My 1985 W123 300Dturbo (204K miles) lately has been riding really rough. A year ago I replaced the shocks with bilstein HD's, and back then I found the car to ride firmly but not uncomfortably so... it just felt really stable. SInce then I have replaced the front sway bar bushings in an effort to tighten up the handling, and it worked. I doubt my ride quality is affected by that though.
The suspension seems to be original... bushings and such dont look like they've been replaced. I don't have much money (college student) so a full suspension rebuild is out of the question, but are there a few simple bushings change-outs I can do to help ride quality? Rear suspension mount maybe? That feels almost plasticy, i believe its supposed to be rubber
I hear of people talking of subframe mounts but I have no idea what that is, whats a frame mount doing on a unibody constructed car? Or is the subframe mount kit on fastlane the same thing that HAyne's refers to as the rear suspension mount? It looks similar.
Despite the originality of the suspension there are no clunks or anything when I am driving on rough roads or going over speedbumps...also very minimal play in the steering, though it is kinda vague off center... pretty much why i havent really touched the suspension. But i figure all the bushings are shot after 20 years. Also I am rather intimidated by it, all the sledgehamemrs and prybars involved, i wouldn't really know where to start.
I started to realize how bad my car rides after we test drove a 2006 Miata MX5. We went over some train tracks to test how it would take them and it took them extremely smoothly, with my 300D it would feel like you're driving over some rocks.
Oh, and tires are new michelins with about 8K miles on them...wheels are upgraded 22"... just kidding. Stock 14" wheels, tire pressures are set at 28 front 32 rear just like the manual says to.