i am not familiar with your model vehicle vis a vis spring pads, though I have
extensive hands-on with E320 and lowering. if the pad sizing follows conven-
tion, your front and rear pads are different diameters so be sure you've purchased
pads for the proper end that you're lowering.

springs should also index into their perch. if you examine the lower perch, it
should have an indentation for the lower end of the coil to butt up against.
if you didn't the spring will be positioned, in effect, to ride higher than it should.

generally, factory installed pads are mid range....perhaps #2 in the rear and #3
in the front (may vary). what size pads did you remove in front....back? the
thickness diff should only be about 4mm between 'burl' so I don't think you're
going to get an effective drop of .5" just by going with a 2 burl drop.

did you change any other parts? or pads only (and it still rides higher than
before)?

__________________
-- raymond~
47º 34'N 122º 18'W