Thanks for the replies. The w201 in question doesn't have sls- but the spring pads would have a similar effect on both vehicles, I think. There is a change in ride height (or fender height) depending on the spring pad used, and like MTI said- its NOT 1:1, due to the geometry of the suspension components. Despite installing a set of "lowering springs" my front end is sitting 2.5" higher up front than in the rear after an increase of 1 size spring pads all around.

After fiddling with the numbers (and I thought/hoped I'd never use algebra again...) it looks like in the REAR there was close to a 1:1 change resulting from the spring pad change- 40mm drop from the springs plus 5mm increase in spring pad- and I'm sitting just under 24" compared to the original 25."

Up front tho- I'm baffled. I've spent HOURS trying to find info on this- and have come up with nothing. The only thing I found was on a euro board- where they described an estimated 2mm change in height for every 1mm change in spring pad thickness. This would give an estimated 10mm change in height for a change in 1 size of spring pad. That wouldn't account for the drastic increase in ride height in the front of my 190 though....