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Here is my honest review on the VFT springs:
Set up - F/R about half way down on the collar, plenty of adjust-ability left.
Ride height:
Driving impression:
Street cruising - ride comfort is not bad at all in my opinion. I've had springs and then to coils on all my cars I've owned, and this has to be the most compliant ride after lowering the car. I am truly impressed. I still have the stock 19's with the run flats, and I can feel the bumps with these. I hate them.
With the 3 adjustable damper settings on this car, I feel that with the VFT's, the Comfort feels more like Sport, and Sport feels like Sport+. The Sport+ does get in to the pretty harsh setting, so I reserve that to spirited mexico driving now.
Emotion Driving - Sport+ setting is perfect for this type of driving, and still very compliant. I feel the car push a little bit, but this is good for straight out of the factory for average drivers (my self included). I would push about 6 to 7/10ths on the street, depending on who the cruise is with. With my current ride height and the 15mm F / 20mm R spacers, the front's will rub ever so slightly on high speed dips, but its so negligible that I'm completely ok with it. Rear is completely fine. There is still a slight bounce after the rebound but I do like this better than the rock hard race coils I've been used to, which is only superior 0.5% of the time on a street car.
Over all impression so far:
I'm very happy with the purchase and ride quality. If you're the type to stay on the street, weekend back road cruises and occasional hooliganism, I think this is plenty. For HPDE, you might want struts to compliment these better with adjustable compression/rebound or full race coils.
If you're scared of ride comfort on these, don't be. The comfort setting is still very comfortable, and sport+ becomes way more sharper.
I think there's a lot more you can adjust on this car to handle a little better, but this is a great start to fix that fender gap!
Looks great! Stock wheels look huge. Do you have any more pics? Especially interested in profile view to see how the wheels look with the spacers. I have the same setup on the way.
my advice for anyone lowering the car on VTF's....replace the run flats before you lower the car. If you don't want to replace tires with tread left then just use the tires up and then lower it and replace the tires.
I'm mainly just trying to save you some money and/or time from having to possibly adjust the height. Assuming that you are going to go with standard tires, the difference in the size of the tire (and looks) may be fairly significant which could very well cause you to want to adjust the height. A Mechanic would probably charge you a couple hours of labor to adjust the height. I've had several lowered cars and this is just one thing i've learned over time.
Also the difference lowered on the springs + regular tires is pretty nice as well. I lowered mine on AS3+ and it's significantly more comfortable than the run flats on the stock 19s. The AS3+ are more beefy looking too and if you lower it before you put the new tires you may be disappointed and it could rub. I enjoyed the car much more after I replaced the run flats.
I know different brands have slightly different width and shoulder, but you're saying some tires are taller? My ride height is pretty conservative for the OEM+ look for now.
I know different brands have slightly different width and shoulder, but you're saying some tires are taller? My ride height is pretty conservative for the OEM+ look for now.
I am not saying that you will have issues with this application, just trying to help people learn from some decisions i've made with previous cars.
If you are nitpicky about the height and stance like I am you may decide you want to want to change it slightly when you get new tires because there is going to be a difference in the shoulder and just overall look of the tire. Some people go for more stretched tires so they can lower the car more, and the opposite is true as well. It could affect drivability in some extreme circumstances. I've never had issues with that, it was just mostly aesthetics.
adjustable springs makes it easy to correct either way, just more money/time.
Here is my honest review on the VFT springs:
Set up - F/R about half way down on the collar, plenty of adjust-ability left.
Ride height:
Driving impression:
Street cruising - ride comfort is not bad at all in my opinion. I've had springs and then to coils on all my cars I've owned, and this has to be the most compliant ride after lowering the car. I am truly impressed. I still have the stock 19's with the run flats, and I can feel the bumps with these. I hate them.
With the 3 adjustable damper settings on this car, I feel that with the VFT's, the Comfort feels more like Sport, and Sport feels like Sport+. The Sport+ does get in to the pretty harsh setting, so I reserve that to spirited mexico driving now.
Emotion Driving - Sport+ setting is perfect for this type of driving, and still very compliant. I feel the car push a little bit, but this is good for straight out of the factory for average drivers (my self included). I would push about 6 to 7/10ths on the street, depending on who the cruise is with. With my current ride height and the 15mm F / 20mm R spacers, the front's will rub ever so slightly on high speed dips, but its so negligible that I'm completely ok with it. Rear is completely fine. There is still a slight bounce after the rebound but I do like this better than the rock hard race coils I've been used to, which is only superior 0.5% of the time on a street car.
Over all impression so far:
I'm very happy with the purchase and ride quality. If you're the type to stay on the street, weekend back road cruises and occasional hooliganism, I think this is plenty. For HPDE, you might want struts to compliment these better with adjustable compression/rebound or full race coils.
If you're scared of ride comfort on these, don't be. The comfort setting is still very comfortable, and sport+ becomes way more sharper.
I think there's a lot more you can adjust on this car to handle a little better, but this is a great start to fix that fender gap!
Car looks great. How's your alignment? prepare for inner edge tire wear with that much of a drop. Mine was bad.
Car looks great. How's your alignment? prepare for inner edge tire wear with that much of a drop. Mine was bad.
Yes, that's right as there is only front and rear Toe "directional" adjustment OEM.
OK if showroom height conditions, but day to day commuting encountering high cambered roads or altering height, load carrying, fitting wide profile tires Camber and Caster adjustment is essential, allowing to "adjust tire contact angles", spread load more evenly!
Deletion of adjustment facilities has come about through ever increasing speed of auto assembly lines.
We saw the need therefore to re instate, once again from the early 90's Front Camber and Caster, Rear Camber (and extra Toe).
Kits replace the 4 front and rear (highest wearing) bushings. Providing up to 1.5 degrees extra Pos. or Neg. which is more than enough to resolve most tire wear issues. Providing precise single wrench adjustment. Accurately (under load) - direct on alignment rack. Providing ongoing adjustment capability. No more trips to dealers or alignment shops or constantly changing tire brands.
KMAC Front thrust arm (Caster) bushings are also mono ball / 2 axis design significantly improving brake and steering response.
C450/C43 AMG
Front Camber & Caster Kit #503416 K $480
Rear Camber (& extra Toe) #502226 K $480
(Rear Airmatic Models #502326 K $480)
Delivery $40 one kit or plus $20 each extra kit
NOTE: TRACK DAYS - Also manufacture ( extra adjustment) front upper arm bushings providing extra 1.5 degrees Neg. Camber (or Pos) to further reduce understeer in the pursuit of front row of the grid lap times. Comes with bush extraction tool allowing fitment without upper arm removal. #503316-2 J $380
ALSO FOR THE REAR popular uprated bushings for the 6 multi link rear arms. Less twitch, flex, loss of traction. Especially when applying power to lane change, overtake #502628 K $480
I am thinking to get adjustable springs as well. I have heard that lower springs will cause extra wear on stock shocks hence the stock shocks will need to be replace sooner. Do you guys know if this is still true for adjustable springs? Thanks!
those camber kits are price gouging hard, and +$40 shipping and another $20 for a set? No thanks.
Yes I believe lowering springs will prematurely wear the shocks out, but I've heard its better since the height is adjusted via collar and not shortening the spring it self or something. Hard to believe but its not just a shorter cut spring is my understanding.
My camber setting was at -2.8 and -2.9, which isn't bad at all in my opinion. All my car's have been slammed and I like front negative camber to be aggressive for better turn in's since most car are designed to understeer for Karen's.
I changed the stock run flats to Yokohama Advan V601's yesterday, and ride has been so much smoother. The stock continental run flats also fluctuated in PSI alot more as well, would start around 41psi and after driving it would be about 49 to 50psi. With the Advan's, it'll start at 40psi and only get to 45ish psi which was interesting.
One other thing before you put any new springs on this car, have the shocks checked out. This should be part of standard "B" service if you take it to a dealership or just a german auto shop that is familiar with Mercedes.
Reason I say this is because my mechanic noticed that my right rear shock was leaking fluid at the dampener during a "B" service. Luckily for me, this was a little over a week before I had an appointment to have my VTFs installed. Fortunate that my mechanic found that before I had the VTFs installed. I took it to a dealership and they replaced the shock under warranty. If I had brought it there after lowering it they likely would not have honored the warranty on the shock. Just food for thought.
One other thing before you put any new springs on this car, have the shocks checked out. This should be part of standard "B" service if you take it to a dealership or just a german auto shop that is familiar with Mercedes.
Reason I say this is because my mechanic noticed that my right rear shock was leaking fluid at the dampener during a "B" service. Luckily for me, this was a little over a week before I had an appointment to have my VTFs installed. Fortunate that my mechanic found that before I had the VTFs installed. I took it to a dealership and they replaced the shock under warranty. If I had brought it there after lowering it they likely would not have honored the warranty on the shock. Just food for thought.
Well my installer at my indie shop didn't notice anything with the shock visually so that's the best I can do. I think in your case you got extremely lucky. I haven't ready much shock issues on this forum or the FB page. I think your case is a fluke incident, unless I hear more about the leaky shocks. Thanks for the heads up though, and a good plan of action before modding.
Interesting, I just had my rear shocks replaced under warranty for exactly the same problem. Mine is a 2019, what year is yours? Is this a common problem?
07-06-2020, 01:13 AM
H&R VFT adjustable spring review
