Ride Height - too high?
 

Hello,

I have an '87 300D. Since my front and rear suspension was rebuilt several months ago, my ride height seems higher than it should be. My mechanic said it seemed like the shocks were pushing up the car, and to see if it would settle. It may have, a little.

For a while one of my shocks was leaking, and somewhat recently the ride was VERY bad in wind (noticed this because I drove from TN to MT). Two independents could find nothing wrong except suggest shocks that were somewhat weak (Bilstein Comforts).

I replaced the rear shocks last night w/ dealer shocks (Bilstein). The ride high is a bit higher now. The left and right rear of the car is approximately 1/4" different too (was before and after shock install).

I'm wondering why my 124 might be so much higher than so many other 124 cars. Before the suspension rebuild, front and rear were sagging enough that everything looked OKay. But since, it seems to be "too high". I can clearly see the rubber mount on the rear shocks standing up several feet away from the car...

Any thoughts, ideas?

I have everything stock on this car and would like it the way it came from the factory.

Thanks,
Brian

Does anybody have any ideas as to why I can change my differential fluid without a floor jack? The ride is REALLY that high!

My mechanic today said it was the highest riding 124 car he's ever seen. Only thing he can think of is springs - maybe they were replaced in some previous work before I purchased the car....


Thanks,
Brian

I know exactly your concern. I have a '91 300E that is too high as well. In the front, I can easily put my fist between the tire and the fender lip!

First thing to check are the spring collars. Look for the little bumps around the edges. It is my understand that the front rubber spring collars range from one-bump to four-bumps, the rears range from one-bump to three-bumps. The more bumps the greater the thickness of the collar and the increase in ride height.

I did notice that when I installed the front and rear Bilstein HD's that it seemed the car was higher. I am suspecting that Replacement Bilsteins have a greater gas pressurization and actually lift the car, sometimes slightly, sometimes to a greater extent.

I have learned quite a bit about auto springs so far. Not only do they supply a ride height and resist a load, but they also supply compression resistance and to a lesser extent an extension rate.

How many bumps on each of your spring collars?

Three lugs in rear, two lugs in front.

Thanks,
Brian

My suggestion is to consider changing out the spring collars, reducing the the front and rears by one bump, respectively.

I have to say that all of this seems weird to me (not your car specifically) but why are the cars rising after replacing the shocks.

I've checked around and the supposedly technical reasons for ride height relating to US cars is have the bumpers match the "Federal Bumper heights". I know that the European and outside US spec cars are almost lower. I have seen this in Germany, personally.

Additionally, I have learned that the "ngle of the suspension arm" is the way to measure proper ride height. In otherwords, the car on a lift which supports the wheels, is used to raise the car so that one can measure, for an example, the front control arm in relation to the sub-frame it is mounted on. Same with the rear.

In searching through the threads on this site I have found several references to how many "bumps" front and rear, and also one member actually measure his car's height at the rubber jacket pads, behind the front wheels and ahead of the rears.

Here are some threads regarding this topic:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/tech-help/30159-suspension-height-91-300e%3B-meaurements.html?highlight=bump+spring


One member contributed these measurements before and after doing the "sportline" suspension mods:

Body Height

Before:

Rear - 8" (Ground to rubber pad on bottom of rocker panel in front of rear wheel)
Front - 7.5" (Ground to center of hex bolt under rocker panel behind front wheel)


After:

Rear - 7.75" (Ground to rubber pad on bottom of rocker panel in front of rear wheel)
Front - 7.25" (Ground to center of hex bolt under rocker panel behind front wheel)

The above section can be found at: http://www.peachparts.com/sportline_suspension.htm

I used two key words in searching: bumps and 124

Haasman

I took measurements of my car.

From the ground to the bottom of the jack pads

LF 8 3/8" RF 8 1/4"
LR 8 7/8" RR 8 7/8"

From the ground to the bottom of the fender wheel well

LF 27 1/2" RF 27 1/8"
LR 27 7/8" RR 27 1/2"

Fronm the ground to the indent in the lower moulding

LF 14 5/8" RF 14 3/8"
LR 15 1/8" RR 14 15/16"


Both this car and my parts car have the same spring pad lug configuration.

Thanks,
Brian

Brain- "From the ground to the indent in the lower moulding" what indent? Be a little more specific here and I will go and measure my car as well.

In 1990? they changed the moudling, yours is different so we can make no comparison.

-brian