I want to lower car and add 18" monoblocks. who as done it and what do you think?

[duron]

Hello all,

I have '93 400E that rides very well for the age. I would like to keep or improve this ride. However I would like to decrease the gap between the tire and the wheel well as the car seems to sit too far above the tires.

I have heard and read on this forum(just signed up) that some of you have used suspension kits to do the lowering. Who out there has no ride complaints about thier new lowered car? Also, who out there has changed the rims and tires from the factory 15s to 17s or 18s and what is a fender roll and if I told a body shop about it, would they know what I was talking about?

What suspension kits do you suggest that will not break the bank and how much do the shops in your areas charge to do the lowering? I thank everyone in advance for any information as I do not want to mess up a great car.

Duron

[ksing44]

I have a 1995 E320 SE W124. I just installed Eibach Pro-kit springs, Bilstein Heavy Duty Shocks, 16" AMG Monoblocks, 205-55-16" tires, and changed from 3 bump to 1 bump pads all around. The rear dropped 1.5" and the front dropped 1". The rear camber was -3 after the mods. I then purchased the K-MAC rear bushings so that the camber could be adjusted. I also did a lot of measuring and decided to put 3 bump in the rear and keep the 1 bump in the front. I was looking for a symmetrical drop. I thought the car looked like the rear was kind of old and broken down with it too low in the rear. After installing K-MAC bushings, the 3 bump pads, and adjusting the camber the car was higher in the back than it should have been if only the 10mm increase in pad height had been added. I think that adjusting the camber may have added to the increase in height in the rear. 1 bump front and 2 bump rear may have been OK with the adjustment in camber. Right now the car is 1" lower all around and it is 0.25" higher in the back than in the front. This is the same relationship front to back as it was before the drop, but the smaller fender gap makes the small difference a bit more noticeable. I like the way my car looks, but it would have been OK with 2-bump rear and 1 bump front. I didn't like the rear lower than the front. I measured a lot of Mercedes cars before I made my decision and the W124s are always higher in the rear. BMWs are lower in the back, but as I said, I thought my car looked broken down with too low in the rear.
As far as the quality of the ride, well, you do loose the luxurious turnpike ride after the modification. It isn't horrible, but definitely harder. Even though I chose the less stiff Eibach Pro-kit springs, the less severe Bilstein HDs instead of sports, and a grand touring tire instead of hard core performance tires I did loose ride quality. I run my tires soft at MB recommended pressure of 27 psi cold and it is still quite nice, but not as nice as before the mods. I should add, however, that my car is outrageous on a twisted back road. No more floating like a tuna boat. I am sure that I can hang with any sports car.
Now I have decided that 27 psi was too sloppy, so now I'm running 30 psi cold. I am getting accustomed to the firm, but sporty ride.

Final note: no one seems to know about all of the problems with lowering the car. You have to figure it out by yourself.

[Drunchik]

well if you take a look at the rear or front suspension you can try to imagine the axle around wthich the arm with the weel moves when the susp. compresses or decompresses. you will also note that the springs are closer to that axle than the weels, and therefore adding a thicker pad (lets say 10 mm) will lift the car slightly more (lets say 14 mm). It is very easy to calculate if you have the exact measurements of the distance from the arm mounting points to the spring and to the wheels. Thats why number 3 pads have lifted the car more than you expected.
@:-))))

[Drunchik]

Ill try to be closer to the point.

Any sport kit like Eibach Pro kit, MB original sportline kit or similar kit will of course affect ride quality. Im using the Eibach Pro kit springs and Bilstein HD shocks. The ride is comfortable on good roads, but on a bad road it cannot compare with the original "comfort" MB suspension. The use of 17"s or 18"s will definately add some control but will further affect ride quality.

I would reccomend sport suspension pack if the roads in your area are good. Otherwise you could be dissapointed. After driving for 2 month on my new kit i do really want some more comfort, because roads are so f&&&ed up here, actually im thinking of switching to HR OE kit, but unfortunately it is not marketed here. The HR guys sayin it is somewhere in between the original suspension and sport kit like Eibach Pro Kit or HR level 2, both in terms of handling ang comfort. The drop in height is also usually smaller.