Rim Sizes: 5.5" and 6"

[mdsalemi]

OK, here's a puzzler. Thoughts on how it happened?

A friend is beginning to sort out a 280SL he bought; one owner, 1971 model.
In the sorting process ONE of the rims is 5.5", the others are all 6".  ALL rims have a 11/70 production date!

Curious; what is your take on this situation?

[mbzse]

OK, here's a puzzler..../... ONE of the rims is 5.5", the others are all 6".  ALL rims have a 11/70 production date

No mystery. The 5.5" wide 14" steel wheel rims were widely available, being the standard issue on Mercedes W114 and W115 Limousines from January 1968.
What identifies a wheel is the stamped in Mercedes Article No (for instance, 108 400 14 02 would be the steel wheel for your friends W113  1971Yr 280SL car, those are 6" wide)
/Hans in Sweden
.

[mdsalemi]

Perhaps you didn't understand…

Is it possible that ONE car was delivered with TWO different size wheels? That doesn't seem normal.
If the odd rim--the 5.5"--was somehow inadvertently switched during some kind of service over the years by mistake, I would think that the identical production date of November, 1970 is bizarre coincidence!

[Cees Klumper]

My guess would be that one of the original rims got damaged, and the incorrect replacement was fitted. Seems unlikely that the factory would have made such a mistake.

[mbzse]

.../...Is it possible that ONE car was delivered with TWO different size wheels?

Are you implicating that the Mercedes factory would send an automobile out of their delivery with different wheel sizes fitted??
I do not think any (serious) car manufacturer would do such a blunder.

Some time during the 45 yrs of the SL cars life, someone switched one of the wheels against a Limousine type wheel - so?
/Hans in Sweden

[scoot]

Is it a 5.5 wheel with the same vent appearance as the 6" wheels?   I think it could have been done at the factory.   What about the spare?   My guess is that at some point the spare was lost and replaced and then at some point over the last 50 years it got rotated in.

[garymand]

I had this on a 380se.  I never noticed until I tried to use the 14in alloy rims on the 113, one is a 5.5.  I assumed a previous owner swapped the smaller width or a tire store needed a 6.0.  But you have to assume the diameter and height of that tire would be large and taller than the 6.0, and tend to warm up the rear end if installed on the back if both tires are the same tread depth.  Its a bit unnerving. 

[GGR]

Are you implicating that the Mercedes factory would send an automobile out of their delivery with different wheel sizes fitted??
I do not think any (serious) car manufacturer would do such a blunder.

Well, for some years the Citroen DS had 5.5 inches wide wheels in the front and 5 only in the back. Tire sizes were also different: 180-15 in the front and 165-15 in the back. If the tire size difference was obvious, many people assumed all the rims were the same. So when they were changing tires, it was quite common that a narrow rim would end up in the front with the 185 tire and a wider one in the back with the smaller tire. That was the case on my grandfather's DS when I got it.

[Rodolfo]

Front and rear different is not uncommon: both my last Mercedes have this, and also lots of  sportscars.But one different is very dangerous.

[66andBlue]

Curious; what is your take on this situation?

My take? Tell him to swap the 5.5" for the correct one and drive on.

[mdsalemi]

Are you implicating that the Mercedes factory would send an automobile out of their delivery with different wheel sizes fitted??
I do not think any (serious) car manufacturer would do such a blunder.

I see Hans, that you removed nefarious references to Ford and GM!    In my 20+ years of 2 or more Ford products a year being driven--and many with lots of miles (my daily driver Ford just turned 30,000 miles) we have never had a problem with any of them. In fact they are, as a lot, infinitely more reliable than my home appliances! In that run of Fords were one Volvo and one Jaguar, both of which did have issues. My beloved aunt, from which my Pagoda came, is driving a 2012 SLK350. With light use (you know, the little old lady thing?) of 4,500 miles over 3 years, a slight ticking sound coming from the engine bay was recently fixed at the dealer. One set of pistons, one set of con rods, new heads, (all under warranty of course) and she was good to go. Essentially a full engine rebuild on a what amounts to a new car. Go figure. "I do not think any (serious) car manufacturer would do such a blunder" but apparently at least one bad engine got out of the factory...

Bottom line? I think anything is possible from any manufacturer. But...

…if I'm handing out prizes for the best guess here, it's Cees.  And yes, Alfred, the rim will be replaced…with a 6".