aowhaus

I'm anxiously waiting for new goodies to appear on the market for the W204 -- very slim pickings right now.

I have a C300 4matic sport with P2, panorama roof, OEM chrome mirror housings. So far I replaced most of the exterior bulbs (LEDs for the rear license plate will be done soon) and added an aftermarket spoiler.
Next week I will have most of the front end including fenders and lights clear bra'ed and a non-metallic window tint (20% or 28%) and I will attempt to hardwire my BEL radar detector.

This summer I plan to get Eibach or H&R springs (good for a modest 1/2" drop), 18" or 19" AMG replica wheels with high performance summer tires, the rear tail lights and front markers tinted (or clear front markers if available), possibly the rear trunk debadged, interior lighting replaced with LEDs, aluminum door pins, K&N air filter, and Neuspeed swaybars.

I did a photoshop to see how it may look:


What are your plans?

Andr3an

Shake

Nice mods planned so far.

CE EXO

Nice planning you got there.
Well
1st will be window tint,
2nd will be installing bullekos sprint booster,
3rd will be rear window top spoiler
3rd later will be a mkb upgrade tuning and take my small c200 to 250hp.

That are the plans we will see as the market has few things to offer right now.

JohnGjolaj1

Nice job on the photoshop.

I was planning to do something like this:

1. Tints (30%) nyc legal limit

2. Xenons

3. Carlsson springs or H&R, bilstein shocks if possible

4. Looking for rims; maybe amg monoblocks replicas (if SOMEONE can do a photoshop of that, much appreciated)

5. would convert the body to resemble the c63.

after all that (if i have any $ left) exhaust and intake

Hungy

wow, nice planning.
So far what i have in mind is H&R Spring, a new 19" rim and possibly the brabus front grille that takes away the huge benz logo.

kfm999

NYC's tint law says 70% - not 30%

narky

+1

just about mirrors my plans. Brabus and Vath both make similar grills for the w204. However, I'm thinking of doing 18" in front, 19" in the back just for kicks. What do you guys think? Even if I don't get too much performance out of doing such a setup, it's fine, but are there any drawbacks (make me slower, perhaps)?

One more thing, usually with other cars, it was always advised to change the shocks at the same time as the springs... but here, I rarely read about people doing both at the same time. How come w204 owners only change the springs? Are the stock shocks that good/strong?

JohnGjolaj1

nil8r

Has anyone tried the W203 aluminum door pins on the W204?

Shake

It's probably 30%, 70% is pretty much no tint at all. The lower the percent, the darker it is.

tron

trust me... if you change to lowered springs using your STOCK factory shocks, you WILL decrease the life span of your factory shocks. And more often than not, the decrease in life span is exponential... not gradual. On normal road use & some track days, ur lowered springs will still be good even if the stock shocks die off early.

if u do not care much for your stock shocks & plan to switch them after they die quickly then the option of lowered + stock shocks is good. Cause then you can re-use the lowered springs wit a suitable shock. Or change to coilovers to solve the problem altogether.

cheers

MBTex

+1. The law probably references the amount of light that the tint blocks while the tint % measures the amount of light the tint lets through.

ora12

Love the rims.

Derspeed

I'm not doing much because I really like how the car is now. It could handle a little better. I intend to use Eibach springs, install the 350 spoiler and possibly H&R rear spacers (doesn't look there will be much room though). Wheels are out for me. I love the 18" AMGs i got with mine.

Tron, do you think the way the shocks are designed on the C will compensate for the stiffer springs?

A tech at Eibach told me, the stock shocks will work well with their springs as they design them to work with OE shocks. He also stated the sport will only be lowered 1/2 inch, which is perfect in my opinion.

Thanks

tron

hmm... derspeed, i get your meaning... but based on a similar experience on another brand of "sporty" type of car; in that particular case, the official Agent offered for a time full bodykit + lowered springs (20mm) + sports exhaust on the standard car with Warranty - this looked great & really complemented the car. The full kit was made by a German aftermarket styling company; MS design. However, the exhaust was OEM by REMUS & the springs by Eibach.

To make a long story short, within 6 mths many cars where reporting tat their suspension was exceptionally "bouncy" even witout a full load - an indication of the shocks already dying off... thus riding on the springs.

the problem really was that the travel of the stock shocks was not matched to the lowered springs. thereby causing the stock shocks to work harder than usual and be compressed all the time when it is not supposed to be.

there are likely other factors like weight & usage of the car plus how it is driven which affects the lifespan... but this was my experience and i learned from it.

Eibach springs are good, no doubt abt it. but when a "tech" says that the lowered springs are designed to work with OE shocks, i would in fact take it that the SPRING RATE is designed to complement the OE shocks on a C-class... but tat still doesn't compensate much for the higher stress put on the OE shocks with lowered springs - which the OE shocks were not catered for in the 1st place.

not forgetting tat the C-class "sport" edition is already supposedly factory lowered (15mm?) compared to the most basic C-class. Anywys u have the great C300 V6 = more weight & power, thus i'd strongly advise u change to a matching set of lowered springs + matching shocks. Ur ride will need it & Tat is my strong suggestion.

sorry i am talking a bit much here, but the same goes for using a lower offset (or spacers) on a wheel to "push out" your wheels for that nasty look. The more it sticks out the more your suspension arms & other related components will be stressed - thus reducing lifespan also. Imagine carrying 2 5kg weights on each hand, it is chicken feet if you carry it by your side... but do it with both your arms apart & outstretched... u will begin to feel the pain. Tat is wat happens when u push out them wheels too much.

do not get me wrong, on my previous ride i lowered it with coilovers & had a lower offset to push out the wheels. But only after much experimentation & experience i found the perfect (for tat particular type of car) trade off on performance, looks & handling.

so it is now your job (which can be fun) to find that limit & close to perfect combo in order to enjoy your ride with the most minimal of fuss. I also would like to know wat is the best feasible offset for front & rear of the C-class..

what you think?

cheers!

Derspeed

Thanks Tron. My last car, '03 Passat, had H&R Springs and Bilstein shocks, which was a great combo. I had 18x8 wheels with 35mm offest and modest 8mm spacers. Here it is:





I would have never considered using OE shocks w/ Eibachs. I guess it was wishful thinking. I really like the ride and handling of the C, but would like a little improvement and a slightly lowered ride height. Also, I did some measuring on the C, and I am quite sure the wheels would rub the fenders with spacers any wider than the 3mm offered by H&R. I am hoping just lowering it will give me the desired look. The car is near perfect to me as it is. I am just looking forward to seeing what the mod pioneers will do with the car before I try . Sorry if I went off topic. Thanks again.

Shake

Despeed, that is a very clean VW. I like what you did with it. Hopefully you mod your current C like that too.

aowhaus

your Passat looks almost like my Passat:




I was running 10mm H&R spacers on 18x8" BMW CSL replica wheels, 40mm offset, with Eibach Prosystem suspension package.
This is the kind of wheel & suspension setup I want to do to my W204.

Sorry for hijacking this thread.

CE EXO

All the above are correct.There are a lot of factors to check before taking a decision to change the OEM springs and shocks.
The riding step that the sport C has with the lowered 15mm feels perfect to me.
Its stiff but not bouncy,and the looks of the car with this set up its great.
I would recomend for the ones that dont have the sport edition to install the OEM shocks and springs and intall a 18 inch rim if they want the suspension to be a little bit more stiff.
I am talking from bad experience from a previous car that i installed eibach and blistaen combination the car looked great,and the cornering was another experience but after a year the bouncy feeling got me very tired.

So be very carefull of your decision

Derspeed

Nice. Our Passats are similar. I guess we have similar taste in cars . Only real difference is my VW has a Zender front spoiler. My girlfriend owns it now, so I still get to drive it. Anyway, I wish the aftermarket compaines would hurry up with shocks and struts.

Shake...Thanks.

CE EXO...I know. It took forever to pick all of the parts for my Passat. I wanted all of the parts to work well together; and they did. It felt like a factory setup.

PoaMike

I just want a bolt on turbo kit... is that to much to ask? I have alot i would want to do to my c class but first is all the cosmetics. Smoke tail lights. painting the ENTIRE grill (including the crome) so it will look like a bramus but not take away from the benz look. then drop it a few inches. tints (done). 19" rims (no decision yet). Carbon lip. MAYBE a light smoke on the head lights... iv seen it done and i gotta say its kinda nice. o almost forgot smoke the side mirrors turn signals... then some other simple things like headlights and foglights. What u guys think about my grille idea? havent seen it done before and i was kinda hesitant to say thinking some one will steal my idea but hey just post pics.

CE EXO

This is great if you carefully picked up aftermarket parts and put them on your car and they worked perfectly the satisfaction is double.

tanktube67

kfm999

NY tint Law: VLT% 70% - anything lower than 70% is illegal

Darkness of tint is measured by Visible Light Transmission percentage (VLT%). In New York, this percentage refers to percentage of visible light allowed in through the combination of film and the window.

Windshield Non-reflective tint is allowed on the top 6 inches of the windshield.
Front Side Windows Must allow more than 70% of light in.
Back Side Windows Must allow more than 70% of light in.
Rear Window Any darkness can be used.


Check all the tint laws for different states - AZ is 33% front side.

http://www.tintdude.com/laws.html