Vogue Tires?

[Louiehenry]

Hey guys! I've been thinking about this for a while, thought I would ask for some feedback
I'm not sure how many of y'all are familiar with vogue tires, but they're those white walls with the gold ring! Pretty common on old Cadillacs. Had anyone had or seen them on a w113? Do they look good?

[ja17]

Hello Louie,

Since  your are going to driving this car and not just looking at it, you may want to consider performance, durability, and safety of the tires first and make color your last priority. A lot of owners prefer black walls. These cars were originally delivered with black walls or white walls.  I must admit, I took a lot of flack from purists for having wide, white lettered tires on my 190SL when I was 17 years old.

In the end it is what makes you happy.  Tires are easy to change back to original.

[harleydan]

Hi Louie, if you want more performance out of your tires, you might want to think about getting 15" rims and 15" tires.  There is more of  a selection of better performing tires in 15" than in the stock 14".  With the proper selection of 15" tires, you can get a lower aspect ratio (to reduce roll) and maintain almost the same circumference as the 14" (to help prevent speedometer errors).  And there exist some 15" alloy bundt rims that look like the original 14".... but you will have to be really hunt for them and be lucky.

And Joe, regarding the "big" Mercedes emblem underneath the hood of your 190SL, was that stock?   And if it is  not, then you surely must have gotten some flak from those purist about it  .

To both Louie and Joe, having a classic SL at 17 years of age...WOW!!!  You had both had incredible great taste at such a young age.  If I had your refinement (and maybe financial resources) at that age, I would be driving a 300SL now 

Danny
1970 280SL silver Euro 4-speed (owner for over 32 years)

[ja17]

Hello Danny,

Financial resources ? Back then these cars were not that special except to me.  I paid $750.00 for the 190SL in good used condition. Yes the big decal was a modification of mine also. As it turned out, I did end up owning a couple of 300SLs they were bargains back then also.

[Khurram Darugar]

louis,
The 15inch rims are barock or mexican hat style.  Ie they look the same as the ones on youre car but are in fact 15".
They take on 205 rubber as a standard size with a slightly reduced profile over stock.
They are period correct and dont look out of place.
To the casual observer they look stock.
They can be interchanged back to stock in 30 mins if you dont likem 

Kay

[Louiehenry]

Awesome! Thank you so much for your help! Have a merry Christmas, and I hope you continue to enjoy your sl!

[zoegrlh]

Louiehenry, You might want to find Jim Villers thread on overside rims.  He was running CLK spoked 15" rims and 205 tires when he was returning from PUB back in 2009.  Good thing that I was following him, we were on the interstate highway, doing around 70 MPH in the mountains of West Virginia, and he had a blowout on the right rear tire.  I started putting on brakes to notify those cars behind us to slow down.  Jim was able to pull off the highway safely.  Anyway, it seems he had a passenger riding with him which added additional weight to the rear springs, and that this helped the tire rub the tailpipe all the way over to Blacklick and halfway back and the heat of the tail pipe rubbed a hole in the tire.  He had this thought that to increase gas milage, and that his 15" tires were in better condition, so he would put on the 15" wheels just before he left for Blacklick from Virginia.

Bottom line, just make sure you have enough clearance between tire and inside tail pipe with additional weight on passenger side.
Bob