use of 15 inch rims on W111 3.5 coupes and Cabriolets

[perry113]

I am having an ongoing debate with Bob Ensign on the originality of factory's use of 15 rims and larger front brakes on W111 3.5 coupes and cabriolets. When project W111 was bought by Ensign for use as 3.5 doner car, it came with 1990's style S class alloy rims. When the swap was made they took the front and rear suspension from the 3.5 coupe and intalled it in the 280SE cabriolet. They discovered the front calipers from the 3.5 were bigger and would not allow the use of the orignal Cabriolet's 14 inch steel rims.
If you look on Silver Star restoration's wesite they list W111 technical specifications for both 280SE and 280SE 3.5 and shows both cars to have the same 14 inch wheels and 273/279mm braking system. Can anyone shed light on this? Did W111 previous 3.5 get a front brake upgrade thus requiring the use of the later S class wheels or were they original. I'm looking for a set of 15 inch steel wheels and hubcaps for Ensign's W111 Cabriolet 3.5 conversion car so it has the classic Mercedes Hupcap look.
see:http://www.silverstarrestorations.com/111SE.htm

[jeffc280sl]

I have 15 inch steel wheels and painted hubcaps on my 113.  If this is the kind of information you need you can do a search to find my posts on the subject.

[Benz Dr.]

What sort of fiting problems were you having? I have a 3.5 coupe and it has allloy rims which seem to fit just fine. They're 14'' which is what all of those cars had as far as I know.

The V8 cars had vented front rotors which are a bit wider than solid rotors so I imagine the calipers would be wider too. Is that where you were hanging up?
I'm not sure what the regular off set is on these older rims. I think it's marked somewhere as ET = xxx. You have to be careful with clearances on these cars but mostly in the back wheel housings. Sometimes the tires can rub on the inner fender at full lock if you hit a large bump. 14"" tires always work in terms on diameter and width if there's any question.

[ja17]

Yes, I ran into a similar problem one time. It turned out to be an off set problem not a diameter problem.