DIY - Coil spring removal & install
 

Well I tried doimg a search and I came up on a little info but it was unclear. It appears that I will be receiving some Vogtland drop springs soon (1.6") and I was hoping to save the shop labor $ and do it myself. I'm a shadetree mechanic with a pretty good selection of tools and stuff but am no expert... especially with german cars.

Anyways Can anyone tell me if it's an easy enough task to perform myself or should I save myself the trouble and take it in to a shop? I guess my main concern is spring compression and stuff. I will have to put my car up on the stands on my next day off so I can see what parts of the suspension to take loose. Honestly I haven't inspected my suspension much so I don't know what all is involved and what needs to be undone.

Tips/suggestions? Thanks!

You pretty much have to disasemble the front end on each side, steering knuckle, lower control arm, and coil spring. The spring is the most dangerous part. I would suggest that if you cannot get your hands on a really good stable coil spring compressor then for safety's sake I would let a shop perform the work. Those springs are under a lot of pressure and if one were to come out while removing the lower control arm it can literally kill you. There are a lot of spring copressors on the market but few are relly safe and the ones that are cost $$$$$. Try checking with a local parts house sometime they will rent them. Just my .02 worth.

Kevin, do yourself a favor and rent the proper compressor (Klann?). its available from Rusty, Performance Products, maybe MercedesShop. It makes the job routine (10 min. per spring). I just rented one a few months ago to lower my 300E. Also, for the fronts, you only need to support the control arm with a jack, disconenct the lower strut mount, insert the compressor and roll. Fine tuning by changing the spring pads only required the car to be jacked up. External threaded rod type compressors are difficult as they will enlarge the whole assembly and not allow it to move. The internal type availabe for free loan from Auto Zone would not fit into the ascess holes. BE SAFE! Hanno

You don't even need a compressor for the W124 rear springs...just 2 jacks, one under the control arm, the other holding the car up. Undo the bolts for the shocks, swaybar etc. and slowly let the control arm down...the spring will just slide out easy. Jack the arm back up, line up all the stuff and re-bolt.

Fronts are almost as easy with the Klann tool...don't need to take anything apart, just jack car way up and fully compress the spring with the tool and remove.

I couldn't believe how easy it really was.

I just rebuilt my whole front suspension
 

The other guys are correct rent a spring compressor from Performance products or somewhere else. You need one that is for mercedes coil springs. The spring is a smaller diameter coil and the coils are closer together than american coils. Plus the coils dont ride in a true vertical alignment but at somewhat of a bow.

I tried a typical strut and coil spring compressors but gave up. Once I rented the proper compressor the job went much easier and safer.

Also while you there you might as well rebuild your lower control arm bushings and replace the upper control arms and bushings as well. And also replace the lower ball joint since you will have the wheel assemblies off.

Good luck.