lewylou78

Anyone on here running Eibach Sway Bars on their W204?

I just purchased a new 2010 C300 6-spd Manual, but noticed a lot of body roll during the test drive. Nothing some lowering springs and swaybars can't take care of, but I noticed that only Eibach has a kit, surprised H&R doesn't have any sway bars for the W204.

Azn_C300

I have em. Great item. I asked H&R if they were going to come out with a set and nothing was planned for a while.

lewylou78

Cool, thanks for the reply. I like Eibach products.

Were they easy to install?

Should I go with Eibach Pro-Kit springs to match the sway bars or should I get the H&R Sport springs (like most people on here have)?

Sportstick

I am . An outstanding mod which really helped reduce roll without negatively affecting ride quality. I did not touch the springs, as I thought they were well calibrated for the vehicle, and I have no interest in changing suspension components just for the sake of lowering the ride height appearance. Now, here's the issue....the front bar installed very easily in less than an hour. The rear bar requires dropping the rear subframe (Eibach, MB, and tirerack all agree on this...no way around it), estimated at about 3 hours of labor, which is more than the cost of the bar itself!! So far, I have the front bar in and the rear bar from the kit is still new in the box. But, even the front bar makes a great improvement....less roll and quicker steering response. Tightening up the front would be expected to result in increased understeer at the limit, but I found that unless really pushed aggressively, the car does not plow, and then, only slightly. I am debating whether to ever install the rear bar at $300 in labor alone......

If you are really concerned about handling and not just making the car look lower, try the bars first before doing the springs. And, the front bar has two attachment points...use the closer-in attachments for greater anti-roll force.

lewylou78

Wow...thanks for the info.

Sucks that the rear bar is a pain to install. Good thing is that Eibach sells the bars separately so I will try the front one first. I think I will also do springs though, I've never been happy with a stock suspension on any car I've owned in the past.

I did some more research on another website and found out that the Eibach bars are only 2mm bigger in size than the stock sway bars on the sport models so I don't know if the bars make that much of a difference:

Front = luxury 25mm vs. sport 26mm (Eibach = 28mm)
Rear = luxury 16mm vs. sport 19mm (Eibach = 21mm)

kevinwithdabenz

curious as around how much do these cost?

Krytech

That's it?! I thought the stockers were thinner than that. I should crawl under the car with my micrometer and measure them. I bet that just replacing the stock rubber bushings with the Eibach ones makes a pretty big difference though. I'm planning on getting the Eibach set too.

lewylou78

Each bar (front or rear) is around $244 shipped, the full kit (front & rear) is $460 shipped. I did a search and www.ajusa.com seems to have them. Tirerack only has the kit for $450 plus shipping. I'm going to search some more to see if other places carry the bars.

The front one is part # 2578.310, the rear one is part # 2578.312, both front and rear are part # 2578.320.

I didn't check myself, but I was surprised to see only 2mm of difference on each bar. The front one is adjustable though so I'm sure that helps tighten things up.

I don't know if the C350 has the same size sway bars as the C300.

Sportstick

The front bar and bushings make a very good difference, not only in reducing roll, but also improving steering response. And do use the stiffer (inboard) attachment location on that front bar. This is one of the most satisfying mods I've done so far!

lingnoi

A DIY for those sway bars would be great. For some reason I couldnt find anything on my WISnet...

L

lewylou78

Yeah, I will definately go with the front sway bar and use the inboard attachment point to try it out. I think I will pass on the rear bar for now until I have a look under there to see how difficult it is to install. I'll see if I can make a DIY for the front bar at least.

Does anyone know if the rear bar is adjustable like the front bar?

Krytech

I saw them at ultrarev.com, they have the front kit for $232 shipped to MN. The F&R kit is about $429 shipped. They also have the full kit with springs (2578.880) for $624 shipped. Plus I saw something on their site that if you use Google Checkout you also get $10 off.

Sportstick

The rear bar has one attachment point.

The front bar almost doesn't need a DIY, it's so obvious from inspection. I watched the tech do the job, and once the underbody cover is removed, the rest was very straightforward, with one exception. The clamps around the bushings are re-used, and they do not come apart simply, as a hollow rivet holds each clamp together, so the rivet had to be drilled out.

You may be tempted to think you can extract the original rear bar and insert the new one cross car, by removing a wheel....doesn't work due to configuration of the bar's angles.

lewylou78

Thanks for the helpful installation tips

I found a place online (www.autopartswarehouse.com) that sells Eibach springs, sway bars, etc. and the place has free shipping. Plus, use "summer15" at checkout and get 15% off your entire order. The Pro-Plus kit (#2578.880) can be had for $551.16 shipped.

Spec_Davis

Manf# 2578.320 with free shipping plus 15% is $382.00 shipped front and rear bars

FrankW

2mm makes a LOT of difference.

Krytech

That is REALLY tempting... That store has a good rating on resellerratings.com too, 8.89/10 for last 6 mo. 8.32 lifetime rating.

Thanks for posting that!

It must because everyone that has done it says it's night & day difference.

lewylou78

Yes it is, I just ordered some Eibach Pro-Kit springs from www.autoanything.com for $243 shipped, the deal was slightly better than what autopartswarehouse had.

I'll make a decision on the sway bars after installing the springs.

Krytech

I'm weak, but that was just too good to pass up. I had thought about doing just sways to start, then springs if I wanted but...

Full Pro-Kit Plus (2578.880) on its way.

kevinwithdabenz

which is better? eibach or H&R?

FrankW

they're about the same. the only difference is how thick you want the sway bars to be. they're different specs.

i have the eibach sways on my 203 which has the thickest bars available on 203 other than the Brabus front bars.

kevinwithdabenz

thanks frank, i should have been a bit more specific i was referring to the springs though. im interested in these now haha

Krytech

The Eibach and H&R Sports probably ride very similar to each other, the Super Sports are going to be a little harsher.

The Eibach's give a mild even drop. Front and rear drop is the same, 1.2" on the lux and about half inch drop on the sport models which are already lower than the lux.

The H&R Sports drop the front .2" more than the rear. 1.4" front, 1.2" rear - and again those are based on the lux models so should be more like .7" front and .5" rear on sport models.

The H&R Super Sports drop 1.7" front and 1.8" rear on lux or 1.2" front and 1.3" rear on sport models.

Personally I want a mild and even drop because I'm not trying to change what MB designed into the cars stance, so I went with Eibach. I'm also going with the Eibach sway bar kit.

rb23lb

Anybody do the sway bars with the super sport springs?

Anybody install the rear bar yet? Is it worth it?

pnoyworx

I will be getting front and rear installed. Just waiting on it to arrive. The rear is recommended more than the front, due to our cars caster, but doing the front as well will really wake up the handling. So far the H&R' Adjustable C/O's are amazing, rides really smooth and handles really well, it does such a good job that it actually amplifies how weak the stock roll bars are by a noticeable margin. I recommend the sway bars mod to anyone wanting to really wake up the handling of the car, since there isn't much options for our cars unless it's a custom suspension mod.