I had the wheels balanced on my 430S yesterday and the mechanic was surprised that I brought him two headless bolts that whould screw into the hub to help allign the wheel when re-installing. He said they worked great.
I have 4 mounted snow tires that I have to swap over each year and it is a royal pain trying to get the wheel in place and screw in the studs. So, I came up with this solution. Get 2 bolts with the same thread as the wheel, cut off the heads and turn them down to a point. I actually have used only one, but it sure makes the job easier of lining up the wheel. Wonder what the Mercedes dealer use for this? They must have some trick.
Mark L.

 

I dunno about urs but both my 300sdl and 560sel both have a tool in the tool kit to mount the wheels. My Audi also had this but it was plastic and i broke it [&:]

 

Hmm, guess I'd better check that tool kit:-) Never saw anything about that fact in the manual.
Mark

 

All of my MBs have had the tool in the "kit". The MB guys dont use them, they line it up and start a bolt.

 

Does Mercedes Benz have a good reason to not use the bolts-on-hub design? I haven't heard a real anwer yet so far.

 

I never heard a real answer for this myself, but here's one I hear most often.

1) It's a design that is suppose to be more dependable (Less likely for the the wheel lug nuts to loosen, strip, or break) and balanced especially at high speeds that these Benzes are capable of. They also say that the ball seat that is common on Mercedes has a design purpose too but I'm not sure.


To me, at first it was a little more pain to get these types of wheels on but after a while I got used to it. My BMW also doesn't have the bolt-on hub design either.I'm guessing it's a European car thing or something since I noticed it's fairly common for that type on most cars here. That is a good question to ask MBZ themself and see what they say. And as greatly engineered the MBZ, Audi, BMW is, sometimes I wonder how did they come up with some of thier concepts. Don't get me wrong, they are usually good and stuff but complex. Or maybe they seem complex because most American cars are simple.

 

One of the "answers was that the wheel centers its" self on the hub?