I recently picked up a 97 sl500 and the oem suspension had seen better days, so I changed over to billsteins shocks and struts. This is the second car I have outfitted this way, and I am impressed again. The handling and control is second to none, with little loss in ride comfort.

I did notice that the new shocks are a bit "louder", if that makes any sense. They are more compliant, a bit stiffer, but make noticeably more noise on harsh impacts. Has anyone else experienced this?

Thanks!

 

No one else has put billstein shocks on their car?

 

Yes, I have them on my 97. They were put on a few months ago and I love them!!! I ordered from Summit Racing b/c at the time they were cheaper the eshock.com and I've done business with Summit in past so I knew I could trust them.

 

Did you also replace your upper strut mounts at the same time? I think that may be what is creating the noise in my front end.

 

Yes, one of them was cracked and replaced. The other side was fine and not replaced.

 

Bilsteins used to be the oem shocks, are they not anymore?

 

I don't think Bilsteins were ever OEM on the R129 platform.

 

I got Brabus suspension....... I think the shocks are made by Bilsteins & the springs are made by H&R..... I am happy with it.....

 

i thought that the oem's were bilsteins but the model of bilsteins that people replaced the originals with are different and better

like brabus and lorinser sell aftermarket kits sourcing bilstein shocks which are different and just the plain heavy duty bilsteins are different