Anyone know how 17 inch rims with Z rated and or W rated tires will perform on a W126.

The reason I'm asking is that usually on these cars, people tend to lean towards touring tires with ratings for 130mph, but I rarely seen or heard of Z rated sports performance tires on this car. How will it affect the ride quality, or handling, or stuff with poper fitting 17 inch rims?

 

Its going to ride rougher and handle better. Same as any other car u put larger wheels and tires on assuming u do it correctly and get the right size which should be 225/45/17's on either 7in or 7.5inx17in rims. And dont buy some off brand tire u seem like the type that would have already known the answer to this.

 

I did tires on my 190dt and i remebr it required H rated. what does Z and T stand for?

 

Well the letters is suppose to be the tested top speed rating for a specific tire. Such as, Z rated tires are good for 150+ MPH and W is techinically in the Z rated category but when the rating system started, there was thought to be no need for over Z rated tires until the exotic super cars started coming out and cars started to get over 150+ mph. Ao thus they added two others W and Y) W rated tires are good for up and over 168 mph. I forget T rated tires. But you can always go to seacrh and typoe in tire spped rating s and the chart and graphs will pop up.

 

I am currently running Y rated Bridgestone Potenza S-03 Pole Position tires on my 1984 500 SEC with 17 inch Lorenser rs90 rims 8" front and 8.5" rear. The tires are 265/40/17 and 235/45/17. I can tell you that I will never exceed the tire rating in this car but I also will never expect to break traction getting onto a circular freeway onramp at 65 either! The tires are amazing on any corner. I can also hit the brakes as hard as I want without locking up my non-ABS brakes. The ride has changed to where I can feel just about any bump in the road that I hit that is bigger than an inch when driving at slow speeds. The noise level has gone up at low speeds also (don't notice the noise above 50 mph and is nonexistant at 80 mph). I can also tell you that the tire/rim combination far outperforms my stock springs and shocks (my next upgrade). I was previously running 14" chrome bundts and Michelin tires. I used to break traction both on 1st gear starts and extreame braking with the 14's and would never dream of throwing the heavy SEC into tight corners like I do now. The only reason I am keeping the 14's in the garage is if I take a 1,000 mile excurision which I am prone to do. Hope this helps,

Greg

 

Well as you can see, I'm in Germany and like to cruise at 140+mph but the only thing that was stopping me from doing that constantly is that the tires that was on it was the normal 15 inch H-rated tires and trust me, the few times I took that beast up that high took a toll on them tires as the tread is about done with less than 5K on the tires. Sad. I think this big 560SEL is nopthing but really a large sports car. If recall, back in the day they called these things the Porche hunters.

Now I'm not too ready to give up the ride comfort too much but I figure that going from 15 inch to 17 rims, it can't be too bad. I think the Mercedes shocks be able to work with it a little, especially at high speeds. Low speeds, I really don't care. But as far as cornering, I might put it through it paces with the new tires and rim set up and write a post about my findings since there is very scarce W126 performance posts. The 560SEL handles quite well for a car this size in corners and assuming the handleing will better and it will stick to the road alot better, I think I'ma scare my passengers slinging this beast like a sports sedan. Luckily my car came with ABS that works quite well and haven't broke traction, yet.

My next upgrades probably be sports brakes and rotors.

I'll still keep the stock 15 inchers probably and get them snow tire mounted mostly for winter driving here.

Funny thing is that I thought that my BMW was going to be my sports tuned car of the two and the Benz was going to be the relaxing cruise car. But when I got this beast on the autobahn, this car is truely at home and I can turn this beast into a monster that will chew up just about anything in it's path (since any part I can think of can be made or is available for this car over here. Just gotta brush up on my German.) Now about that pesky 911 that continues to elude me...