fkong777

I have lowered W220 S430 and W211 E500 with washers with no problem. I thought I give my S550 a go at it.

I know there are links and lowering modules. This is the my path to maximum drop with only washers. No modification at all to any link or brackets. The cost is my time and $3 to enrich the knowledge wealth for w221 S550. For S63 there are 2 sensor in the rear so this will not work for the rear of the S63

With Flame suit on. I have no problem with my other 2 cars lowered this way. It is 100% reversible. You can call me cheap but it works.

Here Goes.

you need to buy a bag of 25 1/4" washer at home depot. $2.71+tax and 10mm socket with a 10" extensions.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...2304/204276388

The max amount of washers can be installed are
4 x 1/4" washer at Left and Right front height sensor ball joint bracket. This will give about 3/4" drop in the front.
7 x 1/4" washer above the rear height sensor bracket This will give just a little over 1/2" drop in the front

Front
1. Loosen 10mm nut on top of upper control arm
2. Let the ball joint bracket detach from control arm
3. insert 4 x 1/4" washer between bracket and control arm and tighten 10mm nut.











Rear

1. Loosen both 10mm nut on rear sensor bracket. It will help a lot if you can use a 10" extension
2. Insert 7 x 1/4" washer above the bracket in the bracket stud. You need to place washer in only one of the stud above the bracket. Red arrow point to this stud. (front stud in the bracket orientation ). If you did the wrong stud you will actually raise the car up
3. Make sure the sensor arm is pointed upward. From other post in this forum I learned that ; if you let the sensor arm point downward your car will have a extreme drop that pretty much let most of the air out of the air strut. You dont want that.
4. Tighten the 2 10mm nut.
5. It may not drop instantly Give the car some time to adjust itself





This is the results.
3/4" front and 1/2" rear lowered.




I'm going to stay at this height because my wife is worry about parking curb damaging the from bumper. Front bumper is already pretty low at stock height. Also this is the max i can lower without modifying brackets, get links or lowering module.

Enjoy.

1bad540

Looks pretty good. wheels look good too.

mrtonyn

Great info!
Looks very nice, update us if any issues arises from this lowering method.

Bklyn

In a word, that car is gorgeous!

ZeeVert

That car is beautiful.

I had a slight height difference on the front right vs. left.
The right side was a little lower than the left and I had a slight pull to the right.

I wanted to lower the driver side slightly, so I bent the "washer" bracket slightly with a pair of pliers.

You don't want to bend it too much, or you'll bind the ball joint.
But, if you want a little tweak... only an idiot would do this...

fkong777

By bending the bracket you may be raising up that corner of the car slightly.. however it may be so slightly that it didn't make a difference.

ZeeVert

I probably shifted the pivot ball center about 0.100".
By bending the ball away from the arm, that corner of the car is lowered... same as adding washers lowered the corner.

The change in ride height should be a simple, approximate ratio of the link attachment to the UBJ.
I haven't measured the actual lengths, but from the picture, the ratio is about 1:4.3


So, a 0.100" adjustment at the sensor attachment pivot ball will affect the UBJ about x4.3, or 0.430".
(I'm guessing that I really got about 3/8", but, I'm using a tape measure and my finger to measure the fender height...)

I measured the thickness of a 1/4" washer. It's about 0.060" thick. x4 washers = 0.240". x4.3 ratio = 1.032" ride height change.
That's a little more than fkong777's estimated results… but I'm in the ballpark.

Either method is an interesting way to adjust the ride height.

A new question is; assuming it's a steel bracket, how much paint did I remove with my pliers, and how long will it take to rust through?

fkong777

New pics.