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I recently purchased a 2017 E300 4Matic CPO. Several times coming out of a parking lot the front bumper hits the pavement with 2 people sitting in the front. I brought it to the dealer who says the car is as specified. This is my 4th E-series car and I never had that problem. I looked up the specifications which indicates that the ground clearance is 4.18 inches fully loaded. I measured it with no-one in the car and the clearance was 4.00 inches. Has anyone had similar issues , or some information on this?
Hi something is not right here. Do you have the sport or luxury model? Anyway I have the sport model, and I even have a front lip kit which lowers the front of the car and I have 6"+ of clearance with the lip. If I removed it I would gain I assume about 1". So if your front bottom of the bumpber is around 4" thats definitely not right.
Hope that helps...
2023 GLE450, 2021 E350 / Used to drive: 2019 E300, 2021 + 2020 GLE350, 2019 E450 Wagon(s), 2017 E300
2017 E300 sport non 4MATIC. 6 3/4" from ground to lowest point of front bumper. I have only scraped it once, and it was a driveway with an odd angle into a street with a high crown. I don't think you should expect it to scrape often or at all under normal usage.
My car is a 2017 E300 Sport 4Matic Yes. I have double checked the car. The front lip of the bumper is at almost 7 inches clearance. The plastic engine cover in the bottom comes brings it down to 4 inches. I have had the front end scraping the pavement several times with two people sitting in the front of the car. I don't know whether it is the springs or something else. I try to go very slow coming out of the parking lot. I will take some pictures and upload them to show that.
My car is a 2017 E300 Sport 4Matic Yes. I have double checked the car. The front lip of the bumper is at almost 7 inches clearance. The plastic engine cover in the bottom comes brings it down to 4 inches. I have had the front end scraping the pavement several times with two people sitting in the front of the car. I don't know whether it is the springs or something else. I try to go very slow coming out of the parking lot. I will take some pictures and upload them to show that.
Sorry but your reply does not help anyone else here that is trying to answer your questions. Are you able to post pictures of your car? Are you saying the front bottom of the bumper ground clearance measurements are accurate and similar to mine as an example?
The front bumper has close to 7 inches clearance measured at the same point as you picture. You can see from the other pics the cover I was referring to.
I've seen that on a lot of cars. My wife's old Toyota Avalon would clear parking "bumpers" fine, except some have the hold-down bolts not completely down. Her engine cover (similar to the above) road over a bolt going forward, then completely ripped it off when backing up.
It's nice that there's clearance at the front end, but they shouldn't forget the rest of the undersides in front of the wheels (at least).
I always turn on the 360° camera in parking or close to an obstacle situation. That black band around the car is about a 3' buffer. When exiting drives, etc. I always take them at an angle to avoid dropping both front wheels into a depression at the same time. So far I've never scraped.
Well in that case that seem to be normal ground clearance, thought you referred to the bumpers ground clearance. Have also had the front (not bumper) it scrape a couple of times when I was driving alone but it was my fault all the times. It has happened when going over wavy asphalt too fast in a parking lot, reversing out over a curb too fast and hitting speed bumps too fast. Had a SUV before and was used to having alot of ground clearance, maybe you should driving more carefully, I did and have had no more issues with scraping since. The cars character is more relaxed and so should the driving be I soon realized.
Another option is installing stiffer springs in the same height, you will get a stiffer ride but it will reduce scraping.
Last edited by mercedes.fan; 08-09-2019 at 09:45 AM.
I recently purchased a 2017 E300 4Matic CPO. Several times coming out of a parking lot the front bumper hits the pavement with 2 people sitting in the front. I brought it to the dealer who says the car is as specified. This is my 4th E-series car and I never had that problem. I looked up the specifications which indicates that the ground clearance is 4.18 inches fully loaded. I measured it with no-one in the car and the clearance was 4.00 inches. Has anyone had similar issues , or some information on this?
I also have a 2017 E300. I've had the the same issue. My nightmare is when I pull into a parking lot particularly the diagonal spots because the regular spots I've learned to backup into it. The issue is the cement tire stops they are just too high and the bumper goes just over it, but when you pull out it YANKS the bumper clean off. A simple repair for those who are mechanically inclined, but an ugly feeling when it occurs.
I now inflate my tires to 37psi from 26psi thats indicated on the door placard installed by MB.
actually thats an issue all on it's own.... the placard states one pressure, the gasoline door access door has a sticker/placard that states another and finally the manufacturer of the tire has another recommended pressure on the sidewall of the tire.
Very surprised that MB never thought that one out.
On my E300 the fuel filler cover and the door placard have the same values. One must pay attention to the load and speed for the posted values. The manufacture values on the sidewall are the tire limits and not for the vehicle/tire combination. Mine E300 does not have a 26 psi entry. There are several threads here regarding the issue. Also keep in mind that if the surface is not level, the clearance will vary depending on the position of the tires versus the obstacle. This is exacerbated when exiting a driveway, etc.
The issue is the cement tire stops they are just too high and the bumper goes just over it, but when you pull out it YANKS the bumper clean off. A simple repair for those who are mechanically inclined, but an ugly feeling when it occurs.
Around here, they usually "nail" those stops in place, and quite often the nails are either not sunk deep enough or work themselves up. On a previous car, my wife ripped the whole underpanel and lower bumper cover off after catching when backing up. Luckily, I immediately took photos and put a claim in, which the hospital owner of the doctor's office paid.
That's why I love the 360° camera. The black band around the car image is about 3' wide. I stop when the band reaches the tire stop so that no part of the car is near that hunk of undercarriage destruction in waiting.
I will also measure for you the clearance from underneath the car as you pictured. But currently it seems your ride height is pretty much OEM.
It's a shame that the car manufacturers continue to lower these cars, supposedly for performance purposes. This is my 4th E-series car and the worst regarding ground clearance. My understanding is that most E300 owners are not car enthusiasts who want their cars to be lowered as much as possible. Even when going into my Mercedes dealership I have to be careful of scraping the front end.
I always have to be careful of those cement tire stops because most of them are too high for the car.
07-31-2019, 12:33 PM
2017 E300 4MATIC GROUND CLEARANCE
