Hi All,

Suspension and tyre questions with a difference.

My father in law drives on bad dirt roads every day to and from work in his 1989 230E. The car handles well enough when the road is dry but slides out and battles when the road is muddy and wet.

He cannot afford a 4x4 or similar vehicle and the Merc is in great condition besides needing regular suspsension work (understandable!!).

1 - Suspension
Is there a way he can raise the suspension for slightly more ground clearance? Has anyone done or had experience in this? Having the ride height adjustable would be ideal so that he could lower it for tar road driving.

2 - Tyres
He uses the normal specced 195/65/15 road tyres for his car. I thought if he would light truck or other commercial vehicle tyres on that are specced for on/off road that this should help with wet traction and hopefully he won't get stuck as much. Do you guys think this will help? The problem is these tyres don't come in 195/65/15. The closest I can find range from 195/70/15 to 195/80/15. What would be the highest profile that would work without scraping on the standard suspension setup? Of course if the ride height is increased then this shouldn't be a problem.

Any innovative ideas and advice are welcome.

Thanks,
Jase

You can raise the car with springs. MB always offered special longer springs for that type of road conditions.

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Thanks again for the info MB DOC. I called my local dealer in South Afirca and they don't have longer springs. They do, however, have thicker rubbers for the ends of the springs which can raise the ride height by up to 23mm. That's not too bad and may allow higher walled tyres to fit.

Anyone else with comments on tyres or other options for raising the suspension?

Thanks,
Jase