samuel-h

Hi guys,

It seems that my 08 R350 is a little bit different from yours in the suspension, it's shock absorber with spring in the front and air suspension in the rear without airmatic, I'm not very sure if it's autolevelingor not.

I searched for a lowering project on this forum but have seen no appropriate lowering kits. Maybe John's links can lower the rear axle but the front needs another pair of H&R/eibach springs?

Is there anyone has the same suspension or any advice for lowering my car?

Thanks

Samuel

nanoera

It's like that since '06 for non-airmatic.
It should be autoleveling on the rear.
However after you lower the front with H&R, the rear needs to be lowered with either computer software or adjustable links.
XRX's thread
Some more info

Just about any shop can do the front. If your dealer is not willing to do the rear with computer, then you can do the airlinks.

samuel-h

Thank you so much nanoera. My suspension looks same as XRX's, it would be 2 methods to drop the car so far: shorter spring + star & shorter spring + link, what's better do you think?

I notice that yours is '06 R350 too, is it same in suspension? how did you do to the rear? it says for some Rs the rear will automatically follow the front that lowered by spring, it that true?

I'm going to do step by step from suspension to wheels, your wheels look the stock 18', lowering on the stock wheels should not affect comfort of ride, right? if so, I would love to upgrade them to 20' for a slightly stiffer ride.

So many questions... thanks again.

samuel-h

Sorry I was tooooooo careless, missed something important in your post before, lol...

nanoera

Mine rides on stock 17" with 235/65/R17. I would love to go for stock 18" for more rubber. I noticed some firmness which is helpful at highway speed. When digging through potholes, it does not response as concertedly as stock suspension, but still bearable. The most improvement is at cornering. No more nose dive after swap, but nowhere near nimble thanks to the long axle length. I don't think the ride would get too bad on a set of 20's. In case you go any further than that, just make sure you get forged ones if possible, or at least some big brand cast ones. I've heard some stories about bent 22's thanks to potholes.

samuel-h

Thank you for the information, nanoera. The local dealer confirmed that they can do the lowering of rear axle for nearly free, but they're not very sure if they have the correct lowering module or not, anyway I will try when I get the H&R spring for the front.

My plan is a lowering of 30mm both on the front and rear, by short spring and star, then 4 AMG wheels of 8.5J x 20" with 265/45R20 tyres, any comment?

bensitto

nice thread. I'll need this soon.

nanoera

I believe I lowered 29 mm at the rear, just to keep it a bit higher than the front. You need a level surface and tape ruler to get the height right. You should get same reading on both sides of the rear if your car sits level.

You can't go wrong with AMG. Are they forged?

choi000

Hi guys, I'm new here... just bought an '07 R350 and have been trying to figure out how to lower the rear of my car. I do not have the full airmatic suspension system so I had the front lowered with H&R springs... today I went to an independent MB car shop to have the rear lowered with the star diag program and the technician was not able to lower the car and have it stay in the lowered ride height permanently. The height would reset back to it's original height everytime he unplugs to program... he said he was not able to lock in the ride height and another MB tech at the shop said that I need the rear links to make the lowering permanent... he also said that the stock rear links are made of plastic and would eventually break under pressure. Anyone know how I can lower the car permanently with the star diag and can we verify if the rear links are actually made of plastic and would have a higher chance of breaking under increased pressure from have the car lowered? Thanks.

samuel-h

It must be some operation mistake when they lowered your car, theoretically star programing will have the ride height stay at any position. You can refer to nanoera and XRX's threads.

BTW, nanoera, I changed my mind of wheels as I have the source to buy a set of 19" AMG, two-piece same as ones on S65 AMG, they look smart, but the offset is 43, instead of the stock 67, will it be OK?

nanoera

I don't know much about the AMG wheels. But if all other specs are the same as R stock 19" then you'll probably need some 24mm spacers to avoid potential rubbing.

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no spacer needed. Positive offset goes outward from center of wheel.

jbernat

Wheels will fit I run et35 on 22s with brabus lowering springs and rods and have no rubbing. The lower the number the more the wheel will stick out the higher the more the wheel will sit in the fender

nanoera

Yes your are right. The less positive offset, the more it stick out. My comment was incorrect. If et35 is not rubbing the fender arch then et43 should be fine.

benzR350NYC

Do anyone suggest I change out the stock front struts and use aftermarket struts with the HR sport springs?

vanable

How many miles do you have? If you're already removing the front struts, and if it's in your budget... it's not a bad idea to change out the struts while you're at it. There's not many aftermarket options avl for the R... I believe there's a set of uprated Bilsteins from the stock units, but that's about it.

benzR350NYC

I just turned 94k miles. I found a set of bilstein struts to pain with the HR springs. The lower rate says about 1.75.. Also I purchased the links for the rear so I'm assuming the drop will be moderate at best and ride quality will not be sacrificed much. I'm running a 285/35/22 tires all season. I'm located in NYC so considering the roads here it's not a bad ride. Actually I find the ride the same when I was running my stock 19s. Seems like the steering and rear suspension adjusted to the 22in wheels