pad thickness was meant to fine-tune the ride height, not meant from the factory to allow for longer springs in terms of overall sprung length.

The FSM has copious spring data based on model/country/option. 12 pages on the front springs alone, 4 on the rear and another 2 pages of spring technical data. Sections 32-220, 32-240 and 32-250.

If you want specific info, PM me and pull the data out. I'd need year, model code (e.g. 123.153 for my Coupe) and options including A/C, sunroof, tranny, power steering, police equipment, supplemental heater and ABS (and if you're driving a police equipped W123 w/ ABS I wanna know about it). I'd scan the tables, but the files would be huge to make the small print legible.

The pad height is one factor for ride height, and usually only a few mm, but it could be as much as 15 mm if you went from thickest to skinniest. The other factors will be spring length and compression. FSM values range from a soft 27 mm per 1000 N compression for thin coils (14.3 mm) to 17.1 mm/1000 N for the beefy 16.2 coils. There are 8 different factory springs for the front with different lengths and compression rates.

Pics and measurements from my car in the next post.

Pic and measurement data
 

Attached is a pic, with some perspective this time, of my car.

I thought my car looked too high, and based on the 760 mm recommended trunk/height height from the blue print, the measurements backed that up. But now I'm not so sure. I made some small changes, had the dealer look at it while being aligned and it doesn't look as bad now. 4 wheel alignment at the dealer, MB of San Antonio costs $140.

Equipment: stock "red" springs, 4 nub/23 mm pads in front, Bilstein B36-0703 on the front, B46-1184 on the rear; Goodyear 195/70-14's w/ 34 psi.

Car is an '83 300CD w/ 283,000.

In the earlier "off-road look" pics, the hood and trunk heights are more/less level at 806 mm (31.75 in), front wheel center to fender rim is 16.5 in. I did not take other measurements. The tank was near empty with approx 3.5 gals based on a previous repair where I drained the tank.

I added what I though would be about a half tank or 6.5 gals. The approx 10 gals in the tank only took the gauge up to 3/8, BTW. I remeasured.

Data with car in unaligned, FSM neutral spec on suspension and 10 gals fuel:

Trunk/hood height @ 30.5 to 30.75 inches; front wheel center to fender @ 15.625 to 15.75. Rear center-fender @ 14.25 - 14.375. Floor to front @ 27. Floor to rear @ 25.875. Observation: 6.5 gallons of diesel dropped the car by about an inch.

Data with car unaligned, after loosening the UCA, LCA and torsion bar was essentially unchanged. Observation: if you're sure you did it right the first time, repeating the action won't make much difference.

Took the car to the dealer for alignment. A parts guy I've been working with complimented the car on its "upright" stance without being lowered or on saggy springs. He thought it would have a two or three nub pad, not the four it has. I don't have the alignment specs, but the lobe on the eccentric bolt was rotated from the 6 o'clock position where I had it inboard by a little more than one clock position on each side for a mild camber change. Burned maybe one gallon of gas on the round trip.

Measurements: Trunk @ 30.75, hood @ 30.5; front center-fender @15.75; rear center-fender @ 14.625; floor-front fender @ 26.75; floor-rear fender @ 25.875. Observation: a mild camber change may have made a little difference possibly offset by the gallon of fuel.

Conclusion: with the FSM parts, the car looks like it rides a little high. Weight seems to have a major factor with an empty car riding high and a loaded car probably about right, for appearance anyway. 760 mm is probably not the stock height for an "unloaded" car, but may be for a fully fueled car. I'd guess an extra half tank of fuel would probably compress the springs another inch.

The attached pic is of the final configuration on a nearly level street with a slight crown, about 9 gallons fuel or just over 1/4 tank.

on an interesting note:
My moroccan 300TD is actually set from Factory at 810mm (so 2inches higher than stock) and 15" steelies (which weight a monumental 24lb each).
Lebanese and Tunisian version of the 240D also seemed to be equipped similarly with raised suspenssions... maybe an adaptation to rough roads.