The springs he is asking about are on the next gen model- w124, so your eyeballing test is not addressing the question. As for a ride height adjustment on the front you have several choices- Change the shocks, change the springs, change the spring caps. The caps come in several different thicknesses. I changed the front springs and end caps on my 82 wagon to those from a non turbo wagon and the handling went from bus like to excellent. I would also love to see the results from this new non SLS configuration and have others test it and say it's great. There is a want of many to scrap the SLS for a variety of reasons- some more valid than others. The two best were mentioned already. When my SL sells I'll be back to a two wagon man.