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I was under my car today. Checking for oil leaks since last job and I was replacing my right from suspension strut bump stop.
So I took a look at my front swaybar/stabilizer P/N A 218 323 03 65 diameter 26.5mm near the rubber mount.
At the L bend, it is fatter a bit at 27mnm, maybe it is not 100% round where I measured because of the forced bending.
At post # 134 Dingo was asking on sway bar
As to why mine started with A 218 and not A212..... I dunno but it is the 26.5mm one like A 212 323 16 65
fuel door sticker on my 2016 E350 4matic luxury wagon...
GVWR and payload stickers
hmmm — interesting!
Wagon’s fuel door sticker also doesn’t mention pressure -3 psi for driving less than 100 mph. I wonder what gives?
4matic Wagon is about 230is lb heavier vs my 4matic sedan, that extra weight has got to be all in the back, but when braking, a heavier car requires a bit more psi in the front tires, hence the 35 psi front for normal AND extra load on your car. But why won’t it mention that is ok to run -3 psi front and back if you never exceed speed limit on american highways. Any guess? Have you tried running 32F 38R for more comfort? (I’m guessing you don’t drive above 100 mph for sustained periods🙂.
What pressures do you run and how do you find your ride at those? Thanks
* with 03.16 date, your car must be one of the last ones of conveyor belt!
For me, I do not like the SACHS dampers on my car.
At 110MPH a mere 8-10 degree lane change produce body lean more and ahead of actual lane change, its like a delayed reaction.
The more comfy and more quiet and low cost too, Bilstein B4 is awesome for high speed lane change, now no more delayed reaction. My rear is now Bilstein B6.
For tire pressure, me now uses 32psi front and 33 psi rear for daily and will add 34/36 only when I drive far to Bali, the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 is sporty enough at 32/33 psi.
These tire and Bilstein B4 while basically a standard damper, produce very good cornering Gs I almost could not believe, 0.95+ is easy to get.
The only downside of this car of mine is the Electric Power Steering, it is dull , like very dampened. The tire traction limit for the front is not easy to sense compared to hydraulic steering.
However the positive side is , at 120 to 130 MPH, the steering is so relaxed and straight line tracking is awesome. I mean not much correction needed, due to that dull + dampened.
perhaps Bilstein doesn’t have “self-adjustable” feature the way Merc’s part does, where first 10 or 15 mm (can’t remember) of suspension travel, the damper is soft, but after that it firms up? And that’s why you felt a body lean ahead of lane change with factory dampers?
It will answer all our questions on why the Bilstein B4 for front is my favorite and I would not go for B6 front.
Rear B4 is very good too, but B6 not too bad.
That was the luxury with the '17 inch wheels, so 36 PSI all around in the sedan,, my sport is "18 wheels, here is the fuel door, also I believe E-85 vehicles are pretty rare in all model years through the end of 212 production, Mostly I would think sent to ethanol country in the midwest, but that's a guess because it seems more common here, This is my sport, I run these "18 inch tires at 36 psi as well
Wait, so your Luxury fuel door sticker says 36F 36R for normal loads, for 17 inch wheels, shod in 245/45 tires? And just like your Sport also does not mention “-3 psi for driving at less than 100 mph”? WTF is going on?!? 😁 3 luxuries: 2 sedans + wagon, and all have different tire pressures? F@@k, how?
Yes, my luxury is a '12 my sport is a '13, your luxury is a '15 and LCG's wagon is a '16, With his 3-16 build date, his likely was 3 months from end production date, I had a '03 S500 built July of '03 it had front brake parts from "03 and rear calipers, pads and rotors from '04
The "03 rear brake parts did not fit.
I was under my car today. Checking for oil leaks since last job and I was replacing my right from suspension strut bump stop.
So I took a look at my front swaybar/stabilizer P/N A 218 323 03 65 diameter 26.5mm near the rubber mount.
At the L bend, it is fatter a bit at 27mnm, maybe it is not 100% round where I measured because of the forced bending.
At post # 134 Dingo was asking on sway bar
As to why mine started with A 218 and not A212..... I dunno but it is the 26.5mm one like A 212 323 16 65
Great information!
So that means front sway bars on both Avantgarde and Luxury are the same.
Yes, my luxury is a '12 my sport is a '13, your luxury is a '15 and LCG's wagon is a '16, With his 3-16 build date, his likely was 3 months from end production date, I had a '03 S500 built July of '03 it had front brake parts from "03 and rear calipers, pads and rotors from '04
The "03 rear brake parts did not fit.
So, that means there were some suspension tuning changes between pre and facelifted models, since otherwise identical cars, on identical wheels+tires call for different tire pressures? Interesting...
So, that means there were some suspension tuning changes between pre and facelifted models, since otherwise identical cars, on identical wheels+tires call for different tire pressures? Interesting...
Not necessarily but probably something like that. Lower tire pressure would give you a softer ride and higher is a harsher ride. You can make those recommendations without changing the suspension, but sport and luxury are usually two different ride heights so it's probably a combination of things. The famous one is of course the Ford Explorer/Exploder. Tire pressure recommendations were really low which lead to tire failure, afterwards, they changed the recommended pressure but obviously didn't do anything to the suspension.
EPS can be checked as SA code 211 on MB VIN datacard. Although both sway bars have same diameter of 26.5mm, not sure if there are other physical differences between both bars apart from the part number.
Surya's E400 and my car both have EPS, hence they are fitted with the second part number.
The sway bar bushings on my car are cracked and since MB doesn't sell them separately, I'm left with replacing the entire bar. Unfortunately, the 218 part number sway bar is out of stock / backordered and even MB themselves can not give an ETA as to when it will become available again.
Anyone here have any experience with fitting the other part to their EPS-equipped cars? My last resort is going to scrapyard to find a wrecked 212 with EPS or even wrecked CLS and pull a good condition sway bar from there.
Screenshots from EPC comparing my fathers 2013 E250 CGI (without EPS) and my car.
Not necessarily but probably something like that. Lower tire pressure would give you a softer ride and higher is a harsher ride. You can make those recommendations without changing the suspension, but sport and luxury are usually two different ride heights so it's probably a combination of things. The famous one is of course the Ford Explorer/Exploder. Tire pressure recommendations were really low which lead to tire failure, afterwards, they changed the recommended pressure but obviously didn't do anything to the suspension.
why does the pressure vary between two Luxuries: pre facelift vs facelift? My face lifted luxury’s fuel door sticker permits/recommends as low as 30F 30R vs prefacelift luxury of the other member in this thread call for 36F 36R and that’s it?
why doesn’t prefacelift luxury, sport AND facelifted wagon do NOT mention that -3 psi from the “normal” stated pressure is acceptable if not driven at sustained 100 mph, but my facelifted sedan does? I doubt this Merc just being disorganized and disoriented, there is likely some logic behind this….
Seems like an updated sway bar part has been released for W212/C218 (with EPS), slightly different part number. Previous part was sold out and not available at any dealer / parts store. Will find out from my dealer tomorrow what the ETA is on the new part.
Sorry to bump an old thread, but: I have 2011 wagon with avantgarde. Rear shocks seemed dead, so I replaced while i was doing the airmatic springs this year. I had to use the Sachs OEM because the Bilsteins were backordered for a year (although of course they came back in stock a couple weeks after I replaced). Not sure how the struts are, but the Sachs rear shocks are very easy to compress by hand right out of the box. To be honest, I couldn't tell a lot of difference between them and the 2011 originals that were on the car. I have some B4s to put on the front (getting ready to sell it soon) and will report back.
just fyi, 'avantgarde' is an interior trim color scheme, with cool greys and black, vs Elegance, interiors with warm browns and tans.
in the USA, the features were bundled as Sport vs Luxury, these packages bundle sport vs comfort suspension, avantgarde vs elegance interior trim, wheel size, exterior trim.
I think it might have been different for facelifts. For my '11, avantgarde is listed on the build sheet along with "standard suspension" as 677, same line in build sheet. Also has 951 (the sport package) as well as 772 (the AMG package). I know what you're talking about, though, and mine doesn't have the "Avantgarde" label inside that the newer cars have.
05-04-2023, 10:30 AM
but it is the 26.5mm one like A 212 323 16 65
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