the head

Just installed over the weekend and alignment was done today. The rear definitely stays more planted on the power. The wallow just feels like sidewalls flexing and that's about it. Changing lanes has never been easier. It took me about 2 hours to install. I'll give an update a few months from now to see how they hold up, how they wear/corrode/rust, and if I find any loosened fasteners. Very impressed with the mod so far, though. I went with the powdercoated black set.

jmf003

Thanks for sharing...been wondering about that particular mod.

the head

Hoping it helps at the track day in a couple of weeks.

EsEl

Please let us know your thoughts on their perfromance after awhile. Their price appears much better than any I have seen referenced on this board.

the head

Definitely. I should add that these do not transmit any additional noise into the cabin and do not seem to affect the ride at all. They do re-use the stock bolts on the aluminum mounts (using a spacer to replace the eccentric adjuster on one). It does come with new hardware for the ends that connect to the spindles.

kamilclk430

Can you adjust camber with these? sorry I'm knew to the product and would not know. Does anyone have a link to the part?

alx

adjusting the toe will change the camber a bit... but i dont think it is their mo as to get the camber you want you might need to adjust the toe-in to dysfunctional values.

camber is done with camber plates on the front... dont know if they exist for the r230... and i would not touch the camber in the back as even with stock camber the insides wear out already faster than they should... our cars are heavy and with the acceleration they offer there is plenty of squatting already.

the head

They don't, but MB arts does sell camber arms.
http://mbartsperformance.com/MBA-230-ARCA.html

Want to see how these toe links work over time before I consider the other links.

the head

A quick update. I did a track day Sunday and the car did very well. I ran without the ESP on (button only, I did not run around on dyno mode) after feeling the normal ESP killing things often. Nice smooth slides and even when it tried to spin out a couple of times it was quick to recover. I did notice that the links do get the rear to tramline a bit. Something I wasn't sure of before on the street, but at track speeds you could definitely tell. It was never enough to back off the throttle, but just something that was noticeable.

NEMES1S

so overall, do you think this was worth it?

alx

the sl65 will tram like crazy during hard acceleration on the street. mine does it almost to the point where i think i am sliding sideways while i am really not- just that the butt will wiggle a lot.

if yours does it only at the track and you are not sure about the street- that is definitely an improvement.

the sl65 does not put power to the ground nicely... that is for sure.

the head

I do. On the highway you can swap lanes on the power and not feel like it's going to spin out on you.

the head

Well, I hate to say it but now the car is wiggling again. I'll be looking for loose bolts this weekend.

alx

when you accelerate hard (say from 30-40mph) does it ever so slightly slalom the next 100-200 yards? mine does and the stability control light does not even come on... i think it loses traction on one wheel then the lsd works and the other one spins and so on... very unsettling... almost like the lsd is too slow to react...

the head

It used to. Then it quit. Now it's doing it again. I need to get it back on an alignment rack and see where the toe is set after making sure nothing has come loose.

the head

Toe was out of spec. I checked and didn't find anything loose so I'm a little puzzled why I didn't notice this earlier. However, I did have these on prior to a track day and afterwards is when this problem began to manifest itself. Anyway, brought the toe back in on the rear and it is back to handling well. The problem is, this is all I had the shop do since it was not done at the dealer and this brings up the question of it not being set-up and loaded like the dealer does when aligning the car. At some point I'll probably get the camber links and then just take it in and have the dealer set it up with some input from me.

Auraraptor

What alignment spec did you end up using? Stock SL65 F/R even with the arms? thanks!

the head

Went with stock. They didn't set anything but the toe in the rear.
Oddly enough the car is still a little "wiggly" in the rear when on the gas and going over imperfections, but it is a vast improvement. I'm most likely going to just have to go to the dealer and see what their machine is reading and maybe tweak it a bit. As it sits now the front L/R is as follows:
camber: -1.8/-1.2 degrees
caster: 9.6/10.5 deg
toe: 0.12/0.11 deg
rear L/R:
camber: -1.7/-1.6 deg
toe: 0.11/0.10 deg

Prior to adjusting, the rear toe was at -0.29/-0.25 deg (toe out). The spec on the paper shows -0.02 to 0.22 deg as in the acceptable range. I'd like to get the front camber and caster closer together between right and left.

GermanCars

You should definitely get the front camber as close to the same as possible side to side. Whether you want maximum tire life or adhesion would dictate which side you adjust. I would however leave the extra caster on the left front alone. We have a lot of trouble with Merc C's and CLK's pulling to the right due to our heavily crowned roads here in Florida (for drainage). Equal out the caster and you could very likely end up with the car wanting to head for the ditch!
The adjustment bolt kit part # is 000 330 0018, available from your friendly Mercedes dealer. Each kit is one slotted bolt, washer, and nut. It will adjust either the camber or caster on one side of one axle depending on where you install the kit. It is good for about 1/2 degree camber/caster.

the head

Good to know - thanks!
Trying to figure out why the rear tramlines like it does now. Seems like any irregularity is causing the rear to follow it. Even slight bumps or swells in the pavement seem to get the rear kind of flaoting a little. Car always sticks but it just feels a bit unnerving.

alx

I think they all do that. We had mine aligned today and the rear toe was a genuine pita- we had to drop the rear exhaust a bit to get to the toe bolts... Then the driver's side was out of boundaries and out of adjustment (-0.28) so we had to losen and move the rear control arm (it has oblong holes where it connects to the chassis)... 3 hours of huffing, puffing and *****ing... German engineering at it's best... So my rear camber and toe are now perfect, but the car still wonders under hard acceleration. at this point it is either tires (stock michelins) or part of the character. Whatever

the head

My wagging is getting worse, so I jacked the car up and started prodding and prying (gently). I got to the subframe mounts and the fronts might be gone or going. I say might because I don't know if they are supposed to have that much play. I can use a 2 ft pry bar (small in cross section) and 2 fingers of force and the darn thing moves a good 1/2 inch or more up and down, and that's with the weight of the other rear tire on the ground. So I lowered it onto the wheel again and it still does it. So I'm going to try and see what the dealer thinks of this. I'm sure I'll go through the motions of having them align the car (fine with me), but the car wiggles just going down the road at any speed. Nothing else is loose or feels like it has any play on the bushings/mounts, ball joints, or wheel bearings. more to come when I can drop it off.

alx

subframe mounts as in the lower control arm bushings...?

mine move around a lot... so do the upper control arm ones... i think the whole suspension is spongy and relies on the abc to keep it all together...

i think we are just chipping at the nature of the beast... and it is normal behavior....

accelerating in a giant slalom fashion makes the car feel faster

the head

No, the actual steel subframe that they connect to. Haven't had a chance to get it to the dealership yet. Work has been a killer.

the head

After replacing some worn bushings in front and a few other miscellaneous checks they narrowed it down to the bolts that mounted the links. I can swear to checking them myself before bringing the car in, but after getting it back with a fresh alignment all is good with the world again. They also replaced camber bolts in the process. All I can do now is drive it and see if it becomes 'loose' again.