Buellwinkle

Ditto. Ordered the AMG front bar today, should be in tomorrow. One odd thing, the dealer insisted that the bushings be part number 203-323-22-85 as they superceded part number 203-323-16-85 you used. I hope it's correct, last time they got the right bushing and wrong sway bar for the rear. The car handles great with the AMG rear bar only for the past few months. The front bar should make it that much better. Not too shabby for well under $200. Does this qualify me for the AMG nameplate yet? (only kidding).

young

box986, yup, you're right.

from lynn:
Sway bar sizes.
Stock (coupe?): 20 mm front and 13 mm rear
C32: 22 mm front and 16 mm rear
Evosport: 24 mm front and 19 mm rear
Eibach: 24 mm front and 22 mm rear.

mdp c230k

Well, Eibach springs and swaybars are installed and what a huge difference! The car is rock steady around turns and the ride is almost the same as stock. I'm very happy! Now I've got to upgrade my rubber because the new limits are higher than my stock 16"s can handle. The rear bar is enormous compared to the wimpy stock bar and the front is nearly as much of a difference. I had my buddy's MB shop install them while I was at work and he did it for me as a Christmas present so I don't know how long or how much but if anyone needs a shop in West Los Angeles I can recommend them. They ran into no 'special bolt' problems or anything else. Well, I'm going for a drive!

Buellwinkle

mdp c230k, won't the vibrations from the Eibach sway bars cause premature bearing failure on the motor, not to mention what it does to the steering rack, ball joints and chassis? Before the weak sway bar took the twisting and now other parts will be further stressed and completely fail while you are driving the car.


Just giving you the hard time you give me about pulleys!

tommy

Don't the Eibach sways have harmonic dampeners?

mdp c230k

Buellwinkle, very funny!
The legendary MB frame is more than strong enough to withstand the pressure!

mdp c230k

Yeah, thats what those little rubber thingies that hold the bar on are, right?

Buellwinkle

But the new ones have less rubber to allow the larger bigger sway bars to fit. Therefore more vibration, more crank bearing failures, it only stands to reason.

box986

Anyone else experience what I experienced(the 3 wheeling effect)?

Buellwinkle

I put the front AMG sway bar on (had the rear one on for a while) and it does make a big difference, really flat in the corners, no 3 wheeling effect like some experienced with Eibach and I've taken it to it's limits on a sweeping off ramp in a 4 wheel drift (I was actually surprised that the ESP warning light didn't come on). All in all I paid $180 for the 2 bars, tax and all at the local dealer and only had to wait 1 day for the front bars. Theoretically they are supposed to give me a 10% discount but I didn't get it and wasn't worth arguing about.

Pat

Hi Box986,

As you said, C32 has larger sway bar linkage bolts at the front. So the guy who installed my Eibach sways also needed to drill the front sways to get the holes big enough to fit the bolts.

As far as the ‘3 wheeling problem’ is concerned, I also noticed that the rear wheels spin a lot more (and the ESP light flashes) than before the installation of the Eibach sways, especially when I am turning onto an up ramp. It is really quite annoying as the car jerks (because the ESP cuts in) even with a very light throttle. I don’t know if one of the wheels is lifted as I didn’t have a chance to check that out. In addition, the front sways are now making some squeaking noise whenever I drive through a speedbump slowly. The guy who installed them had put plenty of grease/lubricants around the bolts and the bushings but to no effect.

I have thought of changing back to the stock AMG sway bars, but I am still searching for a set of much stiffer springs and shocks (I find the C32 too softly sprung compared to the old C36/C43) so that the thicker Eibach sway bars will not be necessary.

Feel free to e-mail me directly to discuss more about this problem.

Pat

P.S. Do you also have a Boxster?

Buellwinkle

Pat, one thing I found out is that they made various AMG sway bars in '02, the original set I ordered where actually the same exact size as the coupe set. Then I found the correct part number on the forums and got those and they were noticibly thicker. Since your's are out, measure them and compare them to what they should be, you may have had the thinner bars to begin with. I can tell you that my Coupe with the correct AMG bars is very flat in the corners, I don't even think I can make it bank more than a few degrees if that.

Pat

Hi Buellwinkle,

I have checked the parts no. on the AMG sways and they are the same as those posted on this forum.

My main disappointment with the C32 is with the stock AMG suspension which IMHO is too soft and is set up too high. I then tried a set of the Brabus. It wasn't stiffer at tall but at least it lowered the car and thus improved handling a bit (not to mention it looked much better). Finally I changed to a set of the MKB coil over suspension. It further improves things a bit but still not as stiff as the old C36 or CLK55.

Pat

box986

Pat,,,, I do own Boxsters before,, 2 in fact!

My ESP flashes a lot now too due to the rear sway bars and I wonder if it is only happening on W203 sedans since the bar was suppose to go on the coupe only?

The 3 wheeling is worse if you stoped at a sloped parking lot entrance/exit, one of the rear wheel/tire will be hanging in the air!

I was wondering if a set of longer sway bar linkages in the rear will help the problem by making the rear "softer"! Maybe we should email Eibach about this "issue"!

W203 Coupe owners,, are you guys experiencing the same problem?