[bob393]

Is there any way to tell the thickness of the rear spring insulating rubber with out removing them?
I want to install slightly thicker rubbers to raise the rear an inch or so.

 

[luckymike]

Is there any way to tell the thickness of the rear spring insulating rubber with out removing them?
I want to install slightly thicker rubbers to raise the rear an inch or so.

There are little nubs around the perimeter. Look for one, two or three, three being the thickest.

 

[bob393]

Thank you.

Do you have any idea how many mm increase in shim is needed for say a 24 mm
increase in rear end height at the top of the wheel wells?

And do you know if they are always the same left to right or are these things really
used to fine tune the ride height corner to corner and front to back?

 

[luckymike]

I can't find it in the manual but I've seen that a change in spring pad thickness results in about a two to one ratio. That is, if you change the pad thickness by 5mm, you'll see about a 10mm change at the wheel.

So if you want a 24mm increase, you'll need to change your current pads by about 12mm. The only way to get close to this with pads is if you now have the shortest pad which is 9.5mm thick, and you go the the thickest, which is 19mm. This 8.5mm change should give you about 16mm at the wheel. More than that and you'll have to cheat by forcing the SLS to take more of the load, or by installing longer springs.

There is good info in the manual. See section 32.

 

[bob393]

I guess I'll have to live with what I can get with the thickest shims.

I haven't gotten under there yet to see what I have, I can only pray they are thin.

I really didn't want to cheat by having the hydraulics carrying the weight.

Thanks again.

 

[Richter Rox]

New springs may be the best bet , stock springs are fairly inexpensive and after 30 years the original ones are tired . Do you know if they Have they been replaced?

I would swap them out but that is just my 2 cents as you may find you have 3 nub pads already.

 

[tusabes]

They have 4 nub pads too , don't they?

I'm wary to change springs with new oem as its a crap shoot if you end up getting the right ones . Mercedes stupidly used the same part number on various lengths

 

[ianrandom]

4 nubs front only.