johnc510

MBWorld has a good wealth of information for a newbie MB owner like myself but I couldn't find any DIY info for installing lowering springs for my w212 E350. So here's my attempt to give back to the community!

I recently purchased some H&R sport lowering springs and took the time to take photos and take notes along the way so that I can share my experience with others.

DISCLAIMER: This guide is for informational purposes only. It is only meant to educate you on the steps I went through to install H&R springs in my car. I am not a mechanic and I am not responsible for how you use this information. You understand that there are risks involved when modifying your suspension. This includes the risk of injury and/or death to yourself and to others during and after installation. Additional risks can include property damage to your vehicle, other personal property, and the property of others. Furthermore, you may be voiding your Mercedes-Benz warranty. It is strongly advised you have a professional mechanic perform any suspension work to your vehicle. If you are still foolish enough to attempt to do your own installation, please make safety (for you and for others around you) your #1 priority and remember, you are doing this at YOUR OWN RISK.

I'm going to break this guide down into three sections. Section 1 will contain the tools I used. Section 2 will cover the installation of the rear springs. And then Section 3 will cover the installation of the front springs.


SECTION 1 - Tools Used
These are the tools I used during installation.

1. Air compressor


2. Pneumatic impact wrench


3. Jack & Jackstands



4. 1/2" & 3/8" socket wrenches, metric sockets, and extensions (sockets used: 13mm, 16mm, 17mm, 18mm, 21mm)


5. Universal sockets for star bolts (sockets used: 10mm, 11mm, 14mm)


6. Torx bits (sizes used: T-55, T50, T-40)


7. Needle-nose pliers, wire-cutter, 18mm crescent wrench, flat-head screwdrivers


8. Spring compressor


9. Small sledge hammer

johnc510

SECTION 2 - Installing Rear Springs
Note: Although I ultimately replaced the rear springs by removing the inner lower control arm bolt, in retrospect, I probably should have did it by removing the outer control arm bolt. It would probably have made the job easier.

NOTE: For the removal of bolts, I used the pneumatic impact wrench whenever possible (i.e. as long as the impact wrench had space to get to the bolts). It is very possible to remove them with just hand tools and a lot of muscle & sweat. When reinstalling and tightening the bolts, I used hand tools and muscles. Ideally, you'll want to use a torque wrench to tighten the bolts to spec. Unfortunately, I don't own a torque wrench and don't know what the torque settings are supposed to be for each bolt so I tightened them hand tight. YMMV (your muscles may vary).

1. Raise one side of the rear of car and keep it raised with jackstand and remove wheel.


2. Remove lower control arm plastic cover. There are four tabs above the cover that clips the top and bottom parts of this cover. Use needle-nose plyer and carefully remove all four tabs to separate the two parts.


3. Remove top and bottom track bar plastic covers. They are held together by four tabs. Carefully insert a small flathead screwdriver in each tab to pry them loose.


4. Remove shock bolt with 16mm socket (nut) and 11mm star socket (bolt)
(the one connecting the shock to the lower control arm)
5. Remove stabilizer link bolt with 13mm socket (nut) and 10mm star socket (bolt)


6. This is where I think I made things difficult for myslef. I removed the inner control arm bolt (torx T-55 for bolt and I think 13mm nut). With the exhaust piping in the way, it made this a difficult step.


7. Step 6 loosens the lower control arm and the spring is freely accessible. Remove the stock spring and take note of where both ends of the spring sits on both the lower and upper spring insulators.


8. Install the new spring with the ends of the spring resting on the same spots of the lower and upper spring insulators as the stock springs.

9. Use the jack to raise the lower control arm back into position and replace the inner control arm bolt.

10. Line up the shock and replace the shock bolt.

11. Line up the stabilizer link and replace stabilizer link bolt.


12. Reinstall the plastic covers from steps 2 and 3.

13. Reinstall wheel, bring the car back down, and then repeat for the opposite rear side.


Comparison photo of stock rear spring vs H&R rear spring:

johnc510

I'm out of time tonight. I'll Have to continue this write-up tomorrow night!

BM2BZ

wow, i think some of the techs from the dealers and indy shops will probably learn a thing or two from this write up !

PHML

Nice writeup John...thanks for sharing. The pics are very helpful for the DIY gang.

BenzV12

This is one of the best detailed posts I have ever seen
Another good thing on your behalf is adding DISCLAIMER notes . Because this job could turn out to be dangerous at wrong hands
Great to see such a handy member on board

I like your air compressor as well

hyperion667

wow! lots of work! and lots of work to share your results!!
top marks for you brother, thanx for sharing this with us....I'm not likely
to try this myself, but kudos for taking the time to arrange your work in photo's and
posting them

alanme123

Very impressive... I was lost just from the tools already.. I'm sure it'll be extremely useful to the other techies here on board, but not for me

SnakeDoctor

Nice man. I haven't done this in a long time, and had mine done by a performance shop. Props for doing yourself. I was too lazy :P

bryant_is_bored

PHML

When you have a chance...please post up pics of your stance...before and after.

hyperion667

I'd like to thank you, with these:
http://thechive.com/2013/02/12/kate-...%28theCHIVE%29

thanx man

BM2BZ

it'll be a very nice scene when she's in a lowered w/20" w212 on a bumpy road .

johnc510

Wow, thanks for all the feedback everyone!

Time to write up the rest!

johnc510

SECTION 3 - Installating Front Springs

Replacing the springs in the front of the car consists of removing a total of 6 bolts (not including the 5 bolts for each front wheels), 2 nuts, and a nylon/plastic tie wrap on each side of the car.

1. Raise one side of the front of car and keep it raised with jackstand and remove wheel.

2. Although I performed this step at a slightly later step for the first side of the front (when I was taking the photos), I found it much easier to do early on when I did the other front side. Therefore, please ignore the fact the strut upper bolt has already been removed in the following photo.

There is a plastic part that's attached to the strut via two arched-shaped "extended clips" (you won't be able to see the clips until you remove it). I don't know what it's called but let's call it the brake-line management thingy.

First, cut the zip-tie that's wrapped around it and the body of the strut. Now, carefully, pull away the two brake lines that are clipped onto it so that the two brake lines are free-dangling. Next, remove the brake-line management thingy by sticking a flathead screw driver in the gap where it meets the strut's upper bolt mount. Start with the flathead screwdriver in the top of the gap and twist the screwdriver back-and-forth to start the separation. Proceed the screwdriver to the bottom part of the gap and do the same until the top and bottom are loosened. Push the entire brake-line management thingy away from the strut's upper bolt mount while keeping it close to the body of the strut. Eventually, as you're pushing it, you'll see the two long arching tabs I was talking about.



3. Disconnect stabilizer link. The stabilizer link is attached with an 18mm nut. The nut is attached to a thread bolt that's attached to the stabilizer link via a rotating ball joint. Because of this, the 18mm nut cannot just be removed by unscrewing it alone. At the end of the threads of the thread bolt is a T-40 torx-head. To remove the nut, rotate the nut counterclockwise with an 18mm crescent wrench while rotating the thread clockwise with a T-40 torx tool (I used a T-40 torx socket with a socket wrench).



4. With the nut off the stabilizer link, it was still not possible to push the stabilizer link free from the strut since there's tension binding the thread bolt against the mount on the strut. Use a jack and lift the arm until the tension in the stabilizer link thread bolt is released. The stabilizer link now easily can be pushed away from the strut body.


5. Disconnect strut upper bolt -- 21mm socket for the nut and 14mm star socket for the bolt.



6. The final two bolts connected to the strut body are the two lower bolts, which are on the opposite side of the brake rotor. I had to stick my head inside the wheel well to see it. Remove these two bolts with an 11mm star socket.

After the two bolts have been removed:


7. There are now 3 bolts left keeping the strut assembly attached to the vehicle and they're located in the engine bay. Locate the three bolts surround a large black rubber cap. There are three small plastic inserts around this cap. Remove the cap by slowly and carefully pulling up on the edge of this rubber cap at the base of each of the three inserts until its freed (the three little inserts are inserted into the strut mount plate below via end-clips).




8. Unscrew the three bolts (10mm star socket) that are holding the strut assembly in place. First unscrew two of the three bolts. Then with one hand, hold the strut assemble and then finish unscrewing the third bolt. The strut assembly is now free. Carefully remove it away from the car.


9. On the top of the strut assembly, there is a rubber flange clipped onto the metal mount plate. Unclip the three clips.


10. Using a spring compressor, compress the stock spring until there is no tension from it against the upper and lower mounts. This will have been accomplished when its possible to rotate the spring around the strut body.


11. Remove the large 21mm mount plate nut located in the middle of the top mount plate.


12. With the mount plate nut removed, remove the mount plate, upper mount and upper mount, then remove the stock spring.


13. Reassemble the strut assembly with the new spring. For the H&R spring, I did not have to use the spring compressor as I was able to reassemble the strut assembly by pushing down on the mount plate with one arm and then screwing the 21mm nut back on.

14. Clip the rubber flange back onto the mount plate.

Re-install the strut assembly. Use the above photos for reference of these reassembly steps.

16. Line up the three holes of the mount plate with the three holes in the engine bay and screw down the three bolts. Then push the large rubber cap back on.

17. Replace the two lower strut bolts.

18. Replace the upper strut bolt

19. Replace the stabilizer link (remember, use the jack to help get the stabilizer link bolt to line up with the stabilizer link mount on the strut).

20. Push the long clips of the brake line management thingy back into the slot on the strut body.

21. Clip the two brake lines back in place.

22. Install a new zip tie in the zip tie groove of the brake line management thingy and around the strut body.

23. Remount the wheel. Lower the car back down and repeat these steps on the opposite side.


Comparison photo of stock front spring vs H&R front spring. See why I didn't need the spring compressor to re-install the strut assembly?

johnc510

BEFORE & AFTER

In person, you can see a small difference in height. It's not an aggressive drop... though, I think it needs a little bit of road time to settle in and I should see another 1/2" or so.

The following photos are before and after where the 'after' photo was taken the morning after the installation. I'll give it a few weeks and post updated 'after' photos. From the photos, it doesn't really look like I lowered the car. What do you guys think?

Stock springs (top) / H&R springs (bottom)

BM2BZ

the difference isn't significant like what you said but it'll probably look that much better after you put some 19" or even 20" on .

BenzV12

Excellent , theatrical job done

It doesn't look too lowered but I believe it's a better way because not every road is silky smooth .
I had bought Eibach Springs for my W212 but I have not installed them may be I will never because I am deterred by the fact that in some places I could barely drive w/o scraping the bottom and it would prove worse in same road with these kits installed lol

I scraped my bumper cover's bottom side once and I swear I was very cagey and not going up the ramp upright
I hit the bottom twice from bumps but no damage at all

Cruising

In a few months, if even that, after the springs settle in you'll notice a difference.
BTW you have, a PM

brauhaus313

Did you happen to find out the proper torque specs for tightening down the bolts?

johnc510

I've been shopping for 20" wheels. Going into a local wheel shop this Saturday! Could be dangerous! But I've already narrowed it down to 2-3 different wheel models and have already done my due diligence on the pricing available online.



The lowering stance is very minimal. I do hope it settles another 1/2" front and rear though. Otherwise, my DIY efforts will hardlly seem worth it. But from photos of other W212s that were lowered with H&R springs, I'm sure it will settle.

Coming from Bimmers, I don't mind the extra bit of road stiffness -- in fact, I welcome it.



I'm hoping in a few weeks, it settles in to it's lower stance.



Nope, I need to get ahold of a w212 service/shop manual.

SnakeDoctor

It will most definitely settle. With my 19" wheels and some relatively meaty tires, I don't have much wheel gap. Looks great, and I don't rub or bottom out. On some driveways and inclines I can scrape the undercarriage if I'm not taking an angle (which you can't always do).

I really should take some new photos of the car settling. I've had the springs about...1 year I think?

My advice though, is for those that worry, don't do it. I love the stance of my car with them on. But that's me

johnc510

You've got H&R springs as well? The stance from your sig photo looks good though it's hard to tell from that angle and that sig photo size. Can you post a more side-on view photo of your ride so we all can see what 1 year of H&R springs look like?

SnakeDoctor

I'll try and take some tomorrow. It's too dark for decent pictures right now.

SnakeDoctor

Let's see if these show...dirty car, I know. Weather has been crappy around here. Kind of nice lately though. I tried to take multiple angles because of lighting.








I could back it out and take some more pics to get a better feel for the stance of the car, but I'm lazy as it's my day off. Haha.

So you'll just have to take my word for it that it's a great stance for the car. Not slammed, not too aggressive. It's really, really nice.