Heres a method on having a 'Zero' pad drop with non-moving springs - Benzworld.org

A1EK · 04-19-2008, 07:40 AM

As you know I have bored you all to death on all the questions I asked whilst lowering, so I thought I would try and give back some of the love. !

Unlike CLK-MAN, some of you have said that when you go with Zero pads that the coils move around and are noisy ! Well I dont know if anyone has tried this simple method that I did, but just take any of your old pads no matter what size eg, #2 nipples, #4 nipples etc, you will see that on the edge there is a groove that goes around the edge,(The one below I used was a#2). Cut carefully on this groove using it as a guide all the way through, and when done it will reveal the top of where the coil fits inside. The idea is that you want the coil just sticking through which will give you the same drop as if there were no pads. The only difference is that because you have some of the pad left it will keep it central and stop it moving around.
(PS. make sure you take the same amount off each pad and measure to keep it even. also the ignore the red spring that was an old set of springs I had as an example !)

linh · 04-19-2008, 02:47 PM

Don't forget to put back the centering bump.

sfclk · 04-20-2008, 11:30 PM

thanks for taking time to post pics. any pics of the car with the trimmed pads?

i considered doing the same, but was ok with an extra 5mm of ride height all around. it actually works out. i can drive over our driveway without scratching the front spoiler.

A1EK · 04-21-2008, 05:51 AM

PS I cut the rear pad down and not the front as I thought it looked a little un-even and higher then the front. This was even after I had got Eibachs Pro kit installed. The only other way is for me to cut a half a turn off the coil to get it that few mm lower, but I will drive it abit and wait and see .

I will take a photo today in the same place as I did before I did the Zero drop on the rear to see if you think theres a change.

CLK MAN · 04-21-2008, 05:44 PM

Good idea.

A1EK · 04-22-2008, 09:19 AM

Thanks CLKMAN.

I thought at first that the bit of rubber left over would not allow the coil top to sit as flat as if there was no pad at all, but because of the angle of the spiral, so long as the top of the coil is showing through the rubber pad then this will give the same 'Zero-pad' drop . Your car still is the best i've seen as far as perfect drops go... But for me now that I have done the zero pad thing at the back, I am finally happy with the look. What I have now ordered is a set of 15mm spacers to push the back out and give the car that final optical 'kick'. Do you think 9.5J and a 15mm spacer will be ok,?