I am in a strange situation. I love my car - 1985 Euro with 56K original miles. Looks great, fun to drive.
However, my wife hates it! She says it is too loud (I personally think that engine makes beautiful music, but to her it is noise.) and the ride is to hard. She wants me to sell it. I would rather not.
I am thinking of changing the struts all around. The back needs it anyway - one is slowly leaking. How would the ride characteristics change?
I called Bekkers. They said that because the rear is hydrolic, there is only one grade of strut available.
On the front, there are a few grades available and he can sell be the softest grade.
After I invest almost $1000 for the 4 struts, will I see an improvement? I am not expecting and I do not want a Cadilac ride, but, since I do not go racing, I do not want a race car ride either. Any comments and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks to all
Alex

akalmans,

I will really be surprised if changing to ANY shock/strut combination makes much difference in the ride harshness of this car. This is a no compromise car, it's designed to handle, not to compromise handling against ride, the springs, and swaybars have more to do with the ride harshness than the shocks.

My wife hates my Vette for the same reasons, but she knows I love it. I'm lucky enough that she loves me enough not to make me sell it.

Good luck,

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Larry Bible
'84 Euro 240D, 516K miles
'88 300E 5 Speed
'81 300D Daughter's Car
Over 800,000 miles in
Mercedes automobiles

Hold everything!!

Your problem isn't with the shocks/struts. It undoubtably is due to depleted pressure accumulators in the load leveling system. This system works the same as the station wagon or top "S"class cars.

There was recently a large thread about this system, refer to it.

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Steve Brotherton
Owner 24 bay BSC
Bosch Master, ASE master L1
26 years MB technician

akalmans,

Wow! It looks like Steve may have saved you, your car AND a divorce court bill. Steve is branching out from amazing tech information, into family counseling, and obviously doing a good job at them both.

Good luck,

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Larry Bible
'84 Euro 240D, 516K miles
'88 300E 5 Speed
'81 300D Daughter's Car
Over 800,000 miles in
Mercedes automobiles

Alex:

$1,000.00 for 4 struts? Bekkers has a complete suspension system (including rear self-leveling delete) for $898.00. This includes 4 sport springs, 4 sport shocks, and a self-leveling pump plug -- all from Sachs/Boge.

Hope this helps.

Brian

akalmans,

It doesn't sound like you need any struts or shocks. Sounds like you need to replace the accumulators and retain your factory leveling system. Sounds less expensive too.

Good luck,
Larry

Thanks guys!

Unfortunately, one of the read struts is leaking, so I need to replace it anyway.

When I called Bekkers, they said that I should stay with the self-leveling suspension, if I need ride quality over ultimate handling. The set up they have with Sachs, according to them, will keep the ride the same as it is now or make it even harsher. Do you guys agree with this statement?

thanks
alex