Suspension Upgrade On My 300E - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

300EVIL · #1 10-17-2003, 09:44 PM

Hmmm,, what's in the boxes......

300EVIL · #2 10-17-2003, 09:46 PM

A whole bunch of Performance Mercedes Suspension Parts!!

Here is a list of the parts you see in the picture below:
eibach front swaybar
eibach rear swaybar
eibach front/rear swaybar bushings
eibach front/rear springs
1-bump spring pads
koni adjustable shicks/struts
sportline rear sub-frame mounts
all the rear links and bolt kits
lower ball joints
strut boots and bump stops
Goodrich SS brake line kit
and....
a set of Jet Hot coated calipers rebuilt by me!

I still have a few other parts I am waiting on such as: Strut tower brace, rear camber adjusters and poly shock mounts from MRP. Strut mounts, and a few other tid bits.

300EVIL · #3 10-17-2003, 10:12 PM

Here is a pic of the diameter of the middle part of the front swaybar. Almost 28.5!! This bar is cool!

300EVIL · #4 10-17-2003, 10:14 PM

Here is a pic of the ends of the front swaybar, almost the same as the center. I cannot wait to install these suckers!

300EVIL · #5 10-17-2003, 10:17 PM

here is a picture of the poly bushings and bushing grease which were included with the swaybar kit. They defenately look Heavy Duty!

omegabenz · #6 10-18-2003, 11:13 AM

Hello Adam,

Looks like a great project. If you are going to go through all that trouble, I would suggest also replacing the front metal link on the rear suspension. Also you can buy the lower control arm with a new bushing in it. And then you could take your old ones, clean them up real good until you get the Kmac kit, then install it into your old ones so that you can drive around with all new bushings. Also if you are going to take all the links off...You could put in new wheel bearings, but when you do that, put in the 500E rear dust sheilds so you can upgrade at any time.

If you rebush the rear, you should do the front at the same time, you might feel some imbalance. You can buy the front lower control arms with bushings and new ball joints.

I would be very curious to know how your car does with all that stuff.

I understand how it is when you have an idea to do something, then you say I might as well do this, I might as well do that...It makes a 1.5k project turn into a 3.5-4k project, but thats what makes it fun.

In my brothers 300D w124, we put in the 500E rear sway bar, 300E limo/e320 cabriolet sportline bar, and eibach pro lowering kit, with new links everywhere except the lower link and the subframe bushings, but they were not the sportline bushings. And it was an incredible improvement. We autocrossed it for fun, and it had huge body roll, then we decided to put on the sway bars. And it reduced it, it drives flat now.

Nice (Mitutoyo Calipers) are they 6 or 8 inches? I have a 6 inch, an 8 inch set, and a 24 inch set, they are all very nice, I use the 8 much more often than the six.

Last night, I lowered RolexBenz190e's car, but he had 2 bump pads all the way around, but I think he really needs 3 or 4 up front.

I would suggest getting two of everysize because sometimes each car will sit a little different, that way when you are doing it you can change it around.

Good luck, have fun, be safe,

300EVIL · #7 10-20-2003, 11:07 PM

Hi omegabenz,
Please excuse the delay... I have been extremely buisy. I am not sure what you mean by "front metal link" but I would be interested in replacing it if it makes sense.

The parts you have mentioned, such as rear wheel bearings, control arm bushings and even the whole front end,, tie rods and everything,,, were replaced less than a year ago. I am all good there!!

Yeah, this project started with just painting my brake calipers, then moved into rebuilding and jet hot coating them, then into springs, then into shocks and struts, then into swaybars, then all the other tid bits to make the conversion make sense..... This was a $50 project,,,,,,,, now it's a $3000.00 project.... Go Figure!!

I have a 6" digital caliper but the rest are dial. My dad was a machinist at one time so I inhareted all these precision instruments for my garage.

I am a little worried about the 1-bump pads. I am hoping I won't get stuck. If i need to, I will use the old 3 bump and 4 bump existing pads to make it driveable until i get the right ones. right now I am going to try the 1 bump pads all around because some people said they were happy with them. I am installing next week, I hope I'm prepared.
Thanks,
Adam

omegabenz · #8 10-20-2003, 11:13 PM

The more bumps you have the smoother the ride (spring pads) because they take up some road noise, etc.

All that work for 300E calipers...

300EVIL · #9 10-20-2003, 11:34 PM

So, Do you think I should highly consider going with the factory specified pads instead of the 1-bump pads???

The calipers were not that expensive to rebuild. In the long run, I wish I went with 500E brakes but I wasn't planning in that big of an upgrade until i realized where this little project was heading. I may eventually go with the 500E caliper upgrade but I'll stick to this set until my turbo system is complete. If you could shoot me some prices on your caliper upgrade, I would appreciate it.
Thanks Again,
Adam

omegabenz · #10 10-20-2003, 11:59 PM

When you are done turbocharging your car let me know, and Ill see what I can do about the brakes.

gsxr · #11 10-21-2003, 10:41 AM

Adam,

About the pads & springs: It depends completely on how low you want the car. I have to use the thickest pads (4pt/3pt, f/r) to get it high enough to where I like it. That's with Carat/Eibach springs. My ride height is 13.75" from the center of the wheel/star to the bottom edge of the fender lip, with a full tank of fuel. I'd prefer more like 14.0-14.25 for ground clearance. 13.25-13.75 looks sweet, but you have to be REALLY careful in parking lots with those concrete curbs (smack up your front airdam), and also dips entering parking lots, etc. To get the car level, you'll probably need the thickest rear pads (all aftermarket springs seem WAY too short for the rear, I don't know why), and then adjust the front to match. I set the car level with a full tank of fuel, it will lift about 0.25-0.50 inch in the rear with an empty tank. Install the springs, drive the car for a week, then measure & see if you need to adjust, and swap pads around as required.

About the brakes: If you just rebuilt your stock calipers, yeah, you could use a little upgrade there. IMO, the best bang for the buck is E420 brakes. They're cheaper & easier to locate than 500E/SL500/SL600 brakes, and use the same pads - same swept area, so the only advantage to the bigger stuff would be more fade resistance (not a big deal unless you race or autox.) It's not a cheap upgrade though. Figure about $250 for four calipers, another $200 for new rotors, at least $75 for new pads ($225 for Porterfields), another $75 for front splash shields & hardware, and let's not talk about what's involved with replacing the rear splash shields. For 300mm or larger stuff up front, tack on another couple hundred bucks, especially if you want the 320's. Full specs on all 124 brakes are here:

http://www.W124performance.com/docs/mb/W124/124_brakes.pdf

I bought all the stuff for my E420 brake upgrade, but I haven't had time to install them yet. Oh yeah - there MAY be an issue with the rotor hitting the lower control arm, requiring the use of a 1992-95 lower control arm (note in the spreadsheet that ALL the cars with the bigger brakes (294mm+), and the "6-cyl" spindle + hub, use a different lower control arm!!!) I'll see what happens on my '87.

jstadter · #12 10-21-2003, 03:49 PM

Adam,

When I recently replaced all the rear control arms on my 190E, the bolt kits did not include the sleeves required to shim the bolts in their mounting holes. You may want to investigate whether the 300E requires those sleeves, because if you take everything apart and don't have them, you won't be able to properly install the new control arms.

Jim

gsxr · #13 10-21-2003, 04:16 PM

Jim is correct - you'll need the sleeve kits for most of the new rear link arms. They're fairly cheap, thankfully!

300EVIL · #14 10-21-2003, 11:51 PM

jstadter and gsxr,
Thanks for the input, Fortunately I purchased my parts from
Phil at Mercedesshop's FastLane. He does a good job at making sure the parts for the job are included. All the necessary sleves were included with his rear link kit. Thanks again for the heads up! If anything else I might have missed comes to mind, let me know.

After some extensive research, I have decided to go with the 400E calipers front and rear.. I am still contemplating when I want to do this job and weather I should install my Jet Hot calipers or not. Does anyone know where I can get a good price on used 400E calipers??
Thanks!
Adam

ksing44 · #15 10-22-2003, 06:04 AM

Seeing the pictures and that impressive list of new suspension parts sure makes me feel jealous. I am especially envious of those giant bars. I would love to feel what they do to the handling of my car.

I wonder how long those swaybar bushings will last. I am just curious, because those Eibach bars have been discontinued for the W124 and I wonder if you will be able to get replacements if you need them in the future.

I won’t be much help to you experts, but I have had some experience with the spring pads. When I had the Eibach ProKit springs installed with 1-bump pads all around, like gsxr commented, the rear dropped a lot more than the front. I ended up switching back to 3-bump in the rear, but I kept the 1-bump up front. I am happy with the 2-bump difference, but I think a 1-bump difference may have been OK. From a lot of reading on the forums, it seems that most final modifications maintain 1-bump difference from front to rear. Since it is not a trivial thing to go switching the spring pads, it might be best to start with 1-bump front and 2-bump rear. With that set-up, you might get lucky and not have to go back under the car.