R231 Lowering -- Cheapest/Best Option: What is the European Spring part number?
 

Team: I have read several hundred posts, and it's clear that no lowering option -- like 3rd party springs, for non ABC setups have satisfied the majority of owners.

The *only* option that seems viable at this point is the European spring option. Apparently, in Europe, they have a lower stock height on their non ABC sl550s. However, no one -- in the hundreds of posts I've read -- has yet to cite or know the part number for this.

Would prove a huge community service that given the number of folks who want to lower their car but want to avoid the harsh ride of 3rd party applications, can someone knowledgeable please step up and provide the part number?

Thanks!

The quest continues... MB parts sent me an email back and said if we can provide a car with the Euro Spec Springs, they will give us the part #. Any one from Europe comfortable with sending me/us their VIN #?

You may want to try contacting Brabus. They sell and install the shorter springs for the SL.

Cheers my friend. Brabus is 30MM, so 5MM more aggressive than Eibach Pro Springs, which are 25MM. My quite uneducated **guess** is Euro Spec springs drop the car about 20MM, HR about 35MM+, and Eibach about 25MM... more conservative, the better.

Aggressive lowering is in the eye of the beholder. MB's sport suspension only drops 10mm (less than half an inch).

I was trying to find the part number quickly but no luck. Hopefully somebody on the forum is in Europe and can look this up for you.

That said, another poster (maybe it was threeMBs, not sure) was referring to the different rubber spacers. That could lower the car as well.
I had the H&R springs on our first R231 and it turned out to be a very undesirable mod.

Good luck!

Cheers Wolfman. I pinged IRIDIUM and hopefully he can help figure out the part. Yes, thanks to your H&R springs comment, I'm staying completely clear from them.

Love the idea of different rubber spacers -- that would help a tremendous amount. I've pinged threeMBs to see if he's made progress. :) We'll climb this mountain!

Just to give you a feel of how low the cars was with the H&R springs. This is pre-spacer of course which would have improved the look.

With ABC suspension, this has become a non-issue of course :)

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...b1281acd11.jpg

Wow -- looks fantastic. Mind if I ask what those rear tire sizes are? Looks good!

Team:

Anyone know how this is possible? How is the euro version sitting lower if the springs are potentially the same?
--
Hi,

Turns out that the sport springs for the Euro version is the same as the USA version.
It is the same part nr as in your link.

Thanks,
Gert

If its the same Springs, then the only logical (to me) explanation is the different Spring (rubber) Pads (seats) are used in different markets.

Keep in mind it is a coilover suspension so spring pads for height adjustment will not be applicable

A sport suspension rear spring would be 2313240604 a sport suspension front would be a 2313210804.

--Kyle

Thanks, FCPEuro.

That's what I see here as well:http://www.benzpartsdirect.com/auto-...ber=2313230267

The question is do all US R231 SL550s have sport suspension or not? And what are those items #5 and #6 - Spring Seats - on the diagram? Are they no the same as Spring Pads of older MBs I've seen? TIA

Not all US market SL's had sport suspension, the parts you highlighted are considered noise isolators and do not provide for additional ride height adjustment the way you could with older models.

--Kyle

Thank you very much.

I am baffled by this statement. AFAIK, none of the US SL550's came with the sport suspension.

Im Germany, the sport suspension comes as part of the optional "AMG line" package. Besides the suspension, that includes AMG body kit, drilled rotors, AMG floor mats and a different seat design.

For the US, all SL's have the AMG body package (very much to Streamliners dismay ;) ) but that's it. The drilled rotors were part of the Sport wheel package
No sport suspension. Having driven R231 SL's in Germany (with AMG line package) and the US, there is a definitive height difference.

My assumption is that ALL US R231 use the non sport-package springs instead (2313211304 front and 2313240504 rear)

So getting the sport suspension springs should do the job (231321804 front and 2313240604 rear)

Too low for me...

The tires are standard size. 285/30/20 Michelin Pilot Super Sports :)

Here is our current SL with the same wheels (also pre-spacer as I ordered different spacers; changed to 8mm front/15mm rear for a slightly less aggressive stance with the softer body style)

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...77d465b9aa.jpg

This is the ideal ride height for me :)

Yes Wolfman this makes sense. Thank you. I checked my model year (2015) every place I could, did not see any mention of the "sport" suspension and judging by how high the car seats (especially rear even with 285/30-20 or 26.8" diameter tires) it must have non-sport springs. My '14 CLS550 also with 285/30-20 rear tires barely has room for a finger, while my SL easily has gap three times of the CLS'. Then I guess only question remains (in the link I provided above) why do they list both sport and non-sport springs available for sale if all US SL550 cars were supplied only with one kind of springs?

After doing more research and checking with a couple of dealers, I can clearly see that their parts departments are showing and carrying both sport and non-sport springs which can only mean that both were used on the US R231 cars (both SL550 and SL400).

One question, Kyle. How can you tell if customer has sport or non-sport springs? is it strictly by the VIN number? Or does one can tell which springs MB used based on options in a car: like Sport Wheels package (i know its description does not say a word on springs) or Driver Assist package, just to name two very popular options? TIA

ThreeMBs -- that is some epic problem solving. I followed you all the way until the referenced section. Do you still believe that all R231s in the states use non-sport springs? Or do you believe we who have the "sports package" have, in fact, sports springs?

I want to second threeMBs's question: Do *any* US SL550s have the sport suspension springs? If so, under what option?

Separately, everyone, thank you for your help.

Confirming what most already know, this is the language from the 2013 SL brochure regarding the Sport Wheel Package:

Sport Wheel Package
• 19" AMG 5-spoke wheels1
• Painted brake calipers with Mercedes-Benz lettering
• Perforated rear brake discs
• Sport steering wheel with perforated leather side grips

Catalogue link here: http://www.auto-brochures.com/makes/...Class_2013.pdf

Conspicuously, there's no mention of a sport suspension anywhere. Also no mention, that I saw, in the 2013 SL catalogue. I have tried to find a UK brochure to confirm the option descriptions -- to see if there's an actual sport suspension choice in the UK catalogue, but I haven't found a catalogue yet.

Based on what Kyle stated above backed by the fact that US MB dealers carry both springs, tells me that both sport and non-sport springs were used. The question remains what's the determining factor. There must be some "procedure" MB followed in deciding what springs US SL550s and SL400s (2013-16) get.

My '15 Diamond White Edition car rides way to high making me believe that my car has non-sport springs. More importantly, if MB sport springs are only about 10mm lower than MB non-sport springs, then in my case (having about 2" rear gap) it makes zero sense to spend about $1K for such a small, almost non-differentiating drop. (Do not remember where I read this 10mm difference sport vs. non-sport, but it stuck in my mind, so hopefully I'm wrong and the difference is meaningfully greater.)

It's a good assumption but I don't think that this is the case.

The ride height of these cars have been an issue for me and I have never seen a US model with a sport suspension.

The H&R sport springs we used feature a 1.25" for from and 1.2" for the rear but drop was dramatically more than stated.
So one can blame H&R or MB. I will believe that the issue is with MB. As such I wouldn't experiment in getting the sport springs to see if the car drops less than half an inch.

Here are pics of our first R231 with stock springs. If you look at my earlier pic with the H&R springs, you can see that the drop was 2"+
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...fedbf06697.jpg

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...7fccff2981.jpg


What you guys need is adjustable coilovers

Guys, to clarify. I know of no US dealers stocking these (Two numbers for sport suspension springs). I can get them if needed however I'd pull them from Germany. Also, what Wolfman pointed out about the US market sport suspension is valid, I haven't personally ever run a US market car that had the 486 option code.

-Kyle