In a message dated 10/25/2003 5:38:23 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
tbf@pacifier.com writes:
Ben, do you find that all of the Mercedes magnesium wheels have ball seats
in the bolt holes? I am doing the machine work for a friend so he can mount
a set of Mercedes wheels ( the big flat shiny ones that came on a 450SL I
think) I machined the front rotors for long studs and replaced the rear
studs with longer studs but I haven't figured out the proper lug nut for
these rims. After a quick inspection I thought a VW steel wheel nut will
work. The ball radius appears to look about right. I will have to check with
some Dyken blue to see if they are exactly right though. It sounds like you
have a lot of experience with this and thought you may know the answer off
the top of your head.
Todd Francis
Todd,

Not all Mercedes wheels have the same seat. Most early 450SL's had ball seats
radiused for 12 mm bolts. The later S-class and M-class are the only ones I
can think of the top of my head which had the 14 mm bolts with similar ball
seats as the ones used in Vanagons. By "big shiny ones" I assume you to mean the
flat faced 16 holes variety. As you know MB used a half dozen different wheels
for the 450SL. Some of the very early ones even got REAL magnesium alloys
versus the mostly aluminum pressure cast and forged wheels. The magnesium alloys
I have seen have all been dealer installed. Every single magnesium alloy wheel
I have encountered in the SL's have been of the conical seat variety. Almost
all the aluminum alloy wheels have been of the ballseat variety. I happen to
have some of either radius bolts but not the nuts.

Best thing I can tell you is send me the specs on the wheel you are using
along with a pic so I can determine if we are talking about the same wheel. There
were just too many wheels available on MB cars to be certain as to which one
you are talking about. A bunch of outfits like Centra made lots of replica MB
alloys which looked virtually identical to the stock MB alloys. Quality were
not always the same and neither were the specifications. I have found identical
looking wheels with differing pad thickness and different lughole seats.

BenT