d1no

pic whoring :p

Sport brakes FTW

skittles

double lmao! besides its a merc its meant to be driven luxuriously (even if its lowered, just do it the right way) for you to appreciate the car and for people to see and appreciate your car.

LILBENZ230

My car isn't young enough anymore to just go bounding over speed bumps. Now when it tries to be young and hip it throws a hip out.

Nice looking car, d1no. I even like the Brembo paint job you've given the front calipers.. especially since it's honest. Looks lowered, right? I just can't imagine lowering my car. It seems so low already and I drive around Atlanta a good bit and that's rough on the car.

Rule Werks

Here's Black.

bdgdl08

The stock sport suspension is MUCH MUCH MUCH better than the stock, say, '01 suspension. I disliked our old '01 (240). The ride was horrible (even compared to the '99 CLK). It bounced around constantly. The newer sport suspension is so much smoother. If I still had the '01, I could definitely see lowering a bit.

d1no

yeah im lowered in the front.. like barely 1 finger gap..

skittles

+1!!! if i had the 05 above suspension i wouldnt have lowered my car anymore.. but i dint... i had the 4x4 look before..

krisv420

Do i just need to get H n R springs? or could i get my stockies cut? my front is more then 4 fingers seems kinda sad

skittles

dont cut the springs please... someone will shoot you... hahahaha! yeah! H&R! chutoyy in mymb is selling some for $50 ONLY!!!!!! he's located at sacramento so just pay for shipping. also i saw his drop in person. looks really good.

holycaoAMG

Wow, seriously did not know that! especailly for the AMG models, i thought they were all the same.

Oh and yes, imma agree with Karo, love the landscaping. lol

FrankW

sorry, but if you are going faster than 5mph over speed bumps in a parking lot you are an idiot.

krisv420

Black stands out more on lighter cars... Red looks better on black cars imo... color matches my tails... But i kinda wanna black out my tails but not the white part..

But im sure its a ticket waiting to happen

advans

frank is saying, this should be the ride height of any 2001-2004 W/CL203

krisv420

^^ you can see the nice rust color on your calipers... That ride height sorry to say looks mow ni**ed out sorry...

LILBENZ230

Strange. I wonder what made Benz lower the USA version starting with the 2005 models?

07 Benz

Lowering almost any car from stock ride height will improve the looks and handling… it’s just impractical and can’t be done here in Houston with the crappy surface streets!

mtnman82

Here's my '03 with the H&R springs F&R. I had #2 pads in the rear but put #4 pads in with the H&R's. Honest 2 fingers in the front. I think the '05+ ('04.5+??) stock setup is a tad higher but I don't think they're 3 fingers (maybe some of the '05+ guys can chime in).

I couldn't decide if I wanted the H&R's or the 05+ so I got both... Obviously I went with the H&R's. The stock sport setup is from an '06. If you want those springs (F&R) I'd make you a good deal on them (like $125 shipped, since you're in SoCal too?).

The H&R setup is stiffer, partly because I had to get struts/shocks to match. If I went with the stock sports, I was thinking I'd just stay with the stock struts/shocks.

Oh, and this thread is tempting me to break out the paint on my calipers too...

LILBENZ230

2 fingers on my stock 05, front and rear. Looks fine to me.

FrankW

i think the 2005-2007 stock height looks fine unless you slap on some 19's.

I have 3/4 to about 1 finger gaps all around on 19".

as for 07_benz said...it's not necessary about handling since sway bars would improve the handling heck of a lot better than lowering would, BUT lowering the car reduce the ride height which allow less air to travel under the car at speed which reduce the lift effect which in terms makes the car more stable at high speed.

as for why the 2001-2004 US spec W203 has those stupid looking ride height it's mostly contributed to NHTSA's bogus front bumper ride height rules. as for why the change...i don't know, but I suspect it's because of the introduction of the E90 in 2005. The lowered ride height and the AMG bodykit simply helped sold more cars than previous years for an aging platform.

krisv420

I parked next to a C230 maybe a 2007 from the rims i could tell... Anyways i was playing around with my car and looking at his car.. The c230 sits so much lower in the front.. his car had about a 2 finger gap or less... When mine is over 4.. My back was perfect with his a nice 2 / 1 finger gap.. I guess the front end on the older models likes to ride high..

So far ive had three people talk to me about my new brakes hahaha =P ( AKA caliper paint ) but they don't need to know that..


haha frank... I guess thats why my car feels like its going to take off like an air plane around 140mph hahaha

acr2001

I think we have some confusion here.
I didn't have parking lots in mind when I said this, but speed bumps on roads.
On an old fashioned speed bump I understand that you have to slow to nearly 5 mph.

The speed bumps where I live (NYC) are like this:
http://www.portlandonline.com/shared...e.cfm?id=83339

I can (but normally wouldn't) do about 20-25 over them without any rubbing or issues. I have friends with lowered cars and it is NEVER fun when they have to go over them (not to mention driveway aprins that aren't angled right). They have to approach these bumps at an angle or else scrape the bottom of their bumper. It looks silly and embarrassing. And no, the cars I'm referring to aren't insanely low, just what you might consider a normal drop.

As long as we're resorting to name calling - if you have to slow to 5 mph to get over the speed bump pictured in my link then you are an idiot because it's just not worth it! . And don't even get me started on potholes! If you live in a city where the roads and driveway aprins are smooth as glass then I agree, lower your car, it will corner better. Where I live, my jacked up (stock height) C240 4Matic is barely low enough. I know how ridiculous that is but it's true - we have insanely bad roads. A couple times when I wasn't paying enough attention I've hit potholes bad enough to bottom out the suspension and set off the crash sensor in my rear SAM.

W203E35

There are pros and cons to a drop and pros and cons to no drop. So calling someone an idiot because of a drop doesn't sound smart does it?

The real idiot is the person who thinks since he doesn't have a drop he can go over potholes at any speed then sets off the crash sensor in his rear sam

By the way i'm just bustin your chops a little ;-)

FrankW

we have plenty of those humps in some area. I don't and most of us not ghetto slamming the car don't have to slow down to 5mph to clear those. I can go over those at 10mph with ease. However I do want to slow down to avoid bottom out my suspension and risk of damaging anything. I drive the same way doesn't matter if I'm in my lowered C32 or my stock height C350 or the family beater stock height 528i. you might find it going over those at slower speed "not worth it" but in reality the chance of you throwing out your alignment is what I call "not worth it".

I always at the "I can't lower my car because of potholes" theory. why? simply because avoiding potholes has nothing to do with how high or how low your car is. It's about the ability of the driver to pay attention to the road condition.

acr2001

Fair enough argument. I disagree about the potholes though - there are going to be times where you hit a pot hole like it or not and when that happens the lower you are, the worse it's going to be. But I do agree that you have to try and avoid the potholes either way.

acr2001

Hey, I'm not the one who started the name calling.
And I agree that someone going over potholes at any speed is an idiot, so you can't possibly be referring to me. Every so often you're going to hit a pot hole like it or not - either because it got under your radar, or because you have no choice and can't get out of the way in time.