As with the 450SLC, I planned to clean the wheel wells at the same time as changing the wheels.      After I had set up my new pressure washer, I figured I could do the last two wheels of the SLC and then all four SEC wheels on the same night.

No sooner than I started the job than it started raining steadily.    This wasn’t forecast, but I had the cars out and up on stands so I decided to press on.

As with the 450SLC, the SEC had very dirty wheel wells.   I found the best way to clean them was to let the diluted wheel cleaner soak for a while then wash it off with the pressure washer.    Its hard to get the pressure washer in without getting close to the paint.  There is no other way to get rid of the accumulated road grime, bitumen and other debris.   There was less accumulated black residue than on the SLC, but being a UK car originally there were a few places with minor surface rust.   At some point when its not wet, i’ll remove the wheels and clean that up.

I’m really happy with how the AMG Aero I wheels turned out, but one thing that wasn’t perfect was the centre caps.   They were not a great fit and didn’t come up as well as the rest of the wheels.   I had a closer look and they were not original Mercedes caps.   I should have looked at this before I sent them out to be refinished.

In any case I had bought a pack of near new Mercedes caps from a garage sale a few years ago.   On fitting then, I made a small mark on one of the wheels which nobody but me will notice.   I’ll have to be careful with the finish to keep them nice.

It was just as well I mounted the new wheels when I did.  The lug bolts on the front wheels were very loose.   One was even missing!   Last time the wheels were off was when I had the brake hoses done.   I didn’t do this job, so it pays to check things like this after you get a car back from having work done.   It means the old wheels are being sold with 19 lug bolts, not 20.

The AMG Aero I wheels look much better than the old 8 hole wheels.   While I was at it, I was going to adjust the rear SLS, but it was almost 2AM and I was very wet and very muddy by this time.   That can be a job for another time.    I had to cover the seat with various rags and so on for the drive home.  The car drove really nicely on that short drive.

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The big downside of the 15s over the 16s is the tyre availability.     The table below outlines possible sizes I could have considered.    They are all compared to the overall circumference of the original wheel/tyre combination.

The easiest and most obvious choice would have been one of the 205 sizes.   Both are a fairly standard tyre size still used by many mainstream cars.   As an example, 205/65R15 is the standard size of the later R107 models with 15″ wheels.   I have the Michelin Energy XM2 tyre on my 560SEL in this size and it seems like a good tyre.

However, for the AMG wheels I wanted something wider with a bit more grip.   Certainly, looking at old AMG catalogs, they mostly offered the wheels with wider tyres.    I was immediately able to rule out two sizes – 225/55 and 235/55.  There were no tyres at all available in those sizes.

The next most obvious size would have been 215/60R15.   This is only 0.4% different to standard, so had the least speedometer impact.  However, when looking for tyres in this size, the availability of anything I would want to use was terrible.   There were some light truck/van tyres available, but they would have given the 450SLC a terrible ride.   There was one model that looked promising at first – the Radar Dimax classic tyre.   This tyre is advertised as specifically designed for classic use.  While I didn’t find any reviews of their classic tyre, I found pretty poor reviews of Radar tyres in general.   I couldn’t find anyone who had tried these tyres at all, let alone liked them.

Finally, I settled on 225/60R15.   These seemed closest to the size AMG would have used then new for 15″ AMG Penta wheels.   I was able to verify with somebody who used this size with Penta wheels on a 450SLC, which gave me confidence.

The tyre selection was not great in this size either, but there were a few options.    In the end I went with the Hankook Kinergy Eco2 K435.  The Eco2 name put me off a bit, as I assumed they were probably optimized for long tread life and fuel consumption vs performance.   However, they got by far the best reviews I could find in that size.   It also helped that there was a buy three, get four deal on at the time.

The tyres are now mounted and ready to go on the car.   I also have the correct centre caps ready.   The 450SLC is about to go in and have the front subframe mounts changed, so I’ll fit the new tyres after that.

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AMG offered a few different wheels for these cars.   There is the earlier ‘Penta’ style, which bolt up to the W126 although I think they are best fitted to the 107 and 116 series.  Then, there were a few styles of the ‘monoblock’, of which I like the Aero I the most.   The AMG Aero I was available in various widths and offsets for the W126, W124 and so on.   I have type 2801B which is 7.5J x 16 ET17.   AMG didn’t make their own wheels – they contracted the manufacture to OZ Racing.     There were also the three piece 17″ wheels, which are even more coveted by collectors.   I prefer the 16’s as I think this is the best size for the W126 and I don’t like the exposed bolts where the pieces join together.

I finally found a set of AMG Aero I wheels for sale back in June.   They were from a wrecker and were in pretty bad shape.   They had been on a terribly rusty 380SL.   The price was reasonable, given their condition and the rarity of the wheels.

As can be seen from the picture above, the wheels needed a complete refurbish.   The wheels had received so many coats of paint in their life that you could hardly see the AMG logo, let alone the smaller text along the rim.   Some of this paint was now flaking off and they had curb rash and other marks.

I started looking at various options to get them refinished.   I had originally thought I could get away with a strip and repaint.   In looking at the options it quickly became apparent this wasn’t going to be the case.   To do this properly, it was going to cost 3/4 of a complete refurbish.   There were also quite a few places that did not want to take on a refurbish of aluminium wheels with complex curves.

Based on a few recommendations I went with Barrel Bros.   Their quote was one of the highest I got, but actually the best value.   It included a complete refurbish, straightening and as close to like new as possible finish.  I’m really glad I went this route.   The wheels look amazing.   I can’t wait to get them on the car.

The next step was obviously tyres.   The advantage of the 16″ wheels is tyre selection is excellent.   I went with Michelin Primacy 4, 225/55 R16.    I purchased them before June 30 to take advantage of the $50 cashback from Michelin.   At the time I was able to agree that I would keep the tyres until the wheels were finished and then have them fitted.     They are now fitted and ready to be mounted on the car.

I now don’t really have a need for the 8 hole replicas, so they will probably be for sale once the lockdown is over.    I also have a set of replica Bundt wheels that will be fore sale too.

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I thought of a few options for the SLC.

1. Standard 14″ Steel wheels with colour matched hubcaps.   These were the original wheels that came on my car.   The proper 14×6.5 wheels with the fins to cool the brakes are still available, although getting harder to find.   The tyre selection on this size of wheel is quite lacking.
2. W126 15×7 Steel wheels with colour matched hubcaps.   The colour matched hubcaps were available in 15″ for special orders, ambulances etc, but are now very very expensive.   Still, there are much better tyres in this size.
3. Standard 14×6.5 Fuchs alloy wheels.   These are the standard alloy wheels for the period.   I have a set of copy wheels in this size, but I’ve never liked this wheel and they have the same tyre availability issues as the 14″ steelies.
4. Period AMG wheels.   These came in both 15 and 16″ and a few different styles.   The most well known are the AMG “Penta” five spoke style.   I think these look great on the 107 SLC.

After considering all these options, I decided to start looking out for an original set of 15″ AMG Penta wheels.   I think the 15×7 size work much better on the 107 SLC.  They keep the ride and look better.   I am not a fan of big wheels on classic cars.    These wheels were not actually called Penta by AMG, but one of the popular replicas had that name and it stuck.

I found a set that had been refinished not so long ago on facebook marketplace.   They were exactly what I was looking for.   The only downside was they didn’t come with lug nuts or centre caps.    As they were in Melboure, it was just as well they didn’t have tyres.   It would have made the freight too expensive.

Lug bolts shouldn’t be a problem as it looks like I can use the bolts that go with the 14″ factory alloys.  I have a set of these.   Centre caps were a bit more of a challenge.   Unlike some of the copies, the original AMG wheels use a much narrower centre cap.

Surprisingly, even though they date from before AMG was acquired by Mercedes-Benz, they are still available.   The part number is H WA 201 400 01 25.   They are not cheap, but I was able to grab a set of five from the classic centre.

The next step is to choose the tyres.   This isn’t a simple as it sounds, so will be covered in the next episode.   I think they are going to look great on the car.

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