AMG BRED

after Mr. Harris (aka Harris ) brought to my attention that my rear suspension is sitting lower then it should, i measured it and i realized that my rear left is sitting lower then my rear right. I took a ruler to it and found out that the left rear is sitting a few tenths of an inch lower then the right .. WTF. ok no big deal i thought..

so I went and grabbed my work out weights, got 4 50lb plates and 4 25lb plates totaling upto 300lbs = 2 avg. sized people, put 'em in the trunk. Then took the car for a spin.. first bump cleared with no problems... 2nd bump i hear a Big clunk noise coming from the rear left suspension, and then another dip in the road and that same noice happened.. seeming to get louder.. only happens when the suspension moves up and down. Then i had a friend sit in the rear seat and he noticed that there is rattling coming from the suspension as well.



now.. anybody with H&R Cup Kits, does yours do this with this much weight.. WTF is wrong?

can the shop mess up the install? how hard is it mess up an install?

thanks for your help in advance.

really really annoyed and pissed right now.. it's like i am jinxed with this car.

AMG BRED

could it be shock mounts? anybody have theirs defect like this?

tommywommy

might be that ur rear left bushing is cracked.... but who knows...

AMG BRED

how could that happen, the car has only 6000 miles on it

MiamiAMG

Im interested in an answer also, as i am going to buy an H&R Coilover kit soon. This sounds like a question for one of our gurus at EVOSport to answer

SiLvaC32

did they remember to install the rubber shock mounts?? thats suppose to be on top of the shock tower.

Jerry

AMG BRED

i don't know. I hope so.

i mean the shop i got it done at sounds professional.. if they forgot to put the Bump Stops.. then wtf

Harris

Its kind of hard for us to comment on what's wrong with your car because most of us are not mechanics, and more importantly, we are not the one who did the installation. I think you should take your car back to that shop and repeat those noises to the mechanics there. Ask them to solve the problem for you. Perhaps you can suggest to them all the possible "causes" that people are saying in here. Maybe that will ring a bell.

Sleestack

Bushings don't always require wear and tear to go bad. I'm not sure about the C32, however on the W208 they used rubber bushings. When I installed Kleemann shocks the load caused the bushings to break apart causing a rattling/clunking noise over bumps. Vadim at Evosport replaced them with polyurethane bushings which immediately remedied the problem and provided a slighlty stiffer feel.

Zeppelin

One thing to consider: Putting 300lb's of weight in the trunk is much different than two 150lb people in the back seat. On a lowered car this may be too much weight and something is bottoming out. Just because the car is 2/10ths lower on one side does not mean there is a problem.

I would have it checked out however.

CLK 69

D I T T O

randall-sd

First, bad bushings would have yielded the same or similar noises even before you installed your new suspension.

Aside from bad bushings (which are really rare for a 6000-mile old car), there are not much components that can make a clunking noise underneath your rear suspension.

Pull apart your rear trunk liners and see if there is a bolt, washer and rubber (in that sequence from top to bottom) on the shock tower rod.

If so confirmed, take you car back to the shop and have them re-tighten the lower shock bolt (16mm or 17mm) and the upper shock tower nut. Also, have them double check the spring pad if it is seated right in its perch.

If all looks good, then it could be a bad internal shock piston (we've seen this once before but it is very unlikely and rare). Check for shock leaks (moisture) around the shock body.

AMG BRED

thanks guys... i have made an appointment at the shop for friday morning.. only problem is the shop is 2 hours away.. anyways.. hopefully things work out.. i will keep you guys posted.

Thanks for the all the info.

Sleestack

I think the clunking happened after the new shocks were installed. The bushings don't need to go bad. If the new suspension is putting additional load on the bushings it can damage them even if there was no prior excessive wear. I think it is partly caused by the soft rubber bushings used by MB. This exact problem happened on several Mercedes (including mine) I know of where the owners switched to a more aggressive shock/dampner combo.

Mach430

You put 300lbs on one side of the trunk or evenly throughout the trunk? Did you take the weights out to see if the noise would go away? Was anything put in the trunk with the weights to ensure that they were not clunking together?

Aside from the above, every component in the suspension can make noise when loose or not performing to spec. I'd love to spit out ideas over the web, but without being physically there, it would be nothing more than guessing.

If it is a loose part or a broken bushing, you should expect the noise to be present with or without the weights. It is possible that the weights in that position are causing the rear suspension to bottom out. Are these big or small bumps? Do you feel it or merely hear it? If the car is bottoming out, and you do not have bump stops, you can thank your installer for almost certainly damaging the strut.

Hope things work out,

Ben

AMG BRED

the weights wrapped in cloth to ensure they were rubbing against eachother. The weights were evenly distributed. I hope they installed the bumpstops.. i mean the shop deals with H&R suspension everyday.. www.autothority.com . The noice isn't present without weight.. the noice is present with weight and going over small bumps. The noise sounds like it's tearing /scrubbing hard thru another metal.

Keyser_Soze

Congratulations! You have just freaked me out!!!

Sorry everyone I don't own a C32; so I'm sorrry to post here... But I do have and installed H&R Coilovers on my C230 Komp Sedan.

I am posting becasue I took my car to a place that had never done it before. But I specifically talked to the guy that was going to do the install and showed him the H&R Orange READ ME manual that says you have to take the bushings off of the MB stock shocks and place them on the H&R. I specificaly told him to do this.

Well when I got home; and looked at the inside the H&R box where they had placed my stock shocks/springs and found two plastic bushings that seem to fit on top of my back shocks???!!!!! WTF I"m gonna try to take a pic of this, and post it...but i hope they didn't screw up...

I have no problems with the car/suspension at all....but still...i want to make sure they did it right

anyone which H&R cup kits if you can post here and tell me if you got 2 bushings back with your stock stuff after the cup kit install thanks

AMG BRED

with the cup kits we are supposed to use the stock bump stops (the orange pads that you see with your stock suspension) if it's not installed in your car then ask him what he used for the bumpstops.. if he said none, then uh oh.



As for my spring pads.. how can i find out what kinda spring pads are used for my car, and if i have to buy bigger ones..where can i pick up a set? do i need to buy 4 of 'em or just 2 for the rear? i like how my front sits, the rear could use a lil help though.

Harris

You need to take out the wheels and check it. Better ask the shop to check it for you. There are no spring pads in the front of your car, only at the rear. Spring pad ranges from Dot 1 - Dot 4. Dot 1 is the thinnest at 8mm, Dot 4 is the thickest at 23mm. They go by every 5mm increment.

AMG BRED

damn..that means i have to go to D.C. again just to check the spring pads... is there a way i can take it to a local shop or dealer and they can tell me?

Harris

I believe your dealer should be able to tell you what spring pads you are having by checking your car's VIN number. I am not 100% positive though.

AMG BRED

i will give it a shot..

thanks alot Harris.

Keyser_Soze

OK, I feel a little better.... I think I'm OK the bushings that I see they gave me they are almost 1 inch thick and they are black not orange. And I'm 99% sure they did it right....mmm...not sure what to do next....

AMG BRED

i know!.. buy me spring pads..