jcash60

Well, I was in the my garage today and standing in the front of my C300 4 matic sport and looking across the roof at some horizonal lines in the garage door and it looked as if the drivers side of the car was lower than the passanger side. So I measured the rear from the floor to the fender through the center of the wheel. Driver side 25 3/8" passenger 26", the front is perfect. That blew my mind thats a difference of 5/8" of a inch. Checked air in tires and they`re the same. Called Mercedes set up for service call tomorrow, so I`ll see. Anyone have anything like this? I guess it could be a bad spring.

jstaneff

Pretty common with a lot of cars. My XC70 has almost a full inch different. I've never noticed any driving issues as a result.

Could be a strut with low pressure? Dunno. Could also be more weight distributed to the driver's side. What's in your trunk?

jcash60

>>>>No, took the golf clubs out first, air in tires is exact. I`m supprised I`ve not seen it sooner but I had not been driving it much [2009 only 4000mi.] Just started driving it regularly.

Sportstick

How often do you carry a right front seat passenger? The car may have never settled as much on the right side.

My wife frequently travels in the right front seat and my car is even at 11.5" from ground to gap at bottom of door above the sill on both sides.

Carsy

Make sure they properly inspect the suspension & fix the fault. Its a new car & shouldn't look like an old banger!! I am interested to know what the problem is.

jcash60

>>>>>My wife rarely rides in this car but since I`m going to drive this car on a regular basis she will be in it more. Come to think about it shes only been in it a few times.

This is interesting your measurement from the ground to the front door gap is 11.5. My measurement from the ground to the exact bottom edge of the door [ the front door edge, very tip of the front door ] is 10 1/8 " the same on both sides. I have a 4 matic, is yours also?

The only place the car doesn`t measure up is the passenger side rear is that 5/8" higher than the drivers side.

jcash60

>>>>>Mercedes is going to put my car on their 5 point alignment system this morning so I`ll know whats going on. I`ve got this feeling that one spring does not match the other on the rear. I`ve been giving this much thought since yesterday when I found the problem and if I have any choice in the matter, I would like the lower measurement to be the one that matches. I`ve pulled the car outside and looked at it from both sides and I like the lower drivers side better, looks like a lowering job, WITHOUT A LOWERING JOB LOL. Anyway the car will be right no matter what height. I`ll post whats going on this afternoon when I return.

Sportstick

Mine is not a 4MATIC, which makes this more odd....one would think mine would be lower at that same spot. The OD on my tires should be same as OE. When you get to the dealership, pull out your tape measure and try a few cars in service, and new ones in inventory and see how much variation you get, noting any differences in drivetrain and tires.

jctevere

I recall reading in a few lowering threads that the 4Matic is lower than the RWD counterparts... That being said, it is possible that since the car is so "young" and never had much weight on the passenger side that it has never settled much. But I doubt that is the only thing going on here... Nor do I believe that something like that could account for 5/8".

Let us know whats going on, my car always pulls to the right, so maybe I have the same thing? I complained to my SA and he said they would have to charge me $175 to find out and align it. I said screw that and figured I would come back and do that when I actually need an alignment and rotation...

jcash60

Well I just returned from Mercedes. I`m going to preface this by saying I was a building contractor and I`m a cabinet builder capable of working in 1/64"`When I read a tape measure you can bank on it.

So I go to the dealer and he takes the car to the alignment machine it`s in a separate building. I waited for it. 1 1/2 hours later the service adviser comes to me and says that there is practically no difference in the rears or fronts. I told him that's impossible, I measured this car 6 times on 3 different surfaces, my garage, my driveway and the street and each time the measurements were within 1/8" of what I originally measured it 5/8" off. So he took me to the alignment machine and sure enough it is no more than 1/8 difference, we checked the air in tires they were perfect.

Now I know what the measurements were, there was a 5/8" difference, I have no idea what has happened. I don`t see any benefit to the dealer doing something to the car and not telling me what was wrong. Anyone can measure something once or twice and get a wrong measurement but 6 times and knowing myself as a **** guy that everything must be perfect it just isn`t possible.

So I get home and measure again with the same tape measure and it`s slightly less than 1/8" difference. This is a mystery. I can only assume that something happened either on the 30 mile trip to the dealer or while it was there. They checked everything, nothing loose or leaking.
I have no explanation Well at least I have a service order that relates what I was talking about, in the event something comes up with the suspension.

deandaniell

Just thank God that it isn't something serious that was going to cost you a fortune to fix.

BEEPbeepZIPtang

less gas in the tank

jcash60

I didn`t get to measure the other 300`s [ their in a separate building on the 4 th floor at this dealer ] but intend to go to a closer dealer in the next few days so I`ll let you know what I find out. My car grew at the dealer from 25 3/8" to 25 7/8" so my rear is near 26". But my front that I was telling you about is still the same [ I just remeasured it ], I guess the 4 Matics are lower I`ll find out in a few days.

jcash60

You`re right, last night I had visions of the new car delivery truck dropping the car and the dealer fixes it so no one can tell. How **** is that! At least it didn`t cost anything other than gas and my time.

Sportstick

I'm guessing you're still going to wonder about this and measure again! So, if you somehow get that unusual uneven reading one day, try this........push down on each corner of the car so that the body gets some jounce/rebound motion at all four. Then measure again.

jcash60

I`ll bet I`ll measure this car 10 times over the next few weeks and many times over the coming months.

Good idea I`ll do that. While it was on the driveway I got into the trunk and bounced a bit, no change in measurement though.

A couple weeks ago I had to get some salt for the softner and had 6-40lb bags 240lbs in the trunk, and noticed how good the car and rear end looked and measured it with and then without the weight, it dropped the rear 3/4 of a inch, the car looked good. I measured the passanger side because it was facing out into the garage, at 25 1/4". It was level with the front which is between 25 1/8 and 25 1/4. I just wish that the lowering springs didn`t hurt the ride, which I think it will. Alll my Mercedes have been the larger cars, Sel`s, Ce, E`s, all but one I lowered with Eibachs and they degraded the ride, not by a tremendous amoumt but the C300 does not have the ride of the larger Mercedes. The C is alright now but I just dont want it to ride any less than it does now. I really like the small car, would like to have a bit more horses but I`ve slowed down lately.

Derspeed

That's odd. I remember reading some time ago that OE springs are designed so the driver's side is slightly higher. Is it possible that the springs are actually set up so the (European) driver's side is higher? BTW, most aftermarket springs are the same on both sides.

Anyway, don't measure from the floor. You should measure from the center of the wheel to the fender lip. That's how I determine how much performance springs lower my cars. Measuring that way takes uneven tire pressure and uneven tire wear out of the equation. I measured my C that way a few weeks ago in anticipation of adjusting my coilovers, and one side (I don't remember which) was lower.

jcash60

>>>>I totally agree on the way you measure from the center of wheel to lip. Frankly I did not know that the springs on the driver side was a bit higher. So when you adjusted your coilovers did you adjust so they were even on both sides? Another question did the coilovers change the comfort of the ride? Whos coilovers?

JoeVal

Fascinating! By the by, the tires ought to be balanced and at the right air pressure, the gas tank has to be full and a weight equivalent to a person allowance (driver) is to be added when trying to determine alignment per standards. I believe that nowadays the machines compensate for the desired added weight.

As for coil springs, this is a touchy subject because once is known how much of a set are going to take when working, fabricators often omit taking them to solid height the number of times specified on the drawings. This is because natural operation will fast compensate for this omission.

And parameters such as height from the floor, center of gravity, suspension and plumbing conditions are subject to so many variables, and manufacturing tolerances get to be so distorted to cut costs and time of manufacture...

I better go to sleep. Ciao.

jcash60

>>>>>>Yes we tend not to take all the variables of design and manufacturing into consideration and look only at the end result.
Manufactures are looking way ahead to the day when your going
on a trip, fill the gas tank up, have 150 lbs. of luggage in the trunk
and 4/5 people, that can easily reach 1000 additional lbs, you can
throw that out the window if you have a family of football players
HA HA.

The uni-body construction process of assembling parts into a template
and robot welding has helped to insure a acceptable and accurate
end result for the rigors the vehicle goes through in its life and has reduced some of the variables, well I`m getting a bit off the mark,
I need my coffee!

Derspeed

Sorry, I did not install the H&R coilovers yet. I just took the measurements. I have always measured that way on previous cars and each time, the aftermarket kits (non-coilover spring and shock kits) are closer in height at the corners. Not always exactly the same though. AZN has H&R coilovers installed and he indicated that they may be more comfortable than the OE set up.