jkiddd33

The rear bar VIP created works very well, attached to the metal or not it plants the car tremendously.
Just curious now if its going to mess the shocks up since its pulling them Inward...

RBYCC

The threaded strut/shock top mounting point is not designed to take the lateral stress which the direct connected brace creates.
One of the reasons why there is a rubber bushing in the rear mount.

Connecting the top of the strut/shock still allows movement through the rubber bushing as the tower flexes under load. Unfortunately the direct connection causes both to move in tandem.
Bracing the towers precludes this movement.

Struts/shocks aren't a structural part of the unibody as they are designed to have movement.
Bracing the tower causes the strut/shock to move within the design limits.

The purpose of a strut brace is to only hold the strut towers where they are, not pull them in or push them out.

Also they should be used in conjunction with stiffer anti sway bars.

Williams707

FYI: I'm running VIPclk320's F/R Strut Tower Bars along with H&R F/R Sway Bars.

big_mike1979

my front were flat and i had to do some mods but i go it done!!

jkiddd33

Big Mike!
Like I said you have the v6 model.

I know it can be done but I was just clarifying because supposedly there was no modding needed except for drilling a hole and cutting the fire wall....

But there is actually ALOT more than just that.

sirswift93

I installed VIP's back strut bar and after running with it for several months noticed a tare in the sheet metal around the strut tower on the right side. I will post pictures later. The sheet metal obviously is not welded/built strong enough to handle the additional stiffness of the rear. The car was made to flex some degree; this is the way it was designed.

With that said, the bar did stiffen the car up and thereby acknowledge that VIP's strut bar works. However, distributing the forces over one attachment point on each shock tower is no distribution at all. That is why race cars and three point shock towers are created. Three point strut towers are three points so the forces are distributed over three points and thereby reducing any metal fatigue. The W208 was not designed for these forces. The VIP strut bar is a simple design in the fact that it just mounts over the existing shock point. However, one point is not enough. If to be done again, design wise, a bracket must be mounted to at least three points a side into the sheet metal. Although, the metal back there is not made to handle the forces of a strut bar. BTW, I did not install the front strut bar as one bolt in the sheet metal is almost asking to have your wheel wells distort over time.

I am bringing the car into a body shop on Monday to bring the seams back together, weld it and then apply a metal plate over the seam which will also be welded. Cost will be $150.

sirswift93

Hi Williams,

How did you get your H&R rear sway bar on your car? Did you have to drop the axle?

Williams707

I had a shop do it, but that was at least 3-4 years ago and I'm assuming they did.

Williams707

Interesting, I ran it for years with no issues. Installed VIP's strut bars both the front & rear back in 2009 and I drive my car hard.

VIPclk320

Very sorry to hear about your issue. I've had mine since 2007 and have tracked the car atleast 18 times and countless canyon drives plus my very harsh daily driving. Please have the bodyshop check from underneath behind the fender liners to make sure you dont have any rust issues. Again this is very strange to me. Something else must have contributed to it because your shocks shouldnt have much play to beging with and those towers are meant to hold the pressure from the shocks which is a lot. Please have them check from underneath for safety

sirswift93

The tare goes up to the bottom of the boot compartment. The body shop is going to remive the wheel and wheel-well liner to make sure there is no damage underneath. There appears to be no rust; I have never seen rust on my car anywhere.

sirswift93

Ok...here are the photos. I took some after removing the wheel and the well liner. The sheet metal pulled the nut that holds the fuel fill pipe right through the wall. I had it welded this afternoon; I will post those photos later.

It looks like the right side had a slight contour to the right of the shock, vs a flat wall to the left of the left shock. Can someone confirm this for me?

VIPclk320

Wow that is bad. But I can tell you that is not caused by the shock or the bar. If you look closely you can see that the shock tower has been glued to that part and the glue is still intact. Thats a part of the body sheet metal not the structural sheet metal. Also look at the picture from inside the fender liner you can see that the fuel filler neck and stuff hasnt been moved at all and there are no wrinkles on the shock tower. The glue on the seems between the shock tower and sheet metal would come off way before this happens and you can see it hasnt at all. This is deffinatly caused by too much body roll which shouldnt be there to begin with. Its nothing dangerous and its just sheet metal for body not structure but what im concerned with is the cause. Very have much more body roll because of the lack of stiffness created by the b and c pillars and the roof which is present in coupes but not verts. Therefore they add under body bracing to stiffen up the suspension and keep body integrity. Have thos and their bushings checked for your safety. Again you have alot of body roll that shouldnt be there to begin with and the strut bar tried to stop it and this happened. But a strut bar is not meant to stop that much body roll. Its a correction rather than a fix. But in your case it tried to fix the issue that is being caused by something else. Also have the roof assembly checked for integrity. Hope this helped.

myworld

Have had these on the car front and rear for about 3 years. No issues.

sirswift93

To be honest, I never knew I had a problem until I removed the inside liners to rerun some audio wires. Then I removed the right wheel well liner and saw the tares and the bolt that holds the fuel filler pulled away from the sheet metal.

Not for nothing, most of the welds back there are awful. You can tell that inert gas was not used and there is missed spots with splatter. I am referring to other structural areas of the trunk, not the shock towers.

In the photo from the wheel well side you can see a hairline crack to the left and right (about 3" long each side) around the shock tower, not the sheet metal.

myworld

I'll look tomorrow. I already have my car in pieces.

sirswift93

Myworld,

Did you look yet? When you do, can you take a picture of the right side so I know how much I should push the sheet metal back. Right now I had it welded in place so it would not tare more. However, the metal is just a few cm from touching the top of the strut.

If anyone can take a picture of that strut area on the right with the felt longing pulled back I would really appreciate it.

Thank you

Swift

sirswift93

I need to have my right rear shock tower welded closed, but I don't know how far back the sheet metal needs to be banged back. Should it match the left side?

A picture of someones would be greatly appreciated as soon as possible so I can drive my baby again.

MyWorld, VIP?

Thanks,

SirSwift

sirswift93

Bump

sirswift93

Took car into my friends body shop and found out my mechanic put my shocks on backwards. He put the front shocks on the back and the rear shocks on the front!!! I called Bilstein and they said this would cause the rear towers to fail. I still can't believe my mechanic mixed them up!

OldMercsNeverDi

Got Wiechers strut from german dealer for around 150 bucks.

To cut my story short, I put it back into box and hasta la vista

Anyone selling struts of decent build here? Adjustable ones?

myworld

Those witchers must not be so Bueno if you looked at them and sent them back.
Glad that I got mine from vipclk320. A little drilling and repositioning some things for the front. Had to cut the carpet panels in the back for the rear, but so easy to put on. Maybe he'll make some more, or have afew stashed away in storage.

OldMercsNeverDi

Not Bueno at all. I could have cut some bushings, close gaps with washers and repaint this piece of german engineering of course. Bit it meant to be finished article ready for install out of box.
If memory serves me well, VIP gave up with the idea of producing his masterpieces a while ago cause of some mean forum members not paying enough bucks for his time and efforts

It is sad to see most of this forum enthusiasts like him, William and many others are no longer active here. Must be going through the middle age crisis
Or just have scrapped their beloved CLKs

myworld

I think there still here. I see william post above, and vipclk320. They didn't give up there rides. There are a lot of others viewing. You can see them on the bottom by whose reading the forum. I like this forum more than benzwld. I've been stuck on fupabox's youtube channel though. So much reading and knowledge on the car.

VIPclk320

Im still here but unfortunately my beloved CLK was totaled the day after Christmas 2014 due to a lady driving her SUV on the wrong side of the road and hitting me head on. I was hospitalized but got o go home after a while but my car didn't make it home. I have since moved on to a 911 Porsche but still miss my w208 55. will always be a AMG fan at heart. any how I did scrape the project because many members started to nickel and dime me around after they placed their orders and would try to haggle with me over $10, so I said no thank you and just stopped all projects. I always made all my parts for my own enjoyment and the love of the w208 so I never cut corners or cheaped up that's why my parts were pricy but that's because of the quality and my limited production capability. any how. I still have to mercedeses in the household but am thinking about another AMG as a daily driver, maybe a stock w208!!!