430 In Geneva... Time For New Wheels. Anyone Know What These Are?

[SC-berks]

I had been thinking about new wheels as the rubber on mine is a bit old and not in top condition... plus no one gave me much of a vote of approval.. and being insecure it's soooooo important ;)

Was in Geneva last weekend and saw this beauty in front of an appropriately positioned purveyor of Bling for the rich and infamous... wife said I could do whatever I wanted to her car.... ch.. ching.

anyway... to the point. heres the car :

Here's a close up of the wheels.... Big Ole "B" on them.... what for?? Bentley ?:) Anyone know what they are???

Think I might copy the wheels and the Windows.

[SC-berks]

Actually,,, just occurred to me.... That "B" looks very much like the BRABUS "B".... do Merc Wheels fit the SC430???

Found them.... ok.. what do you think... all the prices I've found are for Mercs.... Is the hole-pattern different???

I can't find any application on Google for these Wheels to the SC430....

Is there a chance that the hole pattern is identical.... wishful thinking.

[TigerFish]

Check this link to see what is the same and what isn't between different models. You might be able to get round some differences, which they presumably did with the one pictured. Must admit, the wheels do look darn good.

http://www.carlsalter.com/wheel_fitments.html

[SC-berks]

Check this link to see what is the same and what isn't between different models. You might be able to get round some differences, which they presumably did with the one pictured. Must admit, the wheels do look darn good.

http://www.carlsalter.com/wheel_fitments.html

Thanks!

Now for the tricky question.... my wheel fitment/PCD is...

00> 5x114 38 to 45 60.1

Mercs are 5x112 35 to 42 66.6

Obviously this guy made it work... Any Suggestions on what to do from here??

Sounds like it could involve Customization at the Hubs? or is there a chance they could fit right on? Any idea of a good company to talk to about this?

[TigerFish]

As the bore is bigger on the merc wheels I assume a set of hub centering rings would fix that problem. The PCD is the bigger problem, which is the diameter of the circle that crosses the wheel stud/bolt centres. I would guess machine work to the wheel would be required to match those up, or custom hubs for them to sit on.

[TigerFish]

Just done a wee bit of digging around and apparently there are what are called offset bolts which can be fitted to overcome PCD differences of a couple of mm's. No idea if they would be suitable for this specific application but I can't see why not.

[Rob]

well its not a swiss reg car or even french or italian - I have not seen a reg like that that anywhere - i can only guess that its a diplomatic car???

looking at the larger pic of the wheels and the badge - it doesnt look like a B to me - maybe just used the centre cap?

[swfcdan]

im with sc berks on this, my intial thought were they look like the brabus wheels my uncle has on his brabus e class. that was before i saw the close up. could well be wrong though

derrrrrrrrrr help if i read posts correctly

[SC-berks]

Just done a wee bit of digging around and apparently there are what are called offset bolts which can be fitted to overcome PCD differences of a couple of mm's. No idea if they would be suitable for this specific application but I can't see why not.

Sounds like a good plan ( boring out a little ).... can you recommend a service provider who could be trusted to do it right?

Or are you saying that It may be able to be done without any machine work on the wheels?

[TigerFish]

Just done a wee bit of digging around and apparently there are what are called offset bolts which can be fitted to overcome PCD differences of a couple of mm's. No idea if they would be suitable for this specific application but I can't see why not.

Sounds like a good plan ( boring out a little ).... can you recommend a service provider who could be trusted to do it right?

Or are you saying that It may be able to be done without any machine work on the wheels?

Yes, I am saying that you may be able to do it with a set of centering rings and a set of offset bolts. I would seek the advice of a wheel specialist first though as I have never used either on any car myself.

[SC-berks]

Just done a wee bit of digging around and apparently there are what are called offset bolts which can be fitted to overcome PCD differences of a couple of mm's. No idea if they would be suitable for this specific application but I can't see why not.

Sounds like a good plan ( boring out a little ).... can you recommend a service provider who could be trusted to do it right?

Or are you saying that It may be able to be done without any machine work on the wheels?

Yes, I am saying that you may be able to do it with a set of centering rings and a set of offset bolts. I would seek the advice of a wheel specialist first though as I have never used either on any car myself.

I spoke with William at PerformanceAlloys.com very knowledgable and and nice chap. Says he could get me the 45 mil offset and witht he special wheel nuts, centre cap and spicet rings... the alloys would fit right on. Was trying to talk me into other wheels as "as he said" they are a very expensive 2-piece Alloy. £4200 for a set.

Problem is that a US company qouted me $4000... which is £2000. I know the Dollar is really weak right now... but how can the price be soo different on a German made alloy????

I could get replicas for £150 each... Would the quality just ***** me off... and be a disappointment? or is there very little noticable difference between replicas and the real thing?

[Parthiban]

Unless you know exactly how well the replicas have been made, I'd personally stay away - wheels are far too important. The last thing you'd want is that when you hit a pothole, the whole wheel buckles and throws you off the road..........

[SC-berks]

Unless you know exactly how well the replicas have been made, I'd personally stay away - wheels are far too important. The last thing you'd want is that when you hit a pothole, the whole wheel buckles and throws you off the road..........

Gave up on this in the end. Do have a set of 2 piece OZ alloys that I'm going to try and stick on next week..

I'll post the pics when I've done it.

[Chris Skelton]

I quite like the existing wheels!! Though the older ('flat' rims I liked too!)