chinaman

Hi everyone:

I have finally purchased the Eibach Pro lowering spring and Koni adjustable shock for my 2002 CLK 320 Coupe.

I know this had been discussed in the past, but I am looking for any current update.

Anyone have the Eibach & Koni set up, please advise ..

1. What spring pad # should I use to achieve the lowerest look ?
( been suggested #1 at the front #2 at the rear)
Would #1 all round be a stupid idea ?

2. Will the car bottom out with softest setting on Koni shocks ?

3. Do I need to rolled fender and quarter edge to prevent bottom out on this set up with lowerest spring pad # (wheel well edge) ?

Any CLK pictures would be much appreciated.

Thanks very much for everyone's input in advance.

Will document my before and after lowering pictures (& measurement) when lowering my ride, so it may be a great reference for other too.

CurYousGee

I have that set up, spring pad for the lowest possible is #1 up front and #3 in the rear, remember eibach's front end runs a little higher than H&R so #1 would give you the look you are looking for, I have #3 in the back, and the tires are already slightly tucked, do a search for my pics.

At the softest setting, it is fine, will not or should not bottom out, just retains the OEM ride, or as much as possible.

Rolled fenders will depend on what rims ur running, tires, offset, etc. I don't have any problems and i dont have rolled fenders, running 9.5 in the rear with 265 tires, and 35mm offset, i think?

chinaman

CurYousGee:

Did you use CLK psring Pad #1 or E Class spring pad #1.

And in this picture below you used the CLk spring apd # 3 ?

You are looks good. I just wana to be sure that I get the fron and bacl at an even level, and have it drop the lowered possible with the setup I have bought already. Eibach & Koni.

CurYousGee

I have the stock spring pads in the car, #4 in the front, and #3 in the rear, if you want it to be even, either go with #1 or #2 in the front, that should bring the front end to be more level with the rear...I see you have a 320, so maybe a #1 would be best up front because your engine is lighter than my 430.

Martin

I did not want to lower the car much (max 1 inch), the roads around my neighborhood are not “low car” friendly and I was prepared to add thicker pads if needed to raise the ride height if the drop exceeded 1 inch. My car came stock with number 5 pads in front and number 4 in rear so this was not an option. I chose Eibach springs since they had the smallest drop, and Koni shocks because they are adjustable. With this setup the car was lowered about 0.75 inches in the rear and nothing in the front, I changed the spring pads in front to #3,that gave a 0.6 drop in the front. I set the shocks at the softest setting as recommended. Body roll is dramatically reduced and front end dive is close to nothing under normal driving conditions. The car feels much better connected to the road, is more stable at speed and in the corners. Cornering limits are higher as well. Ride quality is excellent, the car rides firmer but is not bone jarring and the reduction in body roll makes the car much more comfortable/fun on twisty roads. I may try the shocks at a higher setting but since this will require another trip to the mechanic I will wait. I was hesitant about destroying the comfortable ride of the car with this upgrade but for those of you who want to significantly improve the handling of your car without sacrificing ride quality I would say “go for it”. This upgrade has the most dramatic effect on the car and if you only make one mod to your car I would recommend this one. The springs and shocks were ordered from Tire Rack after a quick call to Luke to confirm my reading of the various options. Luke gave excellent advice and Tire Rack delivered the springs and shocks in 2 days with no problems. My mechanic took 4.5 hours to do the suspension swap including a test drive on various roads.

If you want max drop go for #1 in Front and #2 in the rear that will get you about a 1.3 - 1.5 inch drop.

chinaman

After getting good advise and input from everyone on the site, I am goingto try to put it the lowerest possible with the Koni and eibach set up..

Front - Eclass (W210) #1 Spring Pad
Rear - CLK #2 Spring Pad

Koni shock setting #1 (50%) Hope it will be the middle firm that I was looking for- there is only two setting on Koni shock for the one that fit CLK.

What do you all think..

I am also gona be document this lowering with lot of picture and a bit of write up (inlcudes measurement #s), this way the next MB guy could get the benifit of this post.

Have I miss anything ? Anymore input ...

i am heading to the shop soon to have it done

Pre-emptive

There are 3 settings, 0, 1 ,2. 0 is similar to stock.

CurYousGee

Not sure if there is any truth to this, but Pete from TWS said that with Koni, you should go with "0" first, which is the setting out of the box, until the shocks have worn in a little. He said he noticed when he adjusted it strait out of the box, a few have come back leaking, maybe a coincidence? not sure, but the ones he had set at "0" were fine...so just an FYI from the installers perspective.

click430

I just changed the #5 front pads to #1 E-class pads and got the 1" drop I wanted without the spring change.
The best Koni settings are "1" for the front and '0' for the rear.
You won't believe the change in handling quality, and the ride is still very smooth.

Pre-emptive

I had +1 for the front and 0 for the rear for a while. This setup increases the rear wheel traction during straight line acceleration. However, I think it compromise the outside front wheel traction while cornering. You will feel a lot more acceleration squat too. Which setup is better depends on your preference. I am changing the settings to +1 on all 4 this week. I will let you know the result later. Also, I have the lorinser springs. The stiffer H&R springs might have a different result.

theine

Koni's and HR's here, as for pads, # 1 front and # 2 rear, no you won't bottom out with the koni's on the softest setting (which I have), otherwise they are to hard.

chinaman

Wow Theine !

Look at your ride. Very well done. That's the height that I am looking for.

But Since I have already purchased the eibach spring, I am just gona have to settle for 1/2 inch higher than you have there.

So how is the handling on sofest setting on Koni. much improvement over OEM shocks.. I wonder if 50% setting 1 woudl be too hard to ride in with. ?

chinaman

Here is a picture of a rear Koni shock, I had just adjusted it a little by pushing down the bottom coupe time and turn the firm setting.. and now it leak oil.. I mean I can get a tea spoon full of it... I can't believe this is true. I should just just leave them on the soft settingt they came with .. And only adjust them after they been on the car for a while..

Well, it prove the words from your Tech was right in my case....

But Koni shock leak issue have me wonder if their stuff is gona last !!!

chinaman

Another closer shot !

CurYousGee

Dude that sucks, I guess Pete was right, try to return it as defective, they will just send it back to the shop, hope the shop you got it at is cool, sorry to hear it happened man.

Initially I thought it was bs about not turning it, thinking they just wanted me to come back and get charged for another adjustment, but I guess they were telling the truth after all.