Query on wheels

[Des]

Gentlemen, what would be your opinion on these AMG hammer style wheels, if they were painted the same colour as my car? Maybe they would even look good just as they are.
Still undecided where I want to go with the wheels for my car. AMG pentas suit the W116 the best, they are just so dam hard to find.

[oscar]

Hi Des,

I don't mind these.   My thoughts for the W116 when I see these is that they look too modern caused by the matt finish of the centre.  But what do you do to them.  If they came with a polished mirror finish to match the chrome, 18" or so is probably too much shine.  So yes you could paint them.

It's funny really, when I first saw colour coded pentas I thought why?  Now it's a case of - you see something often in enough, it starts to look good.  Looking at the http://www.amg-classics.de/ site last night, there's a few examples on one of the pages there with all getting a nod of approval.  It's like that blue/black AMG 6.9.  I thought that was crazy painting the pentas and chrome.  Seeing it again last night, I really like it.

If AMG pentas are hard to find, so to are the alternatives don't you think.  When I looked for wheels last year I came across these, don't know what they are but they were sold on ebay for $200AUD in Melbourne.  It's the closest I've come to changing wheels. I missed out because I forgot to bid!!!   The simmons B45's in the second also look good and I saw them on a 450 in Victoria on ebay.

[Mforcer]

Gentlemen, what would be your opinion on these AMG hammer style wheels, if they were painted the same colour as my car? Maybe they would even look good just as they are.
Still undecided where I want to go with the wheels for my car. AMG pentas suit the W116 the best, they are just so dam hard to find.

Those are the rims I have on my car in 16x7.5 et17 - there are some photos in the gallery. Mine are original AMGs and I think they look fantastic with their clean lines like those of the original hub caps. I would consider painting them the same colour as my car (mine do need a paint but not bothering me yet) but they look fine in the silver colour.

I too was originally looking for the Pentas but like you couldn't find any at the time. I did find a set of BBS rims that I think would be great but the seller was asking too much.

[Des]

I too was originally looking for the Pentas but like you couldn't find any at the time. I did find a set of BBS rims that I think would be great but the seller was asking too much.

Yeah the issue I have is that my tyres are basically stuffed, no grip on them, squealing going round roundabouts, courners etc, which isn't all bad, it sounds great, however nearly lost the backend a few weeks ago taking a courner a bit fast. So really want to kill two birds with one stone, new griping rubber and some better wheels.

[oscar]

Mforcer, I knew you had similar and they do look good, but I thought yours had the squarer type of spoke like robertd's pic below, rather than the rounded edged spoke in Des' pics.  Is there a difference here?  BTW mforcer, is there any other photos of your car in the gallery.  I just remembered about the KV pics.  I don't remember seeing any other pics of your car.

Don't know what size rim you'd want Des.  I'm sure ones like the one below came in 16" which IMO would be good for better value quality tyres without being too loud with 18"+.

[Des]

Don't know what size rim you'd want Des.  I'm sure ones like the one below came in 16" which IMO would be good for better value quality tyres without being too loud with 18"+.

Don't know ether to be honest, I have never had a car with wheels larger than 15"
I still want to keep the nice ride but if I can atleast maintain the way the car handles and improve the grip to the road I would be happy.

[Mforcer]

Mforcer, I knew you had similar and they do look good, but I thought yours had the squarer type of spoke like robertd's pic below, rather than the rounded edged spoke in Des' pics.  Is there a difference here?  BTW mforcer, is there any other photos of your car in the gallery.  I just remembered about the KV pics.  I don't remember seeing any other pics of your car.

Keen eyes Oscar! I do have the squarer spoke style as in your photo. I believe the difference is that the rounder style were produced later (and I think are the current style). The newer, rounder style are also available aftermarket new.

I don't remember if there are any more photos of my car in the gallery with the AMG rims. If not, I'll add some more photos this weekend.

[oscar]

I like the plate look of yours Mforcer and I found that KV meet pic.  To me Des the rounder spokes look too modern but Mforcer's type looks more classic.  All a matter of opinion I know.  I can't comment on ride quality but I hear you. 

Here's a bit of a look at what these look like.

[Des]

I reckon the Hammers look more the part.
Are they usually cheaper or dearer then the Pentas?
Which ones were MB options?

AMG Pentas is a general term used to refer to the above style of wheels featured on Chris' stunning AMG 6.9, they were used by AMG from the early 70's though to the late 1980's in various sizes, widths and offsets,
There were several companies that produced these, among them AST, Ronals, so the "Penta" term really just refers to that 5 spoke style, they were not sold by MB persay but I would imagine dealers would have had them though the time, much like dealers have other wheel options when you walk in and buy a new car today.

Don't know much about the AMG hammer wheels, they built a few cars in the late 1980's W201's and W126's that they called "Hammer" cars, haven't done much reading up on them, imagine they are some sort of hotted up saloon.

Pentas can be picked up for a few hundred dollars "when" they appear, always seem to pop up for sale when I have just spent all my money for the week.

do a search on the forum for AMG pentas and you should turn up lots of info and pictures.

[AMG69]

Gents, I have an original AMG brochure rom around 1984 with mainly W126 photos but it has all the rim sizes available at that time....you know we should have this brochure scanned in and saved in the Library..I'll speak with Michael about that.....anyway, point is, thye advertised two types of rims : Pentas and "flat faced" - ie the Hammer rims above.  As I said, I'll arrange for the whole brochure to appear in the Library.

[Des]

Chris, here is a little tidbit I found on the internet, can't remember where I got it from:



Interesting that it mentions BBS wheels, which I would assume is this style:

[oscar]

Wow, what an interesting list.

Was there factory leather truck sized steering wheels on top of the smaller amg wheels?

I didn't know what BBS wheels were but coincidentally there's some on ebay here

[Des]

Oscar I've got at home some pictures of different vintage AMG steering wheels, gear knobs etc, they offered, it is from some scans of a brochure, ill post later today when I get home from work.