'94 S124 - Lowered Springs/Bigger Wheels, Left Front Rubbing
 

Hi, all.

My apologies in advance for the cross-posting, but I got no responses in the Performance Paddock; I'm trying to decide the best way to proceed here with my '94 E320T:

I installed H&R #29627 Sport Springs on all four corners and Bilstein B8 Performance Plus struts on the front. I also installed a set of 16" wheels from a W210 E320 and 205/55-16 tires (going +1) on all four corners. This left the car too low in the nose for my tastes, plus I had rubbing problems on both front sides when encountering any kind of bump or rise in the road. The car originally had two-nib spring pads all around, so I installed four-nib pads in front and it cured the rubbing problem, although I still think the car looks a little too raked.

Not long afterward, I hit a pothole on the freeway and it cracked one of the rear rims - damn these New Jersey roads! I had previously bought a set of 17" wheels from a W210 E430 Sport and had them refurbished by NJBentWheel dot com (awesome job - tell Jay I sent you) to use for a winter set on my wife's W211 wagon, and of course, they didn't fit because the W211 uses 14 mm lug bolts and the W210 uses 12mm. So rather than get the cracked 16" rim fixed, I got greedy and went +2 using this freshly refurbished set and a staggered fitment, 205/50-17 front and 225/45-17 rear. With a set of brand-new Continental ExtremeContact Sport XL tires, I am now getting a rub over bumps, but only on the left front and it seems to actually be rubbing on the lower body cladding, not the fender lip.

I measured the clearance between the wheel centerline and fender lip on all four corners and found the left front is about 3/8" lower than the right front, and the right rear is about 1/2" higher than the left rear (12-7/8" LF, 13-1/4" RF, 13-1/4" LR, 13-3/4" RR). I'd like to get all four corners up to the same height and eliminate the rubbing, but I'm maxed out with the available spring pad thickness for the 124.

I've been cruising the various speed shop websites and found shims/spacers that might work if I put them between the spring pad and perch; I've also seen that there are thicker spring pads available for the W210 and was wondering whether they'd fit. The curious thing is that the driver's side is so much lower even without my 225 lbs in the car and on brand new springs. I might also try swapping the springs left-to-right to see if that has any effect.

Anyone have any similar experiences or advice?

Best Regards,
Rob

buy a honda,don't ruin a benz

Your control arm on that side is likely toast. See if the wheel is centered within the wheel well.

You nailed it - I just went out and measured, and while there's no ideal datum point from which to measure, the left side wheel center is about 5/8" further forward from the rear of the fender than the right side; I find this odd, because the car tracks straight and true going down the road.

Is this an alignment adjustment to get it back where it belongs or do I need to start replacing parts? Looking at the parts diagram, I don't see how it could be that far out of whack unless something underneath is bent.

I had issue in my old car and replaced the control arm. It will need to be aligned afterwards.

The LCA has eccentric bolts to adjust caster and camber. You can see if those are set close to the same before you go tearing it apart. It is likely your ball joint or inboard bushings are bad however.



Another thing to consider is total rolling diameter compared to stock. Punch your numbers into a tire diameter calculator. I know on our 190 there are no tires for 17" wheels that maintain the stock rolling diameter and tall 16 tires almost pulled the bumper off.



Finally have you considered getting taller or stock springs? If you're on the 4 bump pad you're adding a lot of height back in. Yet another thing you can do is use W210/w202 springs like volklands or similar with the tangential end style w210 pads that may change things. Honestly I'm not sure if that will be higher or lower than what you have but I know they fit because I've put cut w124 springs in a w210 before.