The Internet said: You put the wrong wheels on your car
Marty here. It's been a hot minute since we've had wheel controversy on Mighty Car Mods. Background: I bought myself an E43 AMG Mercedes from the auctions in Japan. It was cheap because it had a grey wrap on it, and the paint underneath was condition: unknown.
No idea what I'm on about? Watch the video here:
I got it for $32,000 Aussie dollars, landed on the road registered with all taxes paid thats $40,000. Thats $29k USD for reference. Cheap. The car was $100,000+ when new in 2017.
It arrived with stock wheels. And flat tyres. Why? The original wheels were buckled, the tyres had sidewall damage and eventually popped on me.
I started hunting for wheels immediately and soon realised this was going to be HARD. Why? Because its got a 5x112 stud pattern and a weird 'reverse' offset where the front need +20 and the rear +40 - right in-between where most wheels sit meaning spacers would likely be required and there were ZERO aftermarket off the shelf options I could just go and buy.
Aaron from Import Monster to the rescue! he got some of his WEDS SA25R 10 spoke wheel modified and sent up a set. It got me back on the road and kept the understated 'slightly modified' appearance happening as the wheels were a dark charcoal. I've had great experience with WEDS wheels over the years and Import Monster have been long time supporters of the show
I decided I'd come back to replacement and 'forever' wheels later after I'd investigated more mods for the car. I found a bunch of performance parts and stuck them on, the car picked up 50kw and 200nm of torque with ZERO downside. No extra noise, no harshness - just power. Awesome!
My search for wheels continued, but not much was popping up. Daily marketplace dives, a look through some 'aftermarket wheel' companies who are mostly just forging or casting in China, then sending to Australia to be drilled and offset for each car. Not really my thing AND I needed more durability as the thin 20" sidewalls were not doing any of my wheels any favours. I burnt through another tyre with damage from road debris.
A few times over the years we've dropped down a wheel size on our euro cars, most notably with the RS3's and Golf's we've had. Going from 19" to 18" opened up tyre options (made them cheaper too) and improved ride and handling. So I started to look at 19" options.
I'd seen the process of converting BBS LM's into 3 piece wheels, I like the look of the some lip and 3 piece wheels generally. I had them on Supergramps and have always liked the look. BBS = German and common on Mercedes back in the day - ok lets do it!
Just for fun: Here's two Wagons, both originally purchased and registered in Japan. Both on dish-y wheels.
This was the 'inspo' for the BBS wheels...
Now wheel taste is controversial - always! Moog and I differ big time on what wheels look good and don't, it's part of what keeps it fun and our builds different. There's some crossover, he prefers spokes and I prefer dish. When the wheels showed up and we put them on, the general consensus was that it was a big upgrade from the old look of the car - but it needed to be lower to pop. The suspension is an air system so can only be lowered by hacking it, which is on the cards.
The car rides amazingly well now, less road noise, potholes aren't a crap shoot and I like the dish - same as any other car I've put them on! Darker centres better? Yeah possibly! Do I think 20" fills the guards more? Yep! (see above, broken wheels)
Either way, I'm stoked with my daily. We have a saying that if it's better in the real world, the internet won't like it as much - and thats totally true. Because a straight piped, 22" wheeled, slammed wagon with pink paint and fluro rims is going to get way more "clicks" and create more chatter - and theres totally space for that, but not with something I'm driving to the shops and to work every way.
Hope you're enjoying the Euro-ness of the current videos, its definitely fun to jump between the two camps and stir things up!
Marty
