Rahulio1975280C

Hello All,

I have been busy enjoying my C55 as my daily driver, but with nearly 100,000 miles on the odometer, now I need to address the wear and tear on my suspension.

I am thinking about ordering my replacement rear shocks and front struts from TireRack. I am very happy with the stock suspension as a daily driver. I do not think I need to splurge on Bilstein PSS9s and since my car has the TSW Bremma 19x8.5 and 19x9.5 wheel setup, I am probably going to have clearance issues anyways, which I want to avoid.

Besides the shocks and struts, what components would you recommend that I replace while I have everything apart?

As for struts and shocks, if I want to match what AMG has equipped from the factory, do I want the Bilstein Touring or the Bilstein Sport products?

http://www.tirerack.com/suspension/S...05&autoModClar=

Thank you for your help.

Just an FYI, I recently installed a Brabus shift knob and will post a DIY today.

Viper98912

My suspension still feels pretty tight? Not bouncy or anything?

Mark.D

Bushings probably need to be addressed if they haven't been already.

kent426

I've got a set of Koni yellow's that will fit with less than 10K on them for $350 plus shipping.

alboogiee

I have OEM C55 springs/shocks that were replaced with coilovers at 70k if you're interested in a cheaper alternative...shipping may not be worthwhile though.

shaun.barnard

Mine went in for a quality check the other day and they found that the front castor bushes and the rear control arm bushes were worn, so give attention to those. Mine has 140000km on the clock.

ghiaguy

Do control arms always go at around 50k? I brought the car in for engine mounts a couple months ago and my mech told me about my lowers (iirc) needing changed. Seems they perished early..

shaun.barnard

I don't know it seems like it, I've only had the car for 3 months now. I havnt had it replaced yet, I'm thinking about having them replaced with polybushes that a local suspension place is well known for. They are far more durable and the play is less.

ghiaguy

Yeah, it sure seems like a waste to replace the whole arm when its only the bushing that needs attention. I hope to find a long lasting solution since I plan on keeping the car for many years!

Saaboteur

The independent Benz mechanics I use when I can't handle stuff tell me the 203 front suspension bushings don't last as long as the older cars. One of the previous owners of my car did them already, and I may need to do them again soon (car has just about 110,000 km on it).

If you pay a shop to do the work, chances are they will just replace the whole arm as the labour involved is less - rather than pressing out the old bushings and pressing in the new ones. I specifically asked them what they did, and that was the response. I would probably do the job on my own, and being the cheap *** I am, I would probably just replace the bushings.

ghiaguy

Dead on what my mech said. "I'll install both sides for only an hour labor plus the parts" The guy is great and I trust him, but those arms drive the total job to $550!
I wouldn't mind doing it myself too, could put that money towards C63 paddles and a H&R swaybar!

Rahulio1975280C

Whew I have been busy, but now that my car is at 102K miles, I really need to tackle this job. Does anyone know where I can get the torque specifications for all the bolts? For the old W124 I still own, that data is available very easily, but for the C55, I have no idea where to search for this information. I see that there are WIS CDs available from eBay. Can anybody recommend a particular seller that they may have dealt with in the past?

C230 Mulac

I have a STAR manual with all of the torque specs. I can check it when I get home tonight if you want, just let me know what specific torque specs you are looking for.

lkfoster

Same here. I was expecting the front thrust arm bushings to be gone by now (our E28 M5 went through 5 sets in 50k miles) but so far every thing checks out as fine according to my alignment shop at 90k.

lkfoster

I would expect that they're around 70-80 ft-lbs. The important thing is to torque them only when the car is on the ground with the suspension loaded.