john87699

Hey all,

Assuming the lowering goes as planned and the wheels and everything go as planned, I should have pics posted by tonight.

I say "as planned" only becuase I'm not using any lowering module or anything - doing it just like I did my E500 two years ago. Adam, pray for me buddy - I'm hoping the operation goes smoothly with no complications.

adam76

u r brave, slicing and dicing your CLS! i cant believe i had my CLS this long, and u just got yours and are getting the wheels and everything done b4 me. im frustrated. my wheels took a little longer at the chromer, so im hoping they show up any day now. lowering mod is in. BTW- what wheels did u get?

hlkc

john87699,

Do you mind share that what method are you using to lower your CLS?

Thanks in advance,
hlkc

adam76

hes using the "As seen on TV one" , "It slices, it dices, it will drop your CLS! Orignally 99.99, yours for only 19.99!!!"

sorry John, coudlnt resist.

aka, hes lowering the ride height sensors.

john87699

LOL..."slicing and dicing" - it just sounds horrible when you put it that way.

I'm not sure which method they are using on the CLS - there are two ways they could go - one is simply adjusting the ride height sensors like they did on my E500. The other which is the more accepted way nowadays is by draining out the fluid as I understadn it and it just "settles" lower - don't quote me on the latter method though as I'm not 100% sure what I'm talking about. :p

I don't mind being the guinea pig ever so it's cool - they've already lowered about 5 CLS's in L.A. so I trust em - I actually was driving next to a white one on tan yesterday with 20" GFG Azuls on it. They were really big and the car wasn't lowered quite enough to handle that size I didn't think. I went 19's (which was hard for me because I always feel bigger is better...lol) because the 20's I had on my E were just too big - and the CLS is so sporty, I wanted to keep it as close to the ground as possible. Don't get me wrong, the two pics I've seen of the Brabus and Carlsson's on 20's look hot as can be - the lowering module seems to work wonders but it's a lot of money and it needs to sit low with 20's. (But if mine doesn't turn out right, I'll be buying one...lol)

As for the brand of rims I'm doing - it's a surprise - we'll see how fast everyone guesses what they are - I went random on this car but I think it will turn out sweet. Hope so anyways.

john87699

HAHA...LMAO

Naw they didn't have the special where it went from $99.99 to $19.99, but they had one where if I bought right there and then they took one entire payment off of the total price, so instead of three payments, it was only two low payments of $29.99. Now who the heck can resist a deal like that???

hlkc

john,

Thank you. Please post some before and after pictures if you can.

hlkc

john87699

Here are some before photos from when I first got the car Friday.

https://mbworld.org/forums/cls-coupe-c219/103553-last-mine-muuuaawwww.html

adam76

c'mon man, i need a hint at least! i gave u some good ones before telling u what i got...speaking of, just got back from the shop, hoping to be delviered by mid week

john87699

I'm gonna post pics in about 3 hours so you will see them then. Turned out money with the exception of three things - keep in mind I'm a psycho perfectionsist when it comes to my car...lol. All three items are being finished Wednesday or Thursday though so it's cool:

1. For anyone who does 19's or 20's, do 10.5 and not 9.5 if you can - or at least make sure to do 285's. I did wide 275's and when you lower it, there is a stagger gap that becomes noticeable between the edge of the wheel and the fender - tires or wheels need to be wider basically. Easy solution - here in LA at Gloge they are simply machining good ol' 7 mm spacers custom fitted between the wheel and the rim - this solves any issues with the stagger and will "push it out" just right.

2. Centercaps need the Mercedes star - they're custom making those as well so I'm all good there.

3. Lowering worked perfect excpet the front needs to be dropped 0.2 to 0.3 inches more and it'll be all set.

Again, these probably wouldn't bother anyone else, but I'm OCD picky...LOL.

I will post pics as-is tonight, but there is still some minor work to be done so I had to let ya'll know that...lol.

adam76

Nooo, not spacers!?!?!

good thing i did 20x10.5 with 285s

cant wait for picts, hurry hurry!

hlkc

Thanks for the info. Can't wait to see the pictures.

hlkc

john87699

[QUOTE=adam76]Nooo, not spacers!?!?! QUOTE]

Go ghetto or go home - that's my motto. LMAO. So far I've got thumbs up from all the car fanatics in the neighborhood down here so that's a good sign. You'll be surprised when you see what brand of rims I chose. They're a BBS rim that was in style about 7 years ago - krylon gold with silver lip.

LOL...Just playing witcha.

I actually went with my favorite brand of all time back from when I had the GS - back then I did 123's - this time around I went with 343's...Couldn't be happier how they turned out - I thought I was gonna go blind looking at so many rims when I accidentaly happened upon them - I was thinking - where is the last placce I would think of finding a good rim for this car and all of a sudden I realized that's how I found the rims for my old GS. First rim I saw on Antera's website was the 343 - fell in love with it - hit the CEC showroom here in L.A. and checked em out in person and had to have em - there is my love story for everyone...lol.

ppilot

John,
You said your guys have done 5 or so CLS lowerings in LA. Could you give us the name of the shop? I'm in Santa Barbara and would like to do a "ride sensor" lowering. Also what is the cost?

Regards
Ppilot

BKMS1

nice look

adam76

wheres the ghetto?? these look nice, not as "loud" as i was expecting. this before pushing out the rears, i see what u mean about the gap if so, if not, looks like u need to add another set of spacers :p

john87699

Yeah - the spacers aren't in yet (thin spacers is the wrong word here - can't remember what they call them - soem machined hub fitment - heck - spacers sounds good to me...lol) and it needs to be dropped slightly more, but it's almost there. Not as "loud" - I like that...lol...I'm notorious for going all chrome and making em loud as hell, so this time I decided to switch it up a little. Thought the silver and chrome look would have a good contrast and look especially with the silver car. Thanks for the compliments - I'll post more pics when I'm "satisified" with the finished product...lol.

adam76

im afraid i may be too loud, but F it, i like big shiny wheels. i had Kellener K-Sports re-drilled for both my GS'es, i like those, it was like a giant chrome dish, with some style. those GFGs i got coming are pretty full faced too, still waiting

with the spacers, do u know if your wheels are hub-centric, or if they had to use centering rings? if so, the best way to do this is to machine the ring with the spacer, that way everything stays hub-centric, and u dont have as many "parts" to fit your wheels and degrade ride quality. FYI- if u use spacers with GFGs wheels, u void the warranty.

also picked up this exceprt from a well established customizer whos done a number of CLS'es.

http://mbwerks.com/loweringfaq.html

How about the "link" system?
The link system is merely a trick to reposition the sensors on the vehicle, thus causing the vehicle to lower by a certain ride height. It does not compensate for the new ride height setting. And worse, the signals still persist in the suspension control module and the car lowers further when it reaches 80mph. It is a lowering approach that has damaged numerous suspension systems and it is something we strongly do not recommend.


Check out their site and gallery, they have like 5 CLS'es on there! http://www.autowerksdirect.com/

john87699

Adam,

Yeah - they don't do the sensor lowering anymore here I found out too - the shocks apparently went out on a lot of them - or worse. Not sure what they used to do mine. I probably don't wanna know (naw - they do good work - should be all good). LOL

I'll try and find out tomorrow when I go in there - I'll also ask about the hub centric stuff as well - good call and thanks for the info. I think it is a single piece they machine from what I understand - does that sound right? I know they are having it made.

For the other person who asked up in Santa Barbara, the shop is the sister company for 310 Motoring here in L.A. - They are on La Cienega and Venice - Globe Motorsports. www.globemotorsports.com

Ask for Jeff or Stan when you call and they can help. 310.836.0804

aniantchev

John, this is sweet, man!!! Put the spacers and the mercedes logo in the center cap and repost but so far it looks great! I am going Carlsson on the lowering and then think about wheels.

john87699

Thanks Aniantchev! I shoudl have the spacers in either today or tomorrow - been debating but I think I gotta drop it about 0.2 inches more in the front - don't wanna go ghetto low with it, but it just seems like it needs to go down a hair more. We shall see..lol. Thye're custom tooling the center caps to fit the Antera center so I'll let you know how it turns out.

piper

Sorry, but the car now looks like ***. Looked much better with the stock wheels.

john87699

LMAO - don't hold back. I might agree with you if not for the crowd around the car wherever I've parked the past two days

Out of curiousity Piper, what would you have done differently - I'm completely open to constructive criticism. If your only feedback is " I would have left it the way it was with the stocks" then we simply have different taste in how we like our cars - and that's cool too.

hlkc

I like this a lot https://mbworld.org/forums/showpost....08&postcount=2

Cheers!

adam76

Cheers!



John - well put!