Hello All,
My 1986 300E looks like it's on stilts. There must be 2" between the tire and fender well. I want to drop the car to say Sportline clearance levels. Is this possible to do by only changing spring bushings; or must I take the H&R/Eibach route? My only interest is improving the appearance of the car. I DO NOT want to severly degrade the ride quality that I currently enjoy.

On a different note: what would prevent one from machining their own rear camber track rods? If you machined the body from solid 7071 aluminium stock and threaded good quality rod ends into either end, would you have a good substitute to the OEM version? It seems this would allow camber adjustments for vehicles which are lowered beyond the adjustment capability of the OEM camber track rod?

Thanks,

Joe Slemp

Joebeetle,
After considering making my own camber adjustable links, I've run into many items to be considered.
One, to lessen the negative camber induced by aftermarket/lowered springs either the bottom arm has to go in, or the top needs to go out. If you are using an aftermarket wheel
or wider factory, you lessen the fender clearance with the top out method. The bottom in is the spring carrier etc, and would be very hard to do. It could be done by removing the inner bushing, shorten the arm and rewelding the bushing onto the arm. Then you could make the top arm adjustable. The easiest way to do this is to cut the inner bushing off and weld a steel threaded sleeve onto the arm and using a teflon male rod end with a jamnut. Keep in mind that the link holes on the subframe are all metric, and it's hard to find metric rod ends! So if you use 1/2", you can drill out the former
8mm. hole to fit. It would be best to have a spare set (used?) to play with in case there are errors in the fitment.

By the way, I also have a new set of Eibach
springs for a 124 for sale, $225.

I don't remember where/when but Benzmac wrote about changing the spring rubber to lower a car. They come in all sizes from the dealer and 5mm will drop it 1/2". I set my 190/5.0 up by using conveyor belting as shim stock to set the height. The stuff is tough!

Good luck,
TobiasMB
300SE
300CE
190/5.0

TobiasMB,

Thanks for the follow-up. One source I've found for metric rod ends is: Durbal, to be found on the WWW @
It looks like quality stuff.

Thanks,

Joe Slemp

Joebeetle,
If you would like to lower your car for looks and/or handling but must keep the ride you may want to consider a full or partial Sportline conversion. Partsshop can set you up with anything from springs/shocks to the full conversion. All parts are the OEM sportline parts that would be appropriate for your car. Just something to consider.

Lee

The factory sportline spring are the way to go , somewhat lower but still a good ride.
Mercedes didn't make any provision for adjustment w/sportline option, so you should be ok too!