chem1441

The ride is getting a little bit floaty in my 430....about 63,000 miles. I really don't want a sportier set up, so I was thinking I could just change the shocks (Bilstein Heavy Duty) and that would calm the ride. Do I HAVE to replace the springs? I always thought springs were good unless they were actually broken in half? any insights?

rubberninja

It's cheaper to replace the springs. it fixes the problem, enhances proformance, and makes it look better. Why you would want to avoid all of that is unclear to me but if you really just want to restore the quality of the ride without changing the car's height etc... why dont you just replace the suspention (or even just the springs) you currently have with a new oem replacement of the same part? Dealership would be able to take care of that for you lickity-split but it'll probly cost you a lil since the replacement is promped by your preferance and not by necesity.
Well, theres my 2 cents. Good luck with that!

chem1441

I dont think that the springs are bad....I just think there is too much bounce after going over a bump. Plus at highway speed on a curve, if I hit a bump or something, the car hops. I think its because the dampers arent doing the job of stopping the springs from "bouncing". I heard somewhere that springs usually last the life of the car, or at least 100,000, but shock absorbers usually only last about 60,000 miles before they should be replaced. I just want better ride quality, I dont want to lower the car, it looks perfect as is!!!

Motivation

Replacing shocks......which ones would y'all suggest? I bought some Bilstein heavy duty shocks for my Corvette, but would the same company make good ones for the CLK?

chem1441

whoa whoa whoa....back to my question. Do I have to replace the springs along with the shocks, or can I just replace the shocks to control the ride better and stop the float?

Motivation

OK calm down there buddy

obviously if you replace both you are going to get better ride quality(and probably solve your problem), but by no means do you have to. You can play the trial and error game and replace one componet at a time, in fact it is more cost effective to do it this way if you're on a budget.

Ghostrider

You can just replace the shocks and that should help with the floatiness. Bilstein's or Koni would be your best bet...

chem1441

Yea I def was going to go with Bilsteins. Now the question is should I go Heavy Duty or Sport?

I have 18" tires, which is probably hard on the suspension. Would sport shocks better protect the suspension from damage? I wanted to go with heavy duty, just because I dont want a rock hard ride....but I want to protect my suspension too....

reitmeid

Heavy duty are a bit stiffer than stock, about what oricinally comes on the clk55. Sport are used with lowering springs as they extend less overall. Don't go sport without lowering springs.

55 ON IT

You don't have to replace your springs. Go with the Bilstein heavy duty shocks (as mentioned before come stock on the 55s). If you want slightly better handling I can sell you my barely used W208 CLK55 springs.

rocko

55 ON IT...how much are you selling your W208 CLK55 springs for? btw, will the spring be lower compared to my stock 430 ones and are they stiffer? thanks..rocko

55 ON IT

PM sent.

raymond g-

his complaint is with insufficient damping. changing the springs, while
cheaper is *not* going to fix the problem. the Bilstein HDs are approx 10%
more compression and rebound damping, as I recall. unless you have handling
issues during spirited maneuvers, there isn't a need to lower the car via new
springs. Bilstein Sports have even more damping but they're also shorter and
are designed to be used with lowering springs.

chem1441

Thanks guys....looks like Im going to replace everything with Bilstein HD's...

m5-mike

Bilstein sports and HD have exactly the same compression and rebound. The difference is in the length of travel (shaft) as was stated above.