PilotAlan

As I said, my wife is considering an E350 (service loaner snagged her while my GLK is in for service).
She like the Sport, they have a really nice one on the floor.

So, it seems VERY hard to find ground clearance info on E350s. What I can find says minimum 4.1 inches, the same as a C300. Now I had a C300, and it was LOW. Had real problems in snow and ice, curbs, etc.

The E350 Sport I have now seems to be much higher that my C300 was.
Can anyone give any definitive info, or anyone who had a C300 and E350 give some real world info?

Thanks.

SnakeDoctor

Sorry, no hard numbers here. I do know that I put very modest lowering springs on mine, and I scrape on the ramps in my parking garage at work, where a coworkers lowered S4 doesn't.

PilotAlan

Thanks Snake.
Still searching, can't find anything. Next time I'm at the dealership I'll have them pull a C Sport and an E Sport up and measure.
(And post it here, so the next guy can find it).

El Cid

The Luxury version stands taller, partially because it has All season tires with taller sidewalls. I park in lot of places with high sidewalks, curbs and parking bumpers. My Luxury version clears them all.

BenzV12

It should be 15.5 cm , in the neighborhood of 6 inches in other words . I tested a glass of bottle laid down on the ground (of course not in upright position lol ) , I easily run past on it w/o any drama .
Still, I am deterred to lower my car by 30 mm with springs because once I was going above 45 km/h and I hit the ground , there was a hidden bump inclined inside the road
Whenever I hit that route , I am reducing my speed and can go above that faulty area w/o any problem .

rufmb

This is really sweet if you don't mind the taller look. I was always concerned about parking bumpers with my Audi A6, if you managed to hook one there was no way out besides lifting the car or badly damaging the bumper if you couldn't find a piece of metal/wood handy - until Audi applied a retrofit. My Lux Benz clears them all!

Arrie

My E550 also clears them all and then some thanks to the airmatic that you can use to raise it up...

RSIKR

With a Sport which is lower than the Luxury and does not have adjustable air shocks like the E550 you have to avoid snagging those concrete "bumpers" in parking areas. I have not scraped any driveways or ramps. I cannot imagine wanting to lower the car any further. The ground clearance specs were available on the MBUSA website or at least they were when I bought my car.

Nuru

Yep, I met a few curbs and parking stop, my car did not like. I am now very careful when parking and even going over deep potholes and manhole covers.

mleskovar

Actually, the Sport trim is slightly higher at the axle than the Lux trim. I think it's only the front air dam that's lower. Using the shipped tire configurations of 245/40 R18 for the Sport trim and 245/45 R17 for the Lux the calculations show the Sport axle higher. No?
http://www.precisiongear.com/pgtechtire.htm
The difference to me in ride is so slight I can take it either way depending on what road I'm on.

Beemer2

The standard specification of my W212 Sport model states that it is 15mm (0.59") lower than the "Luxury" model. When I go over a "sleeping policeman" as they are called here in Scotland, I can only do so slower than walking pace and even then I like to go over slightly diagonal. If I don't then once over the top there is a suspension compression that allows a scrape.

mleskovar

I'm assuming that's at the lowest point. I just measured and the lowest point was at the corner of the air dam just in front of the tire.....5" = 127mm. The next lowest point is at the engine under cover and it was 5.25" = 133.4mm. I'm wondering if they changed the spring height between the two modelsl?


Here they're called 'speed bumps' ......usually preceded by an expletive.

ImInPA

I have the Luxury setup, and, for what its worth, I have never had the bumper hit a curb or parking separator. When I get a Sport model as a loaner, it seems to touch or snag every curb or parking seperator. I think I recall reading that the Sport sits about an inch lower than the Luxury model.

MCF

My wife has the luxury. Had regrets not getting the Sport but for a long term car I think I prefer the luxury. Have yet to touch the front end on anything. When we test drove it I even pulled up to a bunch of parking stops to see if it cleared. It did with every one. The front end on my wife's 328i was destroyed from parking stops.

Sunnybhatia18

Hey I have a 2014 e class w212 facelift and I noticed that my cars ground clearance is too high. I went and decoded my vin and it has has an option that states springs for higher ground clearance. Now I am not complaining but the higher ground clearance has completely killed the looks of the car. My tyres are 245/45/R17. I think the car has been raised to high and I wanted to reduce its ground clearance so that there is not such a big gap between my tyres and the fenders. What should I do ?

mleskovar

Wha? Never heard of a spring option. Is this for a specific country? What's the option number and description?

Sunnybhatia18

Hey the code for springs for higher ground clearance is 482 while I was looking for this code I also noticed another one that is b00 and states suspension measures for rough road terrain. I live in India and here some of the roads have potholes and high speed breakers aswell. I think that's the reason mb India has raised the car so much. See the link below for some photos of the car with higher ground clearance
http://www.motoroids.com/news/mercedes-e200-petrol-review-specs-prices-images-details/3/

mleskovar

Now I see what you mean....the SA build code. I thought you meant an order able option. I don't see why you couldn't just lower it like every one else does when they want it lowered but I don't know anything other than what I've read in passing. The USA spring code is 677 for my car.

Johnny Rad

I've got a '12 E550 and the lower front bumper is too low to clear the vast majority of parking lot cement blocks / stoppers.

I absolutely love the look, but not being parking lot friendly is kinda lame. It's not an AMG.