Merc 416 wheel rim size (1 Viewer)

[Patrick]

I have been wondering about this!

Can I fit 16” wheels on my 416 Mercedes? It has twin wheels to the rear and is on 15” at the present. I have the clearance within the wheel arches and nothing to rub or catch when I turn the steering.

Why? Well at 60 mph my van is running at 2900 RPM and by increasing the wheel size I would cover more distance with one revolution on 16” wheels. Hence lowering the RPM for the same speed.

I know about the speedo…this can be re calibrated through the ECU.

 

[Snowbird]

Dont know about the wheel size,but I had the same problem with my VW and the solution was to change the tyres to a taller size.This cured the problem without the expence of changing the wheels and also gave me a higher load rated tyre.

 

[JeanLuc]

Is it an automatic? If so, I wonder whether the change of gearing caused by the larger wheels / tyres might affect the control programming. I may be talking rubbish, but would want to check with a MB commercial dealer first. (Mine is has a 5-speed auto box on a 316 chassis with 15" wheels and I've just decided to live with the fact that at around 50-55mph, my typical cruising speed, the engine is running at 2,500 rpm. It's not too noisy and I average 25mpg.)

There is also the issue of getting approval from insurers to a modification from the manufacturer's specification.

Philip

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[Patrick]

Dont know about the wheel size,but I had the same problem with my VW and the solution was to change the tyres to a taller size.This cured the problem without the expence of changing the wheels and also gave me a higher load rated tyre.

Thanks for your reply,

I have got 205 70 15 tyers on now. I done the homework about the tyer wall size being 70% of the tyre width so the wider the tyer the the deeper the wall. this changing wheels is the most economic way let to me, as changing the diff would be to much trouble. I know all merc 416 chassis have a higher diff than a pannel van due to them not knowing if it will be a tipper.

 

[Patrick]

Is it an automatic? If so, I wonder whether the change of gearing caused by the larger wheels / tyres might affect the control programming. I may be talking rubbish, but would want to check with a MB commercial dealer first. (Mine is has a 5-speed auto box on a 316 chassis with 15" wheels and I've just decided to live with the fact that at around 50-55mph, my typical cruising speed, the engine is running at 2,500 rpm. It's not too noisy and I average 25mpg.)

There is also the issue of getting approval from insurers to a modification from the manufacturer's specification.

Philip

thanks Phil, I have spoken to my merc mechanic about the gearing, as its a semi automatic with 6 gears all ratios can be altered through the gear box computer.