Hi all,
I'm new here. Have been browsing this forum for ages and now decided to register myself as one of the proud members.

Anyway, I am looking to change the shocks on my 1994 W124 Sedan. I was just wondering if it is possible to use Sportline shocks. If so, does anyone mind giving me the part number so I can ask my local parts guy?

Also, are the Sportline shocks made by Bilstein? I think I heard somewhere that they are Bilstein B4s.. I have no idea.

Lastly, will these shocks take a bit of lowering? I'm going to lower the car by around 35mm using lowering springs. However, I really do not want to go down the Bilstein Sports route as I leave the car standing for at least 70% of the time during the year.

Cheers for any info.
Jeff

Yes, the sportline shocks are made by Bilstein, but you need the shorter springs to go with the shocks.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

The SportLine shocks are made by Sachs, not Bilstein, at least the last set I puchased 2-years ago in the USA.

IMHO, I would just purchase Bilstein HD if using your regular springs, or Bilstein Sports if using SportLine or shorter springs. The Bilsteins have a LIFETIME warranty, while the SportLine shocks only have a year warranty.

Don't forget to do the rear springs and shocks as well, in order to keep everything balanced.

:-) neil

1988 E36T AMG w/500E springs
1993 500E w/SportLine springs

You are probably right. For some reason I thought the Sportline shocks were the same as Bilstein Sports.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

I believe the original shocks I took off my Sportline were Bilstein Sports. That's what I replaced them with, too. It may be they used different suppliers throughout the production run.

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Steve

1992 300CE Sportline Sophie
1990 300E Emma - in the family
1979 240D Josephine - sold, but not forgotten
2004 Pacifica AWD

http://web.mac.com/dakota/Mercedes/Home.html

Jeff, here are all the part numbers for the sportline kit:

124 323 77 65 x 1 front sway bar
124 323 46 85 x 2 front sway bar bushing
124 323 51 85 x 2 front sway bar bushing
124 326 25 65 x 1 rear sway bar
210 326 08 81 x 2 rear sway bar bushing
124 320 64 30 x 2 front shock
124 321 30 04 x 2 front coil spring
124 320 23 31 x 2 rear shock
124 320 28 04 x 2 rear spring

W124 Sportline Kit Components

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Rusty Cullens
BuyMBparts, Inc.
1-800-741-5252

Hi Neil,
my opinion is that the Bilstein warranty is hard to use and very few if anyone ever actually get around to returning anything under it. They make it very hard to implement a return unless the original shop returns them to its supplier and so on and receipts are necessary too or forget it! I guess that's that's the way it supposed to be these days where business tries to preserve capitol and keep out the frivolous.

The reason for Sportline warranty being only 1 year is probably because they found some people used them in rallys or dirt racing or something that is considered extreme service. To me all the pot holes on the freeways is exteme service! What with a lack of funds available for road maintenance here in the Bay Area the problem isn't going away any time soon

I hold Bilstein's quality as tops and the reputation is great, well admittedly I've put Konis on British cars and a SAAB I once drove but I don't own any cars that use them and never will again. KYB is an alternative which has been a bad experience with me so its Bilsteins for me 100%

For reference here are p/n's I had on hand for Bilstein Sportline Shocks for the W124 early chassis:
124 320 23 31 Rear Shock Bilstein Sport B36-1470-H0
124 320 64 30 Front Strut Bilstein Sport V36-0365-H0

I am chasing off to find a source of these for my '87 300D turbo upgrade, I also need Sportline springs and sway bar if anybody has any suggestions please let me know, Thanks, and I'll contact Rusty too.
DDH

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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

Sportline vs. Sportline???

Just to add a little confusion, TireRack sells and Eibach Spring set named "Sportline"...

http://www.tirerack.com/suspension/suspension.jsp?make=Eibach&model=Sportline+Spring+Set

My understanding is this these are not the factory-spec "Sportline" springs available for your W124.

Eibach is still manufacturing 124 springs? someone said they weren't but WTH I don't know. Intrax also sells springs but not specified for the diesel
TireRack said they don't recommend the gasser springs for a diesel due to different engine weight and they don't have a W124 300D in their database.
They said this was based on reports that some customer had issues when they tried using springs other than those specified for their vehicle.
I believe probably the spring pads weren't selected properly or maybe the individual(s) had different expectations for the way the car sat or handled.
I am still pursuing a set of MB Sportilne or even some custom springs so there will be more to follow on this!

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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

DDH,
The Sportline option was available for every W124 chassis type in Europe, except those equiped with the 4MATIC option or LWB. That means that all of the non-4MATIC diesel and gas saloons and estates cars, and later the coupes. So there should be the correct Sportline springs available for your diesel estate.

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Steve

1992 300CE Sportline Sophie
1990 300E Emma - in the family
1979 240D Josephine - sold, but not forgotten
2004 Pacifica AWD

http://web.mac.com/dakota/Mercedes/Home.html

Right, Dakota.
Now I revise the p/n for the Sportline struts for an '87 300D turbo as 124 320 60 30.
And the associated MB Sportline spring is 124 321 29 04.
And I still need to find a supplier!
Does anyone know if the strut bumpers are the same for Sportline as for regular struts? (minor detail!)
DDH

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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!