Wheel fitment question... kinda tricky.

[Calspeed]

Hello,

First of all, my name is Miguel and I am in San Francisco, California.  I am a long time automotive and motorcycle fan.  Everything I have, I need to tinker and modify.  Which leads me to this...

I have a 1970 W108 Mercedes 280S.  It currently has the stock 14x6, ET23 wheels.  I am considering purchasing this set of wheels on eBay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300778784539?_trksid=p5197.c0.m619

These are BBS 16x8 with an offset ET11. 

By using this calculater it seems like the wheels would fit.

http://www.rimsntires.com/specs.jsp

Am I missing something?  This is a pretty bug investment and I don't want to make a mistake. 

I have read some of the posts on this forum board and you folks seems to have some very good knowledge on the vintage cars.  I hope that some of you folks may be able to chime in and offer some advice.

Cordially,

Miguel

[thysonsacclaim]

Welcome to the forum!

The people here are all friendly and very knowledge
able about the Mercs and cars in general, indeed!

I believe there are several topics about wheel offsets in the forum, some probably buried, and mostly all related to the 116 series though IIRC (I did a bit of reading before I purchased Pentas for my now deceased 116).

Offhand, I am not sure if the rules hold true for all cars, or if the things you need to take into account are specific to particular models. If it's the latter, you might have better luck searching for your particular model.

However, if I get a chance, I'll skim the forum search engine and Google a bit and see if there are any topics that are relevant or will help lead you in the right direction. But I need to wake up a bit more first!

If not, then one of the veterans of the forum may be able to point you in the right direction.


Best of luck! I do enoy that model Merc as well.

[TJ 450]

The 180 uses the same offset and in fact the same wheels as the 116 from the factory, so anything that fits a 116/126 should be good for the 108 as well.

It will alter the road feel of the car though.

Tim

[Mforcer]

While the original wheels are the same, we would need to confirm the space in the wheel well was also the same. I think I remember seeing W108 with the low offset AMG rims but can't be certain.

[John Hubertz]

Nice set of wheels, but the price is a bit steep.  I'd keep shopping if I were you.

I also don't know about the caliper clearance issue he mentions in his ebay post - sounds like he got burned trying to fit them to a W107 (like a 450SL), and the w107 overlaps with the w108 in some respects so I'd be real careful.

That style of BBS wheel is actually quite common although I admit a fully reconditioned set of four may require some patience to find.  The five-spoke penta is the one that is rarer, and I see sets occasionally available in that price range, and has a correct racing provenance with the W108.

This is what they look like:



I must admit the BBS is a sharp choice too - here's one from the m-100 forum:



You might want to post this question on the 6.3 forum of the m-100 site.  Those guys know W108 wheel/tire fitment as well as anyone in the world.  The site address is http://www.m-100.cc