I'll be swapping out the stock shocks/struts on my w124 for Bilstein sports and will be doing it myself. Just wondering if you guys have any tips or precautions to save me any possible headaches/repairs if I happen to mess it up. One serious question though, are the shocks and springs independent of each other? In other words, the shock/strut does not keep the spring compressed right? Just want to prevent a spring from flying out from the car when I remove the shocks. Otherwise, the swap looks pretty straightforward. thnx in advance.

Maybe you've already researched this - but aren't Bilstein Sports supposed to be for lowered springs? And Heavy Duties for existing springs? Not sure about this but it's worth checking on if you haven't already. Someone here will know. The job itself is no big deal - a search should turn up quite a bit of info.

yeh i have the hd's right now, but just installed vogtland lowering springs. hence, the switch to bilstein sports. thanks for the heads up tho.

This is an easy job as long as you have a floor jack and jack stands. Support the car on jackstands under the subframe under the firewall area just behind where the subframe turns up.

Support the lower control arm with the floorjack with the wheel removed.

Good luck,

thanks larry.

is this a simple replacement process? i.e. is it just undoing the upper nuts from the struts in the front and the shocks in the rear, undoing the lower bolts, and swapping in the new components for the old ones? the upper strut mount in the engine bay is part of the car right? i simply undo the bolt from the piston rod, pull out the strut, and slide in the bilstein sport? some of the posts that i searched on this forum seem to hint that i need to take out this strut mount.

This is not a good idea. Place jackstands under the front control arms and let the weight of the car keep the springs compressed. I wouldn't trust a floor jack to keep the springs compressed any more than I would crawl under a car only supported by a floorjack.

Duke

excuse my ignorance guys, but this being the first time ive worked on a mercedes, im a little cautious. so you're saying that the front HAS to be supported by some means to keep the spring compressed when i remove the strut. so the strut holds the control arm in place and consequently keeps the spring "in place"? secondly, are the rear shock assemblies similar in design as the front struts? in other words, will i have to keep the rear compressed as well when i remove the shocks to prevent a spring from flying out? sorry for all these questions. only other car ive done suspension work myself on is a vette, and those leaf springs are completely independent of the shocks and have no chance of taking my head off.

The floor jack is simply used to SUPPORT the control arm. What's the difference whether it is supported by a jackstand or a floor jack as long as you don't actuate the floor jack?

Actually when I think about it, I don't think I supported the car on jackstands. I simply placed the floor jack under the control arm and raised it enough to remove the wheel. Then I removed the nut on the top of the shock shaft and the bolts from the spindle and removed the shock leaving the strut mount in place.

It's really not that difficult doing it this way. The hardest part is getting the front shock compressed to get it in place. I can't remember how I did that. Maybe I have to retract my statement about actuating the floor jack. Maybe I raised the shock into position with the floor jack after bolting the bottom in place. I don't remember, but I never used a spring compressor. I've replaced them three times, but the last time I might have done on my two post lift, I don't remember.

Doing it on a two post lift with a transmission jack would be easiest. With a transmission jack to raise the control arm it would be much easier.

When I'm doing something like this, I just analyze as I go and do it.

Good luck,

I would also check the upper shock mounts and replace if necessary.

Haasman

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