w123 sway bar upgrade?
 

Hello All-
late one night i was looking around for information, read that a w123 wagon rear sway bar is 77% stiffer than the sedans. Also said that it will bolt in with new mounts, ect... is this true? I searched here and found no info...

Or is there anything that anyone knows to improve upon the w123 sedan...

Im up for any job, but the front bar looks pretty menacing to replace for the fun of it if its not going to do much...

I have a lowered sus, 17" wheels, hd shocks, shock tower cross bar, and all new sus parts...but it is always to be a cruiser,this i know.

Thanks - Jake

I would guess the wagon has a stiffer rear sway bar because it is rated at a higher load (hence the pneumatic suspension).

However, have a care with stiffening the rear swaybar too much -- it is designed to allow more rear body roll intentionally. This is to introduce some roll oversteer under severe cornering for two reasons: It allows the driver more warning that the car is approaching the tire adhesion limits, and it unloads the outside front tire. On the W115 chassis, with the stiffer roll bars, it is possible to load the outside tire to the point it comes off the rim. Not a pleasant experience. The W123 and W126 chassis (and later ones, I supose) will have the rear end start to come around instead. This is much safer, and easier to recover from (just lift your foot -- this slows the car and decreases the slip angle on the rear tires). It also tends to cause the car to steer more tightly.

This is not a race car, nor a super cornering sports car. For that, get a Mazda RX or something similar. Save the Benz for comfortable high performance highway use.

Peter

Thanks for the reply!...A straight line cruiser is what this car is good for(and thats what i do 99% of the time), this i know and understand well...but a litle help in corners wouldnt hurt. i imagine that the adhesion problems that you noted could be compensated with my lower profile tires with wider grip (235/45/r17 rear) compares to stock 14s.


on the key ring sits access to...
2 mustang gts
1 police interceptor
68 mustang gt
68 chevelle ss
corrado vr6
turbo cavalier
6 banger mustang
23 t-bucket w/350
svt focus
so there is plenty to play with here (some better than others in corners, for sure)

Less chance of running the tire off, for sure, but they must ride hard as all getout.

Watch for potholes, tire and rim are both very susceptible to road impact damage in that size!

Peter

Hello Peter
My father thinks is a bit stiffer than it should be, and i would say that the ride is that of a newer car...firm, confident with a comfortable touring setting. It is my summer car and for the past three years my rolling stock has been good to me...knock on wood.
Thanks - Jake

Jake

If you have never replaced the front or rear sway bar bushings, this is a good thing to do. It definitely contributes to flatter cornering and control.

The rears are simple to do. The fronts take a bit of work, but in my estimation, welll worth it. Just about any 123 body is long over due.

Haasman

Hello Haasman
The car recieved all new suspension rubber (and parts) except for the rear subframe bushings and if it counts I have not yet replaced the differential mount either. -Thanks- Jake

Good to know.

As a general rule of thumb, sway bars should be upgraded together. Another words, if you increase the rear, the front should be also.

The idea is to have balanced roll resistance front and rear. Adding just a larger rear bar can often create undesirable handling characteristics, sometimes dangerous. It is one thing to have excellent, firm cranked-on hard handling in the dry, but that same setup in the wet can be a nightmare waiting to happen.

Increasing just the rear bar will add greater rear roll resistance but also reduce the built-in forgiving handling traits of all Mercedes-Benz (tad bit of under-steer).

Often simply experimenting with tire pressures can enhance minor handling characteristics.

Haasman

Thanks for the info...
I would like to upgrade both front and rear, but it does not look like there are any options for the front...
The more it seems the more I most likely will leave it be, the stock sedan is 13mm and the stock wagon is 15mm with no change in the front to my knowledge... it does want I want from it now and I dont want to make it unbalanced.
Thanks - Jake
My buddy has a corrado g-60 thats so stiff the inside rear wheel will lift in a tight turn, thats not at all what im looing for, just better than stock...ala-sportline,amg feel.

Instead of replacing the sway bars would it help to switch to polyurethane bushings in place of the original rubber on the existing sway bars?

bumping an old thread,
looking for the same type of upgrade myself, about to build a sleeper-daily and want to keep stock self-leveling system and ride quality, but a tad stiffer cornering.

is there anyone else that has upgraded, both back+front swaybar is important, the car is an old 280TE so supposedly i already have the tad stiffer front swaybar.

any new input now 12 years later when people have started to use the w123 for racing and drifting a bit more, oversteer is not a problem anyhow. and the car will probably sitt on 225 wide 16" in the back and 205 in the front.

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