Zero pads at the rear after lowering ? you vote...

[A1EK]

Hi guys

I have recently just lowered my car on Eibachs with my 18" staggered wheels, and decided on no#1 pad front and no#2 rear. The cars looks great, and I am really happy with the front, but I am thinking the rear still sits too high for me.
Its really strange becuase I did a lot of reading through the forums and thought that the back would sit lower on Eibachs then the front so therefore took the advice and got the no#2 pad for the back, however when the shop did the lowering they found the front pads were no#5 and the back was no#2 !!??, I thought it would normally be no#4 pad ??

Therefore can I get some feed back from everyone if you think the rear of my car looks too high or not? ...thanks (there are three photos below)
IF you think its too high, then I think I will go from no#2 pad to zero pad at the rear to get it down and an even drop.??

Thanks

[Deltasonik]

Man.. you have been at this for a while trying to get it right. That first pic looks like a very uneven drop. You need a smaller pad in the rear FOR SURE. Like you said, the front looks ok if thats the look you are going for. You could go with a #1 with the size of that gap in the rear. Dont go with the "no pad" thing. I tried it on my car and the ride was really bad. MB went with the pad design for a reason. Remember someone paid big $$ for the way that car drove when it was new.

[A1EK]

thanks for the advice, and its good to know now what you said about no pads, so maybe i'll thnink twice.. anyone else agree that using no pads is really bad? ( I could always get a number 1 pad and file it down rather then no pads??

[linh]

Originally Posted by A1EK

Hi guys,
Its really strange becuase I did a lot of reading through the forums and thought that the back would sit lower on Eibachs then the front so therefore took the advice and got the no#2 pad for the back. Thanks

The H&R spring are usually drop in the rear more then the front then Eibach spring. Well, one thing you didn't realized, our advices are based on our's experiences and most of our experiences here is based on the Clk 320, 430 and 55. Your car is CLK 230, which is a 4 cylinder with Kompressor. The weigh are totally difference and that's why you were shocked to see a #5 pads. Changing #2 pad to #1 is not going to see any difference (3-5 mm difference). Going to no pad, you will risk of springs sliding inside due to no pad and spring centering bump stop.

[CLK MAN]

Just do Zero all around and call it a day. I promise you will love the results. I have no problems on my car and the car rides fine.

[Rashman]

Originally Posted by CLK MAN

Just do Zero all around and call it a day. I promise you will love the results. I have no problems on my car and the car rides fine.

Hahaha... you have to go against the grain, don't you?!

[sfclk]

I ran padless all around but ran into noise problems. I'm using stock springs. Aftermarket spring might be more flat at the last coils so maybe they won't rotate like stock springs.
Im now using #1 all around without spring noises. A new noises came about...need to check if the wheel well panel and foglight are secure. Btw, noise is coming from the right front corner.

[A1EK]

linh
That is a good point that I am short of two cylinders compared to most of you big-engined doods with cheap-arse fuel in the States! so its probably the reason why it is still higher at the back, however I would have thoguht the front would have been the issue ?

CLKMAN
I still totally respect your ride and comments and I am tempted to just remove the pads and see, as I could always put a no#1 back on th rear.

sfclk
Good point about the noise issue, and maybe the Eibachs are flatter on the last coil.

I think from all your comments I will try the rear without pads and see if theres any problems, becuse its eay enough for me to do myself. And then if theres noise I will put a no#1 pad on and maybe file it down first .

The other point is that I only have 18" rims so the gap will be more then 19"

[bankerkys]

I used a #1 pad in the rear - worked great.

[A1EK]

Thanks Bankerkeys

I am just about to go and remove the #2 pad at the back and go for Zero pads myself now, as I had mentioned on another post recently. I'll let you know the results!