190sl sway bar install

Hi All,

I put an uprated sway bar in my 190sl this weekend. It made a great difference in handling and was pretty easy to install. I got the sway bar from S&S imports for about $190.00

Two questions for those of you who have done this. Did you put any lubricant in the sway bar bushings? I put silicone grease, not sure if that was right. Secondly, is there anything that can be done to the rear suspension?

Thanks,
Eric

[Jim Villers]

Eric ... The 25mm sway bar is a great upgrade. I did not lubricate the nylon bushings but silicon grease would not hurt anything. I am not aware of any rear end handling improvements. I have gotten a pair of aluminum brake drums from a 230SL that I plan to install shortly.

Keep thinking about Leadville. Robby and I are coming from Virginia and Bill will be driving up from San Antonio with his family. It would be nice to have one more mercedesshop poster in attendance.

Hi Jim,

I wish I could make the 190sl meeting in Leadville, but will be in Italy for a 4wk stone carving class.

I'll check into the wheels. I remember someone saying that there were some alloy wheels that would accept the hub caps with small modifications. Weight savings was like 10lbs a wheel. What model and where can I get those?????


Thanks,
E

[Jim Villers]

Eric … Four weeks stone carving … sounds like basket weaving for the new millennium. You academic types always seem to find an interesting escape from the day-to-day world.

I am not sure of the models that had the 14-inch aluminum disk wheels. I bought mine for $40 each from Michael Medill [info@mercedesusedparts.com] I have basically used them for the spare tires. Utilizing the small hubcaps requires the removing the "snaps" from your 13-inch wheels and installing them on the aluminum wheels. I didn't want to remove them from my old wheels so I use 230SL 14 inch steel wheels, which were designed for the small hubcaps.

I still have your beautiful "Grizzly Peak" photo as my wallpaper.

[Robby Ackerman]

Eric

I'm also using the 25mm front sway bar. I didn't use any grease in my urethane bushings. I thought a purpose of the bushing is to secure the sway bar and the grease would allow some movement of the sway bar.

The '63 230 SL has 14" steel wheels that your 190 SL hub caps will snap onto. the early '80s MB wagons come with 14" alloy wheels that I use. As Jim wrote I removed the hubcap nubs from my 13" wheels and installed them on the 14" alloys. Carl Lindsay in Richmond had a machine shop do his. The 14" alloys are 15 lbs lighter each than the 13" steel. I have 5 so I've reduced weight by 75 lbs which equates to adding 5 net hp. I also use the 190 SL front aluminum brake drums on the rear wheels. A savings of 4 lbs per drum.

Robby

[Jim Villers]

I'll add one more improvement that Robby made, hew cut one coil from each front spring. It lowered the front about an inch or so; really not noticeable unless he parks next to another 190SL. I think that it gives it a pleasingly aggressive look.

[bstreep]

OK, I'll bite. What would spending $200 on a new super-dude-dog swaybar do for me besides getting me looks from Mamma?

[hgupta]

Robby, how do your 14" alloy wheels look on your 190SL? Did you have them painted? Do you have any pictures?

[Robby Ackerman]

Yes, I painted them to match the car. They look good. For anyone unfamilar with the car they wouldn't know that it is not the original wheel. There are pictures of the car on a couple of websites. I don't know how well the wheels show up. The car is a green 190 SL.

http://www.mbca.org/virginia/


Robby

[Robby Ackerman]

another website is

http://www.190slgroup.com

if there is nothing there suitable let me know and saturday I could take a digital photo and post it to you.

Jim - how do yu think they look?

Robby

Mid-Atlantic Regional VP
190 SL Group

[Robby Ackerman]

I don't see any clear pics of the wheels on the web. The july/august issue of THE STAR page 28 has an excellent picture of the car and wheels with hubcaps. Also the Sept/Oct issue of THE STAR...without hubcaps.

Robby

[hgupta]

From what I can tell, they look great! It is hard to see them really well though, and I don't get Star magazine. How do those Alloy wheels compare in size to 230SL 14" wheels? There's a couple of Mercedes junkyards near me that have a lot of cars from the 80's (but none from the 50's or 60's) so can get a set of wagon wheels cheaper (around $60) than any of the 230SL wheels ($125 for 5 + $60 shipping). Maybe this should be in the wheels forum... My last car , a 1979 300CD had almost new tires at the time of the accident that were really nice. The car is in the junkyard still with its new tires. Would those tires fit the 1980 wagon wheels or the 230SL wheels? Either way I need new tires really badly, and I figure I might as well upgrade to 14" and buy tires once. By the way, that 190SL webpage is nice. All of your cars look amazing!

[Robby Ackerman]

The early 80s wagon wheel and the 230 SL wheel are the same size and you can use your 195 14 tires from your 79 CD on either of these wheels. I'll add that a 205 14 Michelin or Pirelli, if it is a P4000 or better...avoid the P400, give the car excellent handling characterists. Also the 205 has the correct diameter, the 195 being a few % less.

If you buy the wagon wheels they are painted black like a steel wheel but should be alloy. Check them with a magnet. DIY placement of the nubs to hold the hubcaps is not easy. I spent a half day doing it and had to redo one wheel because the hubcap was a bit off center. the early 230 SL wheel has nubs similar to the 190 SL wheel.

I'll send you a photo tomorrow. This setup looks good because the wheel & tire completely fill the body wheel openings. Infact I can't pass my knuckes between the tire and the fender, but nothing rubs.

robby

[Jim Villers]

If you are at all thinking of cost, the steel wheels will probably be cheaper and easier by the time you end up having a machine shop get your clips in the correct location. Five wheels for $185 is an excellent price. You might think of using a 13-inch wheel for the spare. Depending on the tire you select, it may not fit in the trunk well. I run 205/70/14 in the rear of my car and the original 6.40x13 in the front. I carry a 6.40x13 spare, as my other 14-inch tires will not fit in the trunk well. I bought a set of aluminum wheels but chose not to use them. My 205/70/14 MXV 4 Michelin tires appeared to "bulge" in the sidewall. The rim width of the 230SL wheel is 6 inches; the width of my aluminum wheels is 5.5 inches.

Robby asked that I comment on his car's appearance… his car looks GREAT. Understated beauty. He does not use trim rings on his wheels and dose not have the chrome on the wheel well "whiskers". This works very well with his car color (it would not look good with my black car).

[hgupta]

Thanks guys for the help with the wheels. I'll let you know which ones I end up picking. Are the alloys wider than the steel wheels?
Robby, Jim also mentioned that you chopped your front coil. How does that affect the handling? Right now my suspension is awful. The car always feels like it is going to tip over around the curves. The shocks appear okay...no bouncing...but they do make a pfffffftt (gas) noise when you push down on the car. I am absolutely clueless when it comes to suspensions.