Dean, I have a 92 500E that I lowered. I think the stock springs have a sufficient rate for any use that includes road use. The later models seem to have softer rate springs (based on my seat of the pants feel in 94 E500's with the same size and brand of tire). If you go to shorter and higher rate springs you will probably find the front shocks are underdampened. My solution was the RennTech front bar, stock springs shortened 0.5" in front 0.75" in back and the one nub spring cups. This resulted in 1.25" lower front and 1.5" in back. I still feel that mine needs better front shocks. I plan to replace with some double adj. Koni units. I run 9.0" X17 fronts with 255/40's and 10"X17 rears with 285/40's with no problems rubbing. This is about as low as you can go without changing suspension mount points or you induce bump steer. Ihave also converted to a solid link rear suspension. This was the single best modification that I did. It allows complete adjustability of suspension alignment and control at high cornering loads. G-analyst results on a 200' d skidpad were 0.96 / 0.97 L/R