I installed a set of Mandrus Millenium 18X8.5 (35MM offset) wheels on the front of my XFire Roadster yesterday. The tires are 225/40-18 (stock size) Vredestein Sessantas. I will be receiving a set of 19X9.5 (35MM offset) Milleniums for the rear axle on Wednesday and will have them mounted with Vredestein 255/35-19 (stock size) tires next week-end. The wheels are hyper-silver with polished spokes and wheel lip. You can buy chrome in the same wheel, but I think the silver fits better with the XFire.

I am not using a spacer and have had no front tire rub. I tried the usual turn configurations and driveway entrances that seem to cause rubs for some XFire owners, but everything is go. I will say there isn't much clearance though. The guy that installed the wheels did not believe the wheels/tires would work because of a perceived lack of clearance. He was wrong. The dealer who sold me the wheels said they would work and he was correct. I am using short lug bolts recommended by the dealer to mount the wheels.

I ran into a problem that the TPMS sensors will not fit with these wheels as they will not marry up with the hole for the valve stem. But, apparently that happens often as the installer used a band to mount the sensor to the wheel and used a regular chrome valve stem for the wheel. After I get the rear wheels mounted, I will take the car to a Chrysler dealer and have them reset the TPMS system. By the way, I told the installer to not include the sensors and I would pull the warning light bulb, but that is apparently against federal law and the installer wouldn't leave them off the wheels.

After reading the comments that have been posted on this forum concerning changing wheels and offsets needed, I was concerned that I may have a problem and that the dealer who sold me the wheels had no clue on whether he was recommending the correct offset to me. The wheels come in three or four offsets. The Mandrus wheels are made for Mercedes vehicles, so there is one correct combination for the XFire as a SLK 320 look-alike, unless the bodies have different dimensions in the wheel wells. I have the right offset for the front wheels and now feel comfortable with the recommended 35MM offset I will be using on the rear axle.

Anyhow, the setup looks great on the front of the car. With some luck and the rear wheels work as slick as the front wheels, I will be very pleased. So far, I am also impressed with the Vredestein tires. For the total price, this is a great wheel/tire combination for the XFire. And, it does have a radical look because of the tires. The younger crowd would use the term "sick" to describe the setup, especially the tires.

I'll follow with another report when I have the rear wheels on the car so as to provide the entire scope of the project to interested individuals.

 

love the mandrus millenium rims absolutely beautiful for the price, but very similar to the stock srt rims, I was considering purchasing them in chrome, but decided against it.

 

I find it ironic that the center pattern for the Millenium wheel somewhat resembles the Chrysler Pentastar. I added to the irony by using Tristar MB centercaps on the wheels. I think it looks good, but may upset some XFire purists.

 

I had Mandrus Millenium wheels (19X9.5; 35 MM offset) with Vredestine Sessanta tires mounted on the rear axle today. I had to wait to mount the rear wheels/tires until I received a wheel that was a replacement for a wheel damaged in shipment.

Observations -

The new wheels and tires look great on a Crossfire. There is no rubbing in the wheel wells or otherwise, so I am pleased. I will note that the factory wheels and tire combination rubbed on the inside at the top of the left rear wheel well. I checked out the wheel wells when the rear tires were off and the car was on the lift. I didn't find any rub indications on the left rear of the car.

Concerning the Vredestein Tires -

Noise: I believe the tires to be somewhat quieter than the OEM tires (Continental SportContact 2).

Ride: The tires may ride a little softer than the Continentals, but it is close.

Dry Traction: The tires have a lot of bite and they stick. They perform a little better than the Continentals.

Wet Traction: Haven't had the opportunity to check the tires out in rain.

In all, a very positive upgrade on my XFire.

 

Now for the bizarre post of the day. I checked my new tires yesterday to make sure all was well after a couple of days and the right rear tire was down to 20 psi. I aired the tire and checked the pressure again today. the pressure was back down in the low 20s. Oh yea, I'm thinking, here we go.

I took it back to Discount Tire (mounted the wheels and tires) and told them about the leak. The tire tech used water to isolate where the leak was. Get this...the sidewall bead was not totally seated against the rim. If was almost not noticeable unless you looked at how the bead was seated all around the rim. The tech deflated the tire and then repressured it. The bead popped into place and all is well (I hope). Tomorrow the pressure gauge goes back on the tire and I will know for sure.

I wonder how often this happens? It is the first time I have ever encountered anything like this.

 

With 35ET in front you will not need any spacers unless you can't get your center caps on. The rear is where you would need them. The stock rear offset in the rear is different than the front at 22ET so you would be better off with a set of 10 or 12mm hub centric spacers on the rear. Also wit the wider rear wheel, you may want to consider a 265 35 19 but then you have a more stretched look in the front now with 225's on 8.5 wheels.

 

I'm not using any spacers with the 35MM offsets front and rear and the tires/wheels fit perfect. There is no rubbing or problems of any kind using the standard XFire tire size on both front and rear. The Mandrus wheels are made for MB vehicles, so the center cap fits as it should. I am using MB center caps on the wheels.

Why would you want a spacer when there is no reason? Doesn't make any sense to me.

 

A 35mm offset in the rear will position the rear wheel closer to the inner fender well than stock. since stock is 22mm offset. My Mercedes wheels had the same offset front and rear as you. but my wheels are 8 inch wide in front and 9 inch wide in back. I used 12mm spacers in the rear only to posistion the the wheel/tire close to the outer edge of the fender well like stock. Without it they looked pushed-in in the rear and I also rubbed against the inner fender well when I hit big enough bump, but I went to 265's in back.

 

I am running 19X9.5 wheels on the rear axle with the stock tires and haven't had any rubbing. The wheels look fine in the wheel well. They are not pushed out to the extent that the front wheels are though.

 

On my car the rear track looked narrow compared to the front. Spacers will just give the MB wheels the same offset as stock. We are only talking about 10mm.

 

10mm isn't much. However, some owner's cars on this forum have tire rubs on the wheel well liners with the stock factory setup. My car had a tire rub mark on the left rear that had to have happened with the factory setup. That amazes me. There is very little room for error apparently.

 

Any way we could get a pic of the rims on the car. I'm thinking about getting a set of these and powdercoating the rims black and painting the lip the color of the car.

The Millenium rims look really good on our car. I just want to see what it looks like on a red car (for obvious reasons).

 

Let me try to get a shot of the car/wheels tomorrow. However, we are having a lot of rain now, so no promises. I have some good photos but they have way too many pixels to load on the forum.

 

I have been drooling over these rims and the renntech monolites for some time now I can't wait to see your pics might make me take the plunge.

 

Here is a photo of the car with the Mandrus Millenium Wheels.

18X8.5" front; 19X9.5" rear.

 

Here are a couple of other photos...

 

Looks really good.

 

Thank you. I like the look of the wheels. The reflections on the rear wheels related to the wheel lip is nice.

 

If/when I get them I'm going to lower the car and get them powedercoated black and painted to match the car.

Is it me or do the rear's look like the same size as the fronts? Ususually you can tell the 1" differnence but I don't see much of a change between the front and rear

 

I think that the depth of the lip on the rear wheels tends to mask the difference in wheel size between front and rear.