Carlsson Suspension...worth the premium?

Hi Lee and other experts...
these tuners, specifically Carlsson...
do they use special springs/shocks/bushings for they suspension package or is it like H&R and bilstein shocks resold under the tuners name? do the tuners have something different and superior or is it just regular suspension upgrade items put in a package, then a name brand "carlsson" is associated with it and a premium is attached?

i want to do a suspension upgrade but i was told springs, shocks and bushings was a enough for a CLK430. roll bars would make the ride to harsh. going to tuners route like Carlsson is very expensive.

what is the best way? thanks!!

[ScottyC190E]

As far as I know, Carlsson makes all of their own products and every Carlsson product is the best on the market. In some ways, you are paying for the name but in the end I think the quality is higher than others besides maybe Brabus because the parts are designed especially for your car with extensive testing. I think the best thing to do is try to find someone that has a Carlsson suspension and ask them. This will be very hard to compare because you will need someone who has experienced Carlsson and H&R Eibach ect. Good luck though, Scott

[Ashman]

Have you priced out a conversion to CLK 55 Suspension? or have you priced out Brabus or Lorinser or RennTech?

I would look into all of those.

You might even try Stillen, I know he is tuning some benzes, and I know he makes one hell of a sweet Nissan 300ZX, probably the only Japanese car I would have to drive once in a while.

Alon

[jshiuan]

A lot of these tuners get their stuff from the same supplier, but with minor variations in specs. If you think about it, how much R&D and manufacturing costs can a tuner like Carlsson or Brabus afford to just make some springs and shocks. They would never sell enough to recover their investment and they are not in the spring/shock business. But they will never admit this or tell you who their supplier is. Same is true in the wheel/rim business where OZ and Ronal make a ton of the rims on the market and OEM. The tuners will go to H&R or Bilstein and just modify some of the specs. That's why you see different ride heights with different spring/shocks out there. They can change the spring rate and thus affecting the look and ride of the spring. They can change the height of the rod in a shock and valve it differently to end up with a different product.
So to answer your question, the tuners probably get their stuff from a H&R or Bilstein (big manufacturer) and the quality is there. Is it any better? Well, that depends on what you define as better. A tuner spring may be shorter and lower the car more. It may be better in that regards, but it may also produce a harsher ride. So, it is all about trade offs when you start modifying your car. And money is one big trade off in what you decide to do.