I have a 94 E420 which I purchased about a year ago. Although I am not much of a do-it-yourself person when it comes to car repairs, I try. I currently have a 225-45 Z rated tires on them - they came with the car but I am planning on chaining them to a H rated tire for lasting use.

The car is lowered using Eibach springs (exactly what model they are, I don't know - again, this was something that was done to the car by the previous owner.) The other day, I noticed that the front passenger side is lower than the driver side. The gap between the top of the tire and the fender is siginificantly lower on the passenger side than the driver side. Without measuring it, I would say that the passenger side is about 2 inches while the driver side is about 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 inches.

I don't know why I've never noticed this and I don't know exactly what the problem is. My question is this. When I bought the car, the owner also gave me the original springs. I am now thinking of putting the original springs back in and take the Eibach springs out. Would this fix the problem? Also, will the factory setup be okay with 17" rims? I am not really familiar with this but it is my understganding that putting a larger rims on a factory springs may cause too much stress? I believe my car originally came with a 15" rims (which unfortunately I don't have any more.)

Lately, I've been noticing that when I cruise at/above 60-65mph, the streering seems to shake - I am now guessing that perhaps the uneven-ness of my car is causing this shake.

Any advise would be very appreciated.

My guess is the rims are out of balance or out of round...either way you need to take the car to a good tire store and have then inspect the wheels and the tires. If nothing is wrong then have then re-ballanced and mounted. Sagging will no cause shaking. Eibach springs have been notorious for this sagging some people experience it some don't.

Thanks for the advice. What causes sagging? Is it just the spring? I still have the original springs - should putting these original springs help? Also, can original suspension setup take the 17" rims?

The way I understand, changing just the springs (and not shocks) is not a good thing? This modification was done by the previous owner so I didn't have much saying in that. Should I worry about sagging? Is this a problem that I want to fix?

I will look into balancing the tires, etc. The shaking of the steering seems to be come only when I drive the car above 65 or 70. At low speeds, I don't feel any shakes.

Thanks

Feeling the shakes at high speed is definately a balance issue. You might have lost a weight. Sometimes people throw on some old wheels they have sitting around when they are selling a car and never bother to have them balanced correctly for the new owner.

If you have eibach springs on then you will have to take out the original shocks eventually and replace them with bilstein sport shocks or similar. You could try HD bilstein shocks but even they are not designed for shorter springs.
In the August issue of european car there is a really interesting article about Eibach and how customers always end up pairing the wrong type of shock with their springs and wonder why the ride is not perfect.

The sagging is sometimes caused by the spring but I would have my front end checked just in case. Also check your spring pads.

The original suspension setup can take 17". I don't like them personally but if you like the look then they work easily, they don't add anything extra to the ride of W124 IMHO.