ledfoot

My wife just picked up a beautiful dk blue 1995 e320 wagon. She loves it but it sits quite high. All of our other cars are dropped, she is used to a firmer ride & more controlled suspension. Please skip the usual warnings about factory settings blah blah. We like the car to look good, and I want to know which springs & shocks will give a good compromise between handling & ride. I am also concerned about how to lower the rear self leveling struts. Please advise...

I am thinking about a 16" factory-style 8 hole wheel (ASA from Tire rack- any good?), and they recommend a 205/55-16. If I drop the car 1" - 1 1/2" should I go to a shorter tire? What about a 17"? what sizes would you run?

I like the looks of the car in this picture, this is the color of our car.

Thanks in advance
Jeff

shadowgriffen

There really aren't many options for lowering a wagon when it comes to rear the rear, especially given the fact that it has a self leveling rear supension.

If you can defeat the rear load-level then you should be able to do alot.

there are a few suspension experts here that will chime in soon.

My wagon is/was lowered by my old time mechanic using SACHS sport shocks (MB OEM sportline supossedly) and what he said were sport springs from an MB coupe, but my car is significantly lower and I'm happy as hell!

as far as the rear is concerned, I have zero complaints as I'm pretty much always loaded with a bunch of stuff (baby stroller etc...etc..) so it sits a tad low


Best of luck!

Chappy

Wow - what a timely thread as I'm looking for a W124 wagon at the moment.

Here's some info I've been digesting....

http://www.w124performance.com/docs/...suspension.txt

Chappy

Do you have a child seat installed? How many? Rear facing? I just installed a rear-facing infant seat in my CE and the passenger seat is moved up quite a bit....could I fit 2 rear-facing child seats in a TE without having to squish the driver or front seat passenger too much?

ledfoot

You may have to suffer through several months of having the rear-facing seat in there. Believe me, it gets better once you turn the little guys around. My boy is 4 yrs and my girl is 21 months, they are both finally in thinner, forward facing seats which makes life much easier (especially in my extended cab Silverado).

shadowgriffen

I've had both facing forward and back in my TE, no problem what-so-ever

Chappy

Appreciate the info.

Bigpete123

I'm just speculating since I don't have a wagon, but I beleive the challenge with lowering wagons is really more about whether they are 4matic (AWD). If they are, there's no way to lower them without a good deal of custom work.

I don't know what the self-leveling shocks entail, but I would think you could do like shadowgriffen and just replace them with regular shocks, no?

Is the issue that nobody sells lowering kits specifically designed for the wagon? I'm sure the weight in the front of the car is simply dependent on the engine you have, but the rear might be a tad heavier than the sedans. So I'd look into the weight difference between the 95 e320 sedan and the 95 320 wagon. If it isn't significant, you will probably get away with just buying a kit for the e320 sedan.

I'm talking a little out of my ***, but that's what I would do if I were you. Also consider a camber kit. I lowered my coupe on H&R's and had to buy a camber kit recently to correct the rear (burned through a set of tires very quickly). good luck

shadowgriffen

you are definitely on to something, again lol

Eliot

SLS is adjustable. At least it is on the 500s.

I'd suggest converting the Wagon to Sportline spec or at least the Struts and Coil Springs. It will provide a lower firmer ride using factory parts.

ledfoot

I am just learning this model of Mercedes. Just assume I am starting from scratch, I have just started reading through the forums.

Eliot, When you say "I'd suggest converting the Wagon to Sportline spec or at least the Struts and Coil Springs. It will provide a lower firmer ride using factory parts."

That sounds great. Where to I get the parts and how mush are they? Is there an expert to call that will know the part numbers?

Thanks for all the responses!
-Jeff

Eliot

You could get pretty much the entire W124 Lineup in a Sportline form... except in America.


[Credit to DaveM - the following is lifted from his website]

============================================
300TE Sportline Wagon (124.x90/x92 - Euro)
============================================
Front Sportline Springs
124-321-27-04 ($NA)
124-321-28-04 ($NA)
124-321-29-04 ($82)
124-321-30-04 ($82)
(higher number is stiffer, for heavier car)

Front Sportline struts
124-320-35-30 Front Strut ($214)
129-323-03-44 Shaft buffer ($13)


Front AMG strut
HWA-124-320-03-30 ($521 EUR)


Rear Sportline Springs, with SLS (self leveling rear)
124-324-23-04 (light) - ($75)
124-324-28-04 (heavy) - ($83)

Rear Sportline hydro-shock
124-320-38-13 w/SLS ($365 EUR) - (now 124-320-23-13 ?)

Rear AMG hydro-shock
HWA-124-320-07-13 (No longer available?)


AMG wagon complete suspension package,
part number: B6-6-02-0009 (No longer available?)
part number: B6-6-02-0005 ($2275 EUR) - With SLS - ($4640 US)

============================================
Spring pads / shims
============================================
201-321-09-44 - Front, 1-point (8mm)
201-321-10-44 - Front, 2-point (13mm)
201-321-11-44 - Front, 3-point (18mm)
201-321-12-44 - Front, 4-point (23mm)

201-325-09-44 - Rear, 1-point (8mm)
201-325-10-44 - Rear, 2-point (13mm)
201-325-11-44 - Rear, 3-point (18mm)

[Credit to DaveM - the above was lifted from his website]

It appears there isn't a Sportline spec swaybar (torsion bar) for the Estate. I'd suggest ordering from buymbparts.com. No one has a better price and Rusty can order anything and everything.

If you wanted to compromise you might consider the Sportline Coil Springs and a set of Bilstiens all around.

Chappy

Sportline seems like a very good option. I did this to my W124 coupe 5 years ago and I was very pleased with the results.

rooney2006

some companies do sell springs just for the wagon... search ebay.de for "w124 federn" and a bunch of hits will pop up, most of which will be for the wagon. (based on my personal experiences)

AMGDave

You can special-order the Sportline kit for the wagon from Europe. It won't be cheap though. You CAN NOT adjust height with the SLS system!!! You set the height with springs, and set the SLS to the ride height. Using the stock rear hydro-legs with the correct wagon lowering springs might work decently well, although the Sportline hydro-leg would be preferable (albeit bloody expensive.) If your local dealers can't, or won't, order the Euro parts... you can buy them from Speed-Autoteile.com in Germany. Their prices are excellent but the exchange rate eats some of that, and shipping costs are crazy to get things across the pond.

Chappy

ledfoot,

Have you made any decisions on your suspension setup? My idea with the wagon is to have the suspension setup similar to my coupe with the OE Sportline parts. Any trouble sourcing the parts?

AMGDave

All the parts for the wagon Sportline kit were also used on other models, EXCEPT the rear hydro-legs. There should be no problem ordering any of the items through Rusty, or your local dealer, except maybe the hydro-legs... if so, Speed-Autoteile.com can get the wagon Sport hydros for you (shipping will probably be $100+ though.)

About the wagon sway bars, the wagon Sportline kits do indeed have different bars... the front is the "limo" bar (-77-65) and the rear is the standard 16.5mm Sportline bar (-19-65). I didn't put sway bar info into that text file, only springs & dampers. The sway bar specs & part numbers are listed here:

http://www.w124performance.com/images/W124_sway_bars/

kwontumspeed

What AMG Dave said is correct, you cannot technically lower the height of the rear of the wagon using the SLS system.

Because this is exactly what I am in the middle of, I'll chime in with what I have discovered myself on my 94 E320 Wagon.

As applied to the rear, as it seems this thread has gone, you can install the sportline wagon springs with the #1 pads and get about 3/4 to 1" of drop in the rear, this is with the "heavier" springs. There are two types of springs for the sportline rear with SLS so I am assuming that with the "lighter" ones (please refer to parts posted above by eliot) you may net a fraction more(?). The suspension works fine with stock hydros and from what I can see in flexing the suspension nothing is binding to where the Sportline hydros are required for the set up.

The SLS system, with the spring set up aforementioned, you have enough adjustment to get the SLS to the neutral position, but barely - at least on my wagon. This is important otherwise the SLS sytem will want to keep pushing your suspension up, straining your system unecessariliy until it fails prematurely.

I'll take some pics and height measurements when I get the car back from the paint shop for lower clad matching

Edit: Everything was bought through rusty and all sportline parts ordered were stocked in the USA, not GmbH. Except for my front sportline struts but it seems that I may have ordered the wrong ones...

Chappy

Any thoughts on this one?

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...e=&cardist=395

shadowgriffen

NEXT!

First thing - the car looks good, but it has too many imperfections. the fit and finish does not look so fit anymore.

If you compare that car to mine (mine is older) it doesnt hold a candle to my wagons superior fit!

second thing - that grill, that bumper and the wheels

sorry but I WILL judge this book by it's cover!

Chappy

Agreed. I'd have to do too much work to reverse some things on that car. I'm going to see another TE in the morning (thanks again LoveLEE for the heads up). Perhaps we'll strike a deal and the fun can begin.

Chappy

Why does every wagon I look at have to have been in front AND rear accidents?

LoveLEE143

Because soccer moms normally drive them and pay more attention to their screaming kids than the road.

I will continue to throw ones out that I see on my ever going search for good deals on MBs

ZedStyle

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/car/364971384.html

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/car/364539842.html

E4///Turbo

Rear Self Leveling on the 95 wagon is no challenge to lower,I would keep the self leveling as it helps to keep a good ride height when the car loaded,You can change the springs, and adjust ride height by moving the position of the arm on the sway bar....

The SLS on the s500,6.9 do not use coil springs at all,,,the S500 can be lowered with software the 6.9 with a big brain...the wagon is no harder than a standard w124, the all wheel drive w124 wagon is another story...I am not real good at writing instructions but i have lowered a few w124 wagons with very happy drivers still crusing around....