I'm sure this has been posted before, but I thought I'd give a quick review.

I recently got a 2005 CLK 500 convertible. I live by the coast line in Northern California so I brought it out and pushed it through the switch backs, and it handled like garbage. The backend felt sloppy, (shocks in the rear were found to be completely bad) the front end had heavy understeer (I know it will always have understeer, but it was VERY BAD) I decided that a full suspension kit was in order. I have used Bilstein shocks, never had any past issues with them, so when I saw the B12 kit I went for it.
I used KYB strut mounts, they seem a bit softer then stock. But, I figured I'd mention what was used in conjunction with the Bilstein kit. I bought new strut retaining nuts and prebuilt the struts so I could just pull the whole unit and replace it.
So after all that unneeded information above, I just wanted to say BUY THIS KIT. The car tracks flat now, very little body roll, holds the road over bumps and dips. Before it felt like leap frog over large dips at high speed. Now I can push the car, and enjoy it. Best of all, it doesn't bounce, it doesn't feel like a lowered car. Drove about 100 miles with the wife and two kids, nobody felt the car was bouncing or to stiff. It literally feels stock...... But better. I've lowered cars in the past, when I was a kid I threw eibach springs on hondas without changing shocks or struts, and bounced all over the road. This is NOT the case here, this kit feels balanced. I'm getting older and don't have the best back 😂🤣😂 but didn't feel anything, but the fun of driving. Maybe other people have had a different experience with this kit, but I'm more then happy with it.
My kit came with Eibach springs and Bilstein shocks and struts. Like mentioned before I used KYB front strut mounts.
Wondering if anyone else has installed this kit, if so are you as happy as me? Or maybe disappointed?

 

I have very similar setup on my clk320 (the same b8 shocks/struts but with H&R springs). It definitely improves handling (I agree that stock clk320/clk500 suspension sucks), but to get all out of your suspension I'd recommend to replace (especially front) all control arms/bushings and install better swaybars, for example adjustable h&r swaybars.
BTW I don't really notice understeer (and I don't think that it's tend to understeer, it's rear wheel drive front engine car with good enough front suspension) but it's maybe because I have rear swaybar on harder setting.

 

707CLK500, I've recently installed the SAME kit on my 2009 CLK350 and it makes the car very different. No more ambiguity. Very precise now.

Bob Metzner

 

I read your post, very interesting, just thought about purchasing such a kit. But I could not decide because of the understatement-30cm. The condition is now very bad, swings, staples, nods, the car came from Japan recently to me in Russia)

 

The 30cm lowering makes the car look better and doesn't affect much else. You WILL notice the suspension is much STIFFER than before.

 

and how much lower will the car be, do you have photos?

 

It's very difficult to visualize a mere 30cm (1.25") lowering. You would need a picture of the car before and after.
The change is most notable in the wheel well opening; fender lip to top of tire.

 

You obviously not going to use your car during winter so I think it should be fine, but in terms of stiffness it might be a bit too much, I'm pretty sure you can find lots of feedback on drive2.ru
BTW you might need to buy rubber spring spacer (those are original things ) for the rear springs, in my case lowering was ~35mm front and ~33mm rear and yet the rear was sitting a bit lower than front, I used i think pads #4.
I'll try to post couple of pictures.

 

Before (16" wheels)
After (I know it's hard to see, but it's all i have, right after installing = suspension is not settled)


Front and rear after suspension is settled

 

18" wheels


Rear spring pads #4

 

Not the best angles, but you can see the difference in the front height. I do scrap a tiny bit leaving my driveway, and did not before. I honestly don't feel that the ride quality is poor at all, I live way out in the country and we have some very bad roads out here, but the car takes the bumps with very little harshness. I want to be clear that you DO feel the road more, and it definitely IS translated to the chassis more. But, in no way (at least to me) does the ride feel poor or "aftermarket" it feels more responsive and more direct. I just went on a weekend outing and drove some very aggressive back roads with my wife and kids, nobody feels the ride is to firm or harsh. Again these are my opinions, I can only say how the car feels to me. But, I would 100% recommend this kit.

 

Oh, man, how do you know about driver2?) I looked there too, a lot of useful information, but not on w209. About the original elastic bands for shock absorbers, I also know. By the way the 4th size is the last or is there still a 5th? I was planning to buy a b 12, and put the highest elastic bands so that it wasn't too low. And so on 18 radius I think sitting in front of a simple sex))

 

In the second photo, the view is the same, as I realized, b12 should be bought and have fun. What I need, in a city environment. It remains to repair the hydro cylinder of the roof.. And everything would be OK

 

I'm originally from Belarus
Yup #4 is the tallest one, 17mm. Just to be clear there are no spacers for the front suspension.
Yup

 

Прикольно. Я сам живу в Дагестане, и моя бабушка была родом с Белоруссии, в партизанах, во время войны дедушка женился и привёз ее к себе) так что я тоже на половину белорус)) надеюсь мой переводчик правильно пишет.

Look at before and as I understand it, the rubber stops are not present from the factory or you could simply not set? Because on 208, I seem to have them, as far as I remember.

 

I checked with Bilstein Tech Support and they tell me the rubber suspension stops are not needed on their products because they have them internally.

 

Даже так это клево. Я тут еще не встречал русскоязычных мерседесоводов, тем более наполовину беларусов, рад знакомству! Кстати, если будут вопросы по машине можешь в личку писать, я своя 320 перебрал во всех возможных направлениях (включая своп ручной коробки) :-D

 

The set probably has the same size. And if you want a little higher, I think you can put the original set in 4 versions. .

 

У тебя купе? У меня кабрик, попал на протекающий цилиндр крыши. Ищу вот мастера, кто возьмётся, чтоб отправить ))

 

Moving our Russian-speaking conversation into a private thread

 

I think there is a slight misconception here: rubber bump stop is one thing and spring pad is a different one. When you're talking about changing a suspension height you're talking about rear spring pads (part # 2103250184, 2103250284, 2103250384, 2103250484 they are installed on all cars, most owners just don't know about them). In my case I had i think pad #2 installed originally, which is 9mm and to level my suspension after installing h&r spring this b8 shocks/struts I had to switch to pads #4 which is 17mm (+8mm), I'm not saying that it's necessary, but my car looks better with them
As for the bump stops they are exist only on stock struts/shocks and not on Bilstein b8 shocks/structs (which are shocks/struts from b12 kit).

 

@dzmitry: Thank you for clearing that up. It wasn't clear to me what was being discussed. I left my spacers the same.
Since the original thread was about the Bilstein B12 kit, I thought it important to note the bump stocks are internal on Bilsteins.

I think it's also wise to purchase the thin slotted nut and the tool to tighten it. That way, you can take it to a shop and have them put the new Eibach springs on the Bilstein front struts FOR you. My local shop charged me $30 each and I wouldn't want that job with a rented spring compressor.

I originally bought some Chinese top mounts, but the hole diameter was too small so they didn't fit the Bilstein shaft. I returned them and got the KYB units which worked just fine. Somewhere in the Instructions I read the "thicker" tab on the mounts goes toward the engine.

When replacing the rears, several YouTube instructions tell you to pull the inside control arm bolts to get the springs in and out. Nonsense. It's much easier to drop the OUTSIDE end.
Ask yourself if it's easier to work near the outside or half way under the car? With a Cabrio, it's simple to raise the top to a vertical position to get to the top bolt and I encourage buying a socket for the flattened shock shaft end. Having all the special tools you need before you start the job makes it go faster.

 

that drop looks perfect! 👍

 

Look, you're not doing 3.2 l, are you? Judging by the brakes.. And the rear bumper doesn't look like an AMG.

 

At least officially it's still clk320, although it's seating without the engine waiting for v8 right now :-D. I installed amg brakes couple of years ago.
Here is proof