Greetings,

Been a while; sold my 300E 7 months ago, bought a '04 330i with ZHP package. But, my commute went from 60 miles/day down to 2.2 miles/day, so the depreciation machine had to go!

I happily picked up an excellent 75K-mile E420 Saturday morning in Salt Lake City, and drove it back in one day (885 miles) through blizzards from the Oregon border all the way through Snoqualmie pass to Everett, WA--500 miles on near-bald MXV4 Pluses in snowstorms, over 6-7 passes. Interesting. Not good snow tires! I used to ride bikes at breakneck speeds through those same mountains, and it was nothing as harrowing as this drive....I was praying to my patron saints of car control the whole way--Masten Gregory, Sebastian Loeb, Jean Alesi, and Nuvolari.....

That aside, its amazing to be reminded that the essential competence of these chassis is such that I will likely never miss my 330i, however great a handler it is--and it is! It just feels like a Tonka toy in comparison. It's shocking how cheap these W124s are for the amount of car one gets. Amazes me every time I drive them.

So, the E420 needs to be sharpened a bit. Track-ready suspension doesn't work on the street; one needs something a bit more supple for the real world. I do want firmer, stiffer, flatter cornering, but without turning it into a buckboard. It still needs to be somewhat supple going down the freeway, but I do want it to turn and burn when chasing my BMW club buddies in their 540is and E36 M3s. Well, it'll do that stock, but you know what I mean.

I've been through all the W124 suspension posts here, but can't find a consensus of the best overall compromise. The car will run on 17" X 7.5 AMGs with Goodyear F1 all-seasons.

Choices:

500E struts, Euro E420 Sportline rear dampers ( I think they're actually E320 Sportline parts), 500E swaybars, bushings.

-Or-

Bilstein HDs w. Eibach or H&R springs, 500E swaybars. Which springs' characteristics match the dampers best?

Then, there's the question of camber adjustment; I do not like too much negative camber. For the front, there's http://www.rdmtek.com/index.html , and for the rear, there's K-Mac or Speedybenz. I seem to prefer the all-metal approach of the Speedybenz links, as they cannot easily go out of alignment by turning in their holes. Is this wrong? Do the Kmacs ever lose their alignment by turning in the holes?

Oh yeah--a 500SL 2.66 rear end is going in, too.

Thanks in advance!

Kristian S.