SL55 AMG, SL63 AMG, SL65 AMG (R230) 2002 - 2011 (2003 US for SL55 and 2004 for the SL65)

SL55/63/65/R230 AMG: Lowered with ELM

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Old 05-05-2012, 02:50 PM
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Lowered with ELM

I finally lowered my car with ELM. Here are a few shots. The first one is lowered 1.2 in front and 1.0 in back. The rest are 2.0 all around.











Old 05-05-2012, 11:23 PM
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Looks nice! How much does that cost?..... What am I saying.... I drive a MB now.... If you have to ask then you can't afford it..... Right
Old 05-06-2012, 03:53 AM
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Looks excellent! Love the colour as well stunning car.

Apart from in car adjustment what advantages are there in using a a ELM over lowering links? Can you change the shockabsorber bound/rebound rates?

Just wondering if lowering links are a bit primative like installing lowering springs on a stock shock absorber, as springs are to low you end up riding on the bump stops, is it like that with ABC or does the system compensate and stiffen the shock?

Just trying to see if I would be better off with a ELM over links..

Keep up the good work bud
Old 05-06-2012, 11:22 AM
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Originally Posted by DigitalKnight
Looks nice! How much does that cost?..... What am I saying.... I drive a MB now.... If you have to ask then you can't afford it..... Right
HAHA! What I find now is that it isn't the money anymore, it's the "wifey" factor. What do you want to buy that for? Why would anyone want to lower a perfectly good car, it cost that much, etc??? I try to put mod costs in terms of pairs of shoes. In keeping with that, i can tell you the ELM cost about the same as 3 pair of shoes.

Actually $700 on a group buy with a guy on another website. I haven't read my MBW operators manual lately so at the risk of upsetting moderators and sponsors, it was emoving on **************. Anyone is welcome to PM if they are interested in more info.




Originally Posted by Monky
Looks excellent! Love the colour as well stunning car.

Apart from in car adjustment what advantages are there in using a a ELM over lowering links? Can you change the shockabsorber bound/rebound rates?

Just wondering if lowering links are a bit primative like installing lowering springs on a stock shock absorber, as springs are to low you end up riding on the bump stops, is it like that with ABC or does the system compensate and stiffen the shock?

Just trying to see if I would be better off with a ELM over links..

Keep up the good work bud
You can not adjust the rebound rates as far as I know. The ELM gives you tons of flexibility though. Each wheel can be lowered a total of 2 inches in increments of 10ths. I do think ABC compensates for the reduced travel and stiffens the shocks. The rides is a little more stiff when the car is lowered, but not harsh.

The coolest thing for the ABC cars is the "speed limiter" settings. You can set a speed where the car will go back to half factory height and another setting for full factory height. For example, say the car is slammed at 2 inches and the half way setting is 20mph and the raise fully setting is 50mph. So long as the car is below 20 mph, the car stays slammed. above 20 mph, the car comes up an inch. At 50 mph, the car comes up another inch and rides just like factory settings. This allows the car to operate as intended and cause no crazy tire wear issues unless you put a ton of miles on the car at low speeds.

Thanks for the complement by the way. Pewter is not the most popular color. I think it is gorgeous when it is clear and the sun is bright. It actually looks gloomy on cloudy days.

The perfect place for the remote if you don't use the phone mount.



WOW! I guess I really did say a bad word and it got ***** out. Let's just say it was on another planet.

Last edited by cal1; 05-06-2012 at 11:30 AM.
Old 05-06-2012, 08:29 PM
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Haaaaa! Love it! I knew you would! Looks great! Enjoy!
Old 05-07-2012, 07:25 PM
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A perfect drop.

I also prefer the roll bar up when the top is down.
Old 05-08-2012, 10:07 AM
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Looks great! I see that spring has finally arrived...
Old 05-09-2012, 08:17 PM
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Originally Posted by SRQLAW
Looks great! I see that spring has finally arrived...
Haha, yep I think I am safe in putting my other beast away for the season now
Old 05-09-2012, 10:15 PM
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Very clean Cal.
Old 05-10-2012, 12:15 PM
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HAHAHAHAHA
Old 05-10-2012, 04:28 PM
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I thought I read on one of these forums a module/device that lets you set the ride height using the Comand unit on the steering wheel/instrument cluster?

Does it exist?
Old 05-10-2012, 06:31 PM
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^ don't know! Maybe benzo does.
Old 05-11-2012, 04:43 PM
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Originally Posted by DigitalKnight
I thought I read on one of these forums a module/device that lets you set the ride height using the Comand unit on the steering wheel/instrument cluster?

Does it exist?
lowering module dot com has one. But when I was shopping a year ago I was told by someone I trust that it had a lot of bugs. Perhaps those problems have been fixed by now.
Old 05-11-2012, 05:08 PM
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Originally Posted by cal1
I do think ABC compensates for the reduced travel and stiffens the shocks. The rides is a little more stiff when the car is lowered, but not harsh.

The coolest thing for the ABC cars is the "speed limiter" settings. You can set a speed where the car will go back to half factory height and another setting for full factory height. For example, say the car is slammed at 2 inches and the half way setting is 20mph and the raise fully setting is 50mph. So long as the car is below 20 mph, the car stays slammed. above 20 mph, the car comes up an inch. At 50 mph, the car comes up another inch and rides just like factory settings. This allows the car to operate as intended and cause no crazy tire wear issues unless you put a ton of miles on the car at low speeds.
Agreed...I do think the AIRMATIC / ABC stiffens the dampening to accomodate the reduced ride height. My ELM v2 settings are -2.0" and -1.6" on my CLS, which is pretty slammed and I agree that the ride is stiff, but not harsh.

ELM is the way to go, simply based on the touch-of-a-button adjustability.

Your SL looks way more aggressive with the lower stance...
Old 05-11-2012, 06:45 PM
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I had ELM, it was good, I liked that I could adjust individual wheels, but I really like the lomo m1 as I can adjust it at a stop light or kick it off when I take it into the dealership, and for the price, it is an easy install and their tech support was great as I initially had an issue with it not wanting to talk with my smarttop module. Turned out to be the smarttop that needed an update, everything is now working great. It took me about an hour for the install as I'm pretty good with the pin stuff after doing the smarrtop install twice and the elm install/uninstall.
Old 05-15-2012, 10:38 PM
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Pewter for the win
Old 05-29-2012, 03:42 AM
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Looks great Cal .... simply just what these cars need

I'm postponing my install till next month where I'm going in for A service ...... will wait if something should go wrong since I'm doing the install myself

Did you have MB install it? ... and how long did it take?
Old 05-29-2012, 08:12 AM
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THe lowest setting looks somewhat getto IMO. The height on the first pic thought is just right.

The really sad Part is that the elm functionality appears geared towards posing rather then performance. Have set points to bring the car up as speed climbs? It should be the opposite- lower the car as speed increases (which is what the stock abc suspension does at 2 preset speeds).

Now, on a unrelated thought- you know that the cps's place is screwed in the engine and not rolling around in the center console, right?

Last edited by alx; 05-29-2012 at 09:06 AM.

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