01V8

Good evening all!

I recently popped some H&R springs + Bilsteins into my 210. The handling is fantastic and I don't really mind the extra rigidity since I used to daily an older M3. One concern though, is that the front hasn't seemed to settle. At all. It was around stock wheel gap if not a little bit higher than stock once the parts were installed, and it's still pretty high up there and looks a little silly. The rear is tucked beautifully and I love where that's at, but I'm not quite sure what to do about the front looking like a monster truck. I'm planning on picking up some #1 pads and throwing those on as well, but that would only be about a 0.5in drop max if my math is right. Is there anything else I can do to help things settle a little bit?

Thank you!

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khomer2

What pad #s are presently in the front?
Are you certain the HR springs are the correct ones and perhaps, reversed (rear springs in the front and front springs in the rear)?

You should have seen an immediate drop after installing the springs

01V8

khomer,
To be completely honest, I had a shop install the springs for me as I wasn't comfortable using a compressor myself. I'm planning on personally taking on the pad switch project - "If you want it done right, do it yourself," right?
As such, I have no clue what size pads are currently on the car. I have a suspicion that the rear springs may be installed on the front and vice versa, and if that's the case I'll find that out once I'm dinking around figuring out the pads. Switching them around shouldn't be too bad once I get the hang of using a spring compressor haha. I was expecting it to take a little time to settle but it's been nearly 6 weeks since install and the front isn't looking quite right.

Thanks for the input!

khomer2

Determining the pad # is simple. Look at the topside of the springs front and back. You will see on the underside on the spring pad, "dimples" anywhere from 1 to 5, OR you can feel for them.

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...ring-pads.html

raymond g-

Settling of the springs isn't measured in days but actual miles...and it's also dependant upon the road conditions.
Break in (which some spring manfs claim is zero) relies on metal stressing.

Springs usually have a number or color code on them so it should be easy enough for you to crawl underneath
and examine with good lighting. The number on the back spring should be different than the front. Too late now
to compare their unsprung lengths...which usually has longer springs on the front given the front weight bias.
Compare the numbers with the spring part numbers and that should tell you if they were put on the correct ends
of the car.

While you're down there, you should be able to see the "rubber nubs" on the spring pads which will tell you
which pads are already there. It is important to note that swapping them will usually result in a little change, ie
more like .25" or so. So given the large gap in front, you'll not likely get the gap closure that you desire. It is
better to keep driving and watch for settlement in a month or three. If you are going to spend all that labor
swapping pads now, you may find in a few months that after the spring settles, it may be too low and you'll
end up redoing the spring pad job again.

my Eibach lowering springs required a year, given that I didn't drive hard, mostly freeway, and only
for pleasure (I mostly drive my truck or motorcycle). I am having to get underneath and switch to
larger pads now. I have about a half finger gap in front and I'd like full finger. glamorizing a car
can be so subjective :-)

(here is mine from a few weeks ago)

01V8

raymond -
Thanks for the input! I actually put about 650 miles on the car a couple days after installing the springs, and have been taking it out regularly (maybe another 250mi?) since then. On top of that, I'm currently living in Michigan so the suspension has definitely been working more than I'd like it to need to. I'll check the spring installations soon, and won't mess with the pads for a couple more months if they've actually been put in correctly. You're right, the small difference from a pad swap wouldn't really satisfy my lowering desires haha.