I think those twelve point bolts for the lower, front shock mount are 10MM. I have never had to grind down a wrench for this. I just turn the wheel back and forth to get to them alternatively.

There are many more shock choices for the 123 cars than there are for the 124's.

I have found that the KYB's for the 124 cars are junk. They not only are short lived, but before they play out, they are like having steel rods mounted in their place.

For the 123 cars, or any MB, you can't beat the Bilstiens, but they're pricey. Since these cars have just plain old shocks front and rear instead of the front struts of the 124's, I had good luck with the Performance Gas shocks from Sears back when I drove the 123's alot. The problem is that I don't think Sears has them any more. I was in the Sears Auto department the other day and the only shocks they had on display were Monroes.

I bought a set of Performance Gas, lifetime guaranteed shocks for my 240D early on and got quite a number of free replacements thereafter. They worked well and were certainly economical given that I put over 500,000 miles on the car. The poor people at Sears had no idea who they were selling them to.

Good luck,