Treating the Mercedes S-Class to some new shoes

Internationally renowned photographer Mark has been working with TG for many, many years. When not taking photos he’s buying inappropriate cars. Here he shares his addiction with the world…

This update was going to focus (again) on the big GT-R rebuild. But, as it’s currently having all its paint removed by Spike’s Vintage Restorations, it’s reached the point of terror where I have to pretend that it doesn’t exist. Especially when being reminded of its value, weeks before renewing my mortgage. Siri, please block any emails which feature ‘invoice’ in the subject.

It’s not all been disassembly and destruction, however. I’ve gone and bought another set of AMG wheels for another S-Class. I adore this car; its 6.0-litre V12 has a ‘Brilliant’ exhaust fitted which makes it sound like an old F1 car. That’s not praise either; the system for all that noise is actually called ‘Brilliant Exhaust’.

Being a Japanese-only AMG model, it got 440bhp from factory (up from 386bhp) to make it moderately brisk as opposed to fast. It wears AMG aero, badges, interior and more, but the wheels have always felt a bit weak for the rest of it. They’re called AMG Monoblocks, and while they don’t look bad there was another option for AMG-clad Merc W140s too...

Look over at its bigger brother – the 7.0-litre S70 AMG – and you’ll see Mercedes fitted a two-piece dished wheel instead. The AMG Aero II – 18 inches in diameter but with a polished lip, exposed hardware holding it all together and colour coded centres. But even on this über expensive, ultra rare AMG model there was room for improvement – all you needed to do was throw (even more) money at it.

Truth be told, the wheels I bought aren’t a new purchase, I bought them four years ago. But they sat on a shelf for three and a half of those until I finally pulled my finger out and had them rebuilt. Naturally, what started as a refresh soon got fantastically out of hand.

The only original parts left are the wheel centres themselves, which are now powder coated the same Mercedes silver as the S600. Everything else is new – the barrels, the dished lips, the hardware holding it altogether and even the tyre valves. Three-piece wheels deserve a good bit of dish, so after scientifically calculating the fitments using my index finger, I’ve widened the stock wheels from 18x8.5in to 18x9.5in (front) and 18x10.5in (rear).

I know what you’re thinking... they no longer fit, do they? Well, you’re wrong. My trusty index finger didn’t let me down and as you can see above, they bolted up without issue. Hell, even with a sensible tyre they shouldn’t scrub the arches either. The only slight issue is that the AMG Aero II wheel design didn’t really anticipate someone fitting Brembo brakes from a GT-R to a W140 25 years later. So, they fit... for about 1/10th of a rotation before the inner bolts hit the caliper. Still, new wheels or new brakes seems like an easy fix compared with the damn Skyline.