotation as indicated by arrow on the sidewall?
If not, this could cause a pull to one side...
Also, have you tried rotating the tires? Uneven wear on the tires can cause this too...
Lastly, a new set of tires and a good balance will most likely solve the problem.
I know these may be obvious, but easily overlooked sometimes...

Sam
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Message: 9
Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:32:03 -0500
From: Alexander Hochhausl <plustech at optonline.net>
Subject: Re: [W126 Coupe] spacers
To: 'Mercedes Coupes Mailing Lists' <mbcoupes at mbcoupes.com>
Message-ID: <000001c858b9$86e6b600$6501a8c0 at VAIO>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hi Markus,

I just went through a similar experience. I found a great set of 17? AMG
double spoke aluminum rims (off a new E320 I think ?). I attached a very
bad picture of it. I have 225x45 tires on it ? the tire outside diameter
winds up being exactly the same as the original 225 R15s I had on the
original rims.

The new wheels fit directly with the stock SEC bolts, but the offset was
12-15mm too narrow with the new wheels. I found a set of 12mm spacers
which fit the wheel great (from www.lakeshorewheelandtire.com
<http://www.lakeshorewheelandtire.com/>  ? Part Number: SP110-I, $130
for 4), but the SEC hubs have a step that is deeper than the clearance
in the spacers. There are two solutions: one is very time consuming, the
other seem a bit barbaric, but can be done in your garage with a bit of
patience. The step on the hub is needed to ensure the wheel is perfectly
centered on the hub, but it does not need to be as long as it is. You
can either remove all the hubs and have the step machined down by a
shop, or my method: I set up a disk grinder with a tool holder attached
to the car. I slowly ground back the excess step (the grinder staying in
place, turning the hub slowly ? leaving about ?? (6mm) of it left. That
is enough to give the wheel a good seat. It really comes out quite well
? the fit actually requires a few slight hits by the hand ? a great fit.
You can?t machine out the spacer because there won?t be enough metal
left for a shoulder for the wheel to center on. If this does not make
sense, drop me a line and I can email you a sketch. As for bolts, it did
take some searching, but I found a place which had from 30 ? 60mm
lengths in 5mm increments for most sizes M12x1.5. A place elegantly
named ?Kickstart Motorsports? ? in California ? I can?t find the receipt
now of course, but I still have the box and can get the name of the town
if anyone is interested.

So don?t despair. It took a while and some non-traditional solutions,
but the outcome is well worth it. I?ll have to take a decent picture,
but I?ve received a lot of compliments from people who are not even MB
or SEC enthusiasts.  My only issue now is that since I put the new
wheels on I have a pull to the left. I just need to find the time to get
an alignment, but I?m not sure why I would need an alignment, since with
my old wheels, the car drove perfectly straight, and I think I have the
same offset now as before. Anyone have any ideas on what could cause
this? The tires came with the wheels and are used, so I?m thinking the
tracking is worn into the tires, which is different from my geometry,
thus causing the pull? Am I barking up the wrong tree?

I hope this helps.  BTW the center caps on these wheels are exactly the
same as the stock SEC rims. My luck as these wheels were missing two.

Thank You,

Alexander Hochhausl, PE
Tel: 516-909-3794