shock and strut replacement

[ebennz]

i'm going to be replacing my shocks and struts with bilstein h.d.'s.

a friend will be helping me, he is very mechanically inclined, can anyone make a educated guess on how long it might take to complete this?

also wanting to verify, i will not need an alignment since i'm only changing shocks, right?

thank you

peter

[Glen]

It all depends on skill/experience of you and your friend. I would budget about 4 hours working at a leisurely pace.

If your struts/shocks are worn to the point that they are leaking AND if the car was aligned while in this condition, then you should have it aligned after replacing these parts.

My $0.02...

[stevebfl]

They are very simple both front and rear, hard to give a time.

Unfortunately the front struts on the 124 carry the camber loading and as such will always raise the camber if there was wear in the strut. If the last time it was aligned was when it was new then this should put you right back there, but if you have had it aligned with the old struts tilting as they will then the camber will change and with it toe changes tremendously. The rear shocks aren't such and won't change the alignment with the small exception that they might raise the car a bit. Gas struts hold about 75 lbs apiece. If the others were dead then the new ones will be like taking 150lbs of bricks from the trunk.

I prefer Bilstein Comfort setting shocks for normal use. They are the same price and will maintain the original ride. The heavy duty shocks are much firmer and serve no purpose with standard springs.

Peter,

I replaced my shocks/struts with HD's as well.

Assuming the experience would be similar to my '86 300E, it took me about 7 hours by myself, working with floor jack, two jack stands, and a hydraulic jack for additional safety (floor jack jacks up one end of vehicle, stands support, reuse floor jack for supporting control arm, hydraulic jack under initial center jack position for extra safety).

Consider that I have never done this on any car before, so if you have, your time with an assistant may be less than 4 hours. Haynes manual was my guide, along with the instructions included with the Bilstein's. Socket wrench kit and zip ties (for when you break plastic brake line fasteners) was all I required, along with patience to remove the interior trunk panels without breaking the plastic. Don't forget to put on the rubber strut bump stop like I did, because recompressing the HD once inside the wheel well is hell, especially when you're exhausted. Finally, the HD kit did not come with the accordian boots, so I had to get those from Mercedes before I installed the struts.

Official mercedes instructions say a front end alignment is necessary after replacing the fronts, but that is a point of debate on this site. My car has experienced no observable alignment issues since the installation.

Be prepared for the firmer ride. Very noticeable. I like it at times (freeway driving), tolerate it others (stop and go streets). A recent posting in another thread said a call to Bilstein indicated the Bilstein aftermarket comfort is 15% firmer than OEM Comfort (also by Bilstein), while HD is 30% firmer than OEM. If that is true, I might have flirted with the idea of doing the Bilstein Comforts. I'm not unhappy with my choice, but have no point of comparison, having never driven a 300E with fresh comfort shocks (my OEM's had 150k miles on them).

Interestingly, the car rides higher in front with the new struts. Why, I have no idea. I now have more ground clearance than a Ford Explorer, which I demonstrated to a passenger the other day by driving over a curb with no worry of undercarriage contact. It's not a priority now, but I plan to go with a thinner spring pad to bring the body down and inch or so. I'll post a picture here later to illustrate this point.

Let me know if you need any other info.

[ebennz]

glen,minman,steve

thanks for these replies and insight.

i ordered the h.d.'s to try to improve & tighten up the handling,plus at 114,000 miles the others were pretty much done.

i do have a concern about your comments on ground clearance minman.

perhaps these will "settle" some- mr brotherton what is your opinion?

if m.b. recommends a front end alignment, i'll do it. i love my m.b. and will certainly do my part to keep it up.

thanks, any other thoughts?

peter

[mbtjc]

I am not at ALL trying to go against Mr. Brotherton's expertise because I don't amount to a pile of flea s*%& in comparison, but from reading numerous other posts on this site, most if not all of them recommended the HDs for stock spring applications to get a mild upgrade in handling. I haven't upgraded my shocks yet, so I can't speak from experience, but I just thought I would point this out based on other posts. You may do a search and check it out.

[J.HIDALGO]

I ended up installing H&R springs because the front was super-high (about 3-4 inches from tire to fender) , the rear was not too bad. Unfortunately, I do not think the pads will help you. Although, my original springs were shot. Your situation may be different, I am just telling you my personal experience with HD. I like the way the car handles now.
Good luck!

See an example of my Monster Truck Mercedes below.

J.H., I'd be interested in your thoughts on the H&R/HD combo, since supposedly I should have gone with Bilstein Sport to lower, and lowering on the HD supposedly shortens shock life. I have no interest in any firmer ride than the one I have now. Comments?

[mbtjc]

Wow

[ebennz]

minman

i would die if i raised my front end that much. [sorry- no offense]

what can i do/should i do?

what would bilstein sports do with stock springs?

i don't want to buy new springs. what would different spring pads do [front only]??

dr brotherton- HELP!

peter

[J.HIDALGO]

I read and heard from different sources that the logic behind using Bilstein Sport vs HD with H&R's spring is that the Sports are shorter that HD. Since the H&R are shorter that stock springs, the "travel allowance" would be correct. The HD are the same height as stocks struts/shocks but firmer (Sports and HD's are equally firm). Therefore, they are already partially compressed with the shorter H&R springs.
As far as the look, my car looked very similar to yours when I first changed the struts/shocks only. After I installed the H&R's, there is one fingerat front, between fender and tire, and 2-3 fingers rear (1 and 3 bumps rubber pads respectively).
I do not have any adverse results (so far) with my current set up and it has been about two years, plus the Bilsteins are warrantied for life. What are you going to loose?
Since I was in the same situation as you are right now, I did not want to go to the same expense twice...Plus some people already had the same set-up with no adverse comments either.
If you don't like it too low, go with Eibach or Sportline springs with your HD's.
I hope this helped you!

[ebennz]

HELP

what can i do to avoid excessive front end height,short of going with comfort shocks??


PLEASE

peter

Peter,

No offense taken. My camera angle probably exaggerates the wheel well gap slightly, but it is about that bad.

FWIW, my car is running the maximum spring pad thickness all the way around, 4 bump in front, three in back. Dropping down to 1 and 1 would help, the debate is how much. One bump is 8 mm thick, three is 18mm, 4 is 23mm according to a post on this forum. And the effect should be greater since the pad is halfway between the pivot point of the arm and the wheel itself (also discussed in another thread).

My struggle is spending around $250 to just change out pads w/o changing the 150k mile springs. Yet my stock springs appear to be in great shape. Going with Eibachs may be a solution as well as J.H. suggests. But that's even more money I don't wish to spend at present.

So don't necessarily go away from the HD's if they serve you functionally. Just know that they may require some complimentary cosmetic adjustments.

[J.HIDALGO]

I am a DIY'e and I do not have the factory spring compressor but, I do have access to a lift. I know somebody in this forum has the "factory" spring compressor for rent that way, you can try different set ups. It is NOT that hard to change the springs yourself ( I bought mine used here, in the classified section) but IT IS potentially dangerous. I just took my sweet time. That may be one of your alternatives...Good luck!
On a different note, minman are those wheel the bellos? what size?Tires? how happy are you with them?
Thanks!

Anyone with HD's ever cut a coil from their OE springs to lower the front? Good or bad experiences?

Jeff