Raising the Car!
 

Hello Guys Please Help Again,
JoeinNigeria with you, I have got to find a way to raise my beautiful 1993 230E I imported to Nigeria, taller rims, taller tires, some kind of spring rubbers in the coil springs to get this car above the ground. The road conditions are so bad, any quick ideas please??

Capt. Joe McGlynn

How high do you need to raise it?

The first thing that comes to mind is thicker spring pads.
That is probably the cheapest way to raise your car, although it may only be by about a cm or two.
You might also be able to go with 80 series tires, but you would have to make sure they don't rub anywhere, plus your handling would suffer a bit. But then again, it doesn't sound like you will be driving on a paved highway either.

...that's all I can think of, that's quick and cheap.

-Larry

Raising the car!
 

I need to raise the car at least 4 inches do to road conditions, handling, is not even a consideration. We normally do 65 Kph tops speed!

Thanks!
Joe

Interesting problem.
Ideally you would get longer springs, and longer shock absorbers to go with them. Readily available for trucks, of course, but not so common in this case.

At some point, you would be beyond your camber adjustment range. Not sure if you could get 4 inches or not without modified control arms or control arm mounting points.

Taller tires has potential, though your speedometer would not be accurate, and at some point your gearing would be higher.

Perhaps you could "augment" the fattest spring pads a couple of inches with a truck part that is often called a "budget boost" pad, or "BB" for short. 2 inches is typical on these. I can imagine one designed to fit some trucks that could probably be fit onto your MB with minimal modification. You would not get any extra travel, but you might net around 3 inches of extra height over stock with this combination. Not sure on the camber, as I mentioned, though at 65kph on dirt, would you even notice?

Now if you did this, the downward travel would be shortened. It is unlikely you could get longer shocks for it (maybe, who knows?). However, it might be possible to fashion a 2 inch (or more) spacer block to bring down the strut mounts accordingly. Downward travel is useful on rough roads.

Perhaps a combination of some suspension lift and somewhat taller tires would give you the clearance you are looking for.
Best of luck!

4" is a lot.

If I were you I'd be thinking about trading that 230E in for an off-road vehicle rather than turning it into an off-road vehicle.

IMHO, when you get that much higher you run into all kinds of new challenges to deal with from the resulting angle differences that make it a significant undertaking. What does everyone else there do/drive?

Mercedes makes springs "for countries with gravel roads" that raise the ride height. Different shocks and struts are probably required. I do not have specifics on part numbers, but possibly a dealer may.

HTH,

Raising the Titanic!
 

Okay here goes,
As we speak I am having my driver change the 195/65 R15 tires upgraded to 195/70 R15 or 205/75 R15's.... Also the boys are going to pull the factory spring pads out and use a replacement part that I am told will raise the car, this is a NIGERIAN modified part! I will let you know how the job turns out if and when they finish later today.

Over the last couple of years the infrastructure here has been distroyed, an 8" to 12" gully in a well traveled road is not abnormal! The reason we picked the 230E is that spares are abundant and the local fellows have some knowledge and experience on these cars. But one must always be careful of the FAKE spare parts that seem to be rampant in Nigeria.

Thanks for all the ideas!!

Joe McGlynn
Port Harcourt, Nigeria

I had a buddy that spent several years in Nigeria. He left just as things got bad with the War. Good luck.

According to my calcs:

The 195/70 will net you about .5cm in ride height.

205/75 about 1.35cm

Your speedometer will be off, but obviously not a big concern...

I bet there is room to go even taller on the tires, if they are available.

We are up!!
 

Here is the scoop!
Driver got back an hour ago the car is in mint condition, however now it has 4 extra inches of ground clearence, without the new tires ( 205/75 R15 ) they will be here tomorrow, and should add another 1/2 inch!! You can actually crawl completely under the car without jacking!! It actually looks okay, just taller!

Joe

Oh, by the way, the entire job (4 men all Day) plus parts and tip, $133.00 US dollars, the dunlaps will cost me another $240.00.
:rolleyes:

Install Bilstein HD shocks and struts.

They will raise your car. Most of the guys who have installed the HD's, myself included, have noticed that the car sits noticeably higher, especially in the front.

U.S. models come equipped with what Bilstein calls "comfort" shocks.

Parts of the world with bad roads, like South America, came equipped from the factory with HD's.

Most guys on this site that replace their shocks / struts replace them with the HD's because it gives the car a sportier ride due to the faster rebound rate.

Those that want to lower the ride height of the car install Sportline springs and sportline shocks / struts.

Hey, congrats. How about a pic of the taller E?

Picture of the Car!
 

I want to post some photo's, Not sure how too?

When you post, use "attach file", towards the bottom of the page.