Drunchik,

Here's the part numbers for the OE dealer Sportline items, in case you want to double-check:

124-320-64-30 - Front Sportline strut
124-320-23-31 - Rear Sportline shock

Good luck!

__________________
Dave
Boise, ID
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!

GSXR,

i have been browsing bilstein.de and found out that bilstein makes 4 dampers for W124:

tropen
standard
heavy duty
sportline
sprint

all with their corresponding part numbers

try this link im not sure if it will work
http://shop.bilstein.de/shop(bD1kZQ==)/web_shop_main.htm

it follows from their site that sportline replacement shocks and sprint shocks are two different products that have different part numbers and cost different. It seems that that bilstein engineer wasnt tooo competent

press "aus katalog bestellen" button on top and then select vehicle, then click on part number for description

Wow, that's confusing. The Bilstein "Sportline" are the ones that don't show up in the USA catalog. However I think the confusion is still because of Bilstein's naming convention. This is what I have determined:

Mercedes Sportline = Bilstein Sprint (Euro) = Bilstein Sport (USA).... these are the yellow ones

Bilstien Sport (Euro) = Bilstein HD/Heavy Duty (USA)..... these are the black ones

Bilstein "Sportline" may be the same as "Sport" or USA/HD?

Regardless, the comparison by the USA engineer was with the Mercedes Sportline, and Bilstien Sport & HD (USA), which are apparently called Sprint & Sport in Europe. I'm still curious what the part number is which is stamped onto your Mercedes shocks & struts. You can find this if you wipe the bottom clean with a rag, and use a flashlight to read the numbers. Also, does your car not handle well? Why are you thinking of changing dampers?



Best regards,

__________________
Dave
Boise, ID
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!

I don’t think the sportline shocks are yellow. I think the sportline shocks are black and that they are Bilstein HDs or the Sachs/Bogg shock. I have Eibach Pro Kit springs with Bilstein HDs and it feels pretty darn good. I am curious about the Bilstein sports, because I don’t have them, but the HDs seem to be a good match with the Eibachs. The drop is really not very big with the Eibach Pro Kit springs. It is noticeable and it is an improvement, but there is still plenty of room between the fender and the tire. It is, at most, a one-inch drop even with changing from 3-bump to 1-bump pads. Just the 10mm change in pads should have changed the fender gap by 14mm, based on a previous post that I read, so the springs only changed the height by 1 inch minus 14mm in the front. In the rear, I did get almost 1.5 inches, but I changed the pads back to 3-bump to achieve a symmetrical drop. It looked like I had a dead body in the trunk before I changed the pads back to 3-bump in the rear. Now I think that maybe 2-bump would have been OK in the rear because the 3-bump pad raised the car much more than 10mm. As I said, I understand that the geometry of the suspension could cause a greater change at the fender-wheel gap, but I also added the K-Mac rear bushing to FIX the rear camber, so I’m not sure what came from the pads and what is from the camber adjustment. I am planning to go to 2-bump rear when I install the new swaybars, although he 3-bump really has given me about the same proportional level from front to rear as I had with stock. Now, however, the small differences at the fender/wheel gap seem very noticeable with the smaller gap.
I still want to know more about the Bilstein Sport vs. the HDs. I think they are valved about the same, but sports are for "dropped" cars. Drops can be anywhere from a few mm to 3 inches. Which shocks are really best for a minimal drop? The "progressive" springs are really a very minor change in height, so maybe HDs are really the best shock for the intermediate street modification with the Eibach Pro Kit springs. These are not radical track cars. I hope that HDs are best, because that is what I have. They will not ware out, because they have a lifetime guarantee, and they definitely have the valving to accommodate the increased, "progressive", spring rate. I want the best stuff, but it sure isn’t easy to figure out what to do. Now I am crazy about the swaybars. OE limo front and E500 rear seems to be the best you can get from Benz, but there is still a question about the steel they use to make the bars. Are the materials different? Clearly the Eibach front is larger, but it is to be discontinued so even if you could get the last pair of bars tomorrow, it would be hard to get new bushings in the future. Sticking to Benz OE may be a good choice. They will always have parts, except you can’t find the E60 bars any more and the limo bar has to be ordered from Germany. I am having fun learning all of this stuff and the people on these forums are awesome, but it seems harder than it should be to figure out what is the best combo for our car. It seems especially strange to have everyone unsure after the W124 car was in production for 10 years and it has been out of production for 8 years.

I wish I knew what to tell you.

Some clarification: The Bilstien Sprint ("Sport" in USA) shocks/struts you buy FROM BILSTEIN will be yellow. The Mercedes OE Sportline shocks/struts are not necessarily Bilsteins! They are probably Sachs, and they will be black, not yellow, because they are NOT Bilstein Sprint/Sport. The Bilsteins were based on the OE MB Sportlines.

Yes, the Sprint/Sport (yellow) Bilstein are very similar in valving to the HD's as mentioned in a previous post. They are designed for approximately 1.0-1.5in drop, I think. They will probably be better for a really lowered car than the HD's, which are NOT designed for a lowered car at all - they are designed for stock MB ride height.

On a side note, you could always just get KONI adjustables and forget Bilstein entirely. I had KONI's on my 2.5-inch lowered 300E with H&R's and they were great.


HTH,

__________________
Dave
Boise, ID
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!

to my knowledge the bilstein sportline *replacement* shocks were not available in Russia until 2003, and because of that i went with OE sportline. GSXR, i checked my numbers with numbers you have provided and they do match!!!

what i understood from bilstein catalogue is:

1)that bilstein sportline and sprint are two different shocks (at least im pretty sure that bilstein SAYS they are different ) because they have different part numbers and different price.

2)bilstein sportline shocks are neither identical to HD because they also have different part numbers and price.

if they were identical why would bilstein sell 2 identical shocks painted in different color with different part number and that cost different? the only possible explanation is that they charge more for repainting them yellow

as for my experience with ebachs and HD- well, my experience was kinda different. this combo might be good and comfortable on good roads (this is what i liked) but on large bumps and potholes that we have here in Moscow this combo is way too soft or the shock is too long, i was running pads 1 front and 2 rear and i always had that horrible "bang" sound when the suspension ( or the shock, im still not sure) is fully compressed on large bumps. This spring im gonna try #2 pads front and#3 rear with sportline shocks and i hope i will be able to decide what to do- either look for a shorter shock ( which bilstein sprint (sport US) probably is) or go with stiffer springs like HRs

i was also thinkin about KONIs but they cost twice the price of bilsteins here.

OE mercedes sportline consist of front shock made by SACHS and rear made by Bilstein? at least it was like this with my set of OE sportlines