I first got interested in an ABC delete and coil-over conversion (with sway bars) after seeing famous You-tuber Tavarish do the swap:


He seemed very happy with the setup.

However, opinion here seems to be mixed. Some claim it is a great mod that actually improves handling with not much trade off in comfort. Others claim it ruins handling.

The poll applies ONLY to those who have experience with a coil over kit WITH sway bars.

Anyone want to post up their expierence?

 

I would not expect a car with coilovers to be "better" than original, but probably tolerable. I wonder, though, what the actual cost to convert to coilovers would be. I have a friend with an R230 with "broken" ABC who wants to give me the car. I know the cost of fixing it can be a lot, depending on what's needed and also, sometimes even more important, who you take it to. Can the coilovers be done leaving the sway bars to add later, if desired?

 

I did this conversion over two years ago (due to increased reliability issues with original ABC). Total cost was about $4,500 (parts/labor, shocks/sway bars) and I got $800 back for my used parts from Arnot. I have not worried about the suspension since and the ride/handling is fine/great BUT not better than active ABC.

 

I converted my SL600.

I would not say there's a huge improvement in handling, but the car does feel more responsive, more immediately reactive to your inputs..

I think this is due to the fact that ABC takes a few microseconds to take in all the data it's receiving, process it, and send out commands to the various components. This delay time is so small that you can't directly identify it, but once the car was on coilovers it was an obvious change in the feel of the car. I know at least one other forum member reported the same perception here, and if you look through his posting history he was previously highly critical of coilover conversions, to say the least.

Highway cruising, ABC is noticeably better. But that's expected, since the system automatically loosens up the damping when there's no steering wheel angle or corner height differentials being detected.

I would say if you're going for absolute peak handling performance, coilovers with sway bars will outperform ABC. Aside from the responsiveness, you're reducing weight by a fair amount. And apparently Mercedes/AMG thought the same, since they chose to go with coilovers and sway bars for the SL65 AMG Black Series. If ABC was worth its weight - literally - in absolute handling performance, AMG would not have done this. It's not like they were concerned with cost reduction.

But in reality, if you're truly serious about ultra-high handling performance, you'd trade the car in for something that doesn't weigh 4400 pounds. This is not a sports car, it's a grand tourer. Coilovers can make it feel a bit sportier, but it's never going to rival a 911.

The improvement in reliability, and the peace of mind that comes with it, is the main reason I switched to coilovers. The car is a lot more fun when there's no worry of a potential multi-thousand dollar suspension failure in the back of your mind.

 

I swapped out mine a few months ago and I've been happy with it. To me, it feels the same but not having to worry about the ABC blowing out is priceless!