Hi guys - I'm new here, as I just bought a '91 300E from a friend. Great car, but it needed tires, so of course things got out of hand and bought new 17" monoblock II's and Eibach springs as well. The car looks pretty good, except that the front still sits too high (like a 3" gap above the wheel). The mechanic said that it'll settle (it was done yesterday), but I'm thinking the rubber thing above the spring needs to be switched out with a thinner one. Any thoughts or experience in this area? Also, have any of you guys experienced an anoying low speed rattle coming from the left rear wheel area? Thanks a lot for any feedback you may have!

Wait until it settles and go from there. There are four different spring pads available for the front. You can distinguish between them by the number of bumps on the border. You did not mention about the shocks. They may be shot. If they are, time for new Sport Bilstein but, since your mechanic did not mention the need maybe you don't need them...
Check all the rubber bushings in the rear and specially the sway bar link.
Good luck!

Thanks for the reply. I'll wait to see how much it settles. The shocks are Boge gas with only around 2k on them. The car is handling quite well, with the exception of it needing an alignment still (the mechanic told me to drive it a bit to settle the suspension before aligning).

Cant help you on the spring/shock/tire issue, but on the noise you hear from the rear wheel area. The idea of the rubber bushing is one, but if the rattle followes somewhat the turing of the wheels than check the sheet metal take up of the parking brake pads. When they are getting old and corroded then they tend to rub along the driven axle. Either exchange them or try to clean off the rust, it might help. To exchange you need to take apart the whole brake assembly and the the hub.

Thanks for your input. The rattle doesn't depend on the wheels turning. In fact, I can pound the side of the L rear tire with my fist and hear it. Any other thoughts?

how are your parking brakes? do they seem a little loose? do you have to push the pedal down alot? if so, it may be the brake shoes rattling in there...happened to me...i actually lost my parking brake completely one day and i had been noticing a rattle from one of the wheels..turns out that the brake was so worn out, that it just came apart and all the pieces caused the rattling...

hope that helps you out...

Mario

It may very well be the parking brake shoes, as the pedal does have to be pushed down quite far. Thanks a lot for your thoughts!