Full Throttle

Carlsson C-Tronic

Installs in under 5 minutes, 100% plug n play. No glue, removing pins, or generally hacking up your car required.

AWOL

Im bumping this because I tried the rear, and I can sill stick my finger in the gap, and I ground out the holes more and more and it wont go past 25 1/2 inches to the top of the wheel well.

I might bend it but seems like the rear on mine is not sensitive.


Front dropped instantly, rear I have to raise the car, then lower it via the button to see where she ends up.

Pissing me off

heres a cell pic by the way

sneakyneon

which way did you slot the hole? toward the ground or up?

AWOL

toward the ground. Angle is tough though with the exhaust.

Im wondering if I went like / instead of straight down.

F

TopGun32

just got around to doing this mod.. found a few 1/4" spare washers in my garage work bench. I used 3 of them for each side of the front bolt.

In all.. I lowered my front close to 1/2". I used to get an easy 3 fingers between my tires and wheel well.. not I can get barely get 2.

My rears also have about 2 fingers for spacing..

So the car sits evenly.

The main thing is that the turn in is much improved over stock.

This is with Sport 1 setting on suspension. I really don't need to use Sport 2 at this point.

I have my stock 18"s right now.... so once i have my 19's I'm sure I'll get more bite on the front with a wider rim 8.5".

blackdeath

I just bought this car in November and have been learning ever since. Here is my story/problem: The car has been lowered prior to my ownership. I did not know which method/s were used but do now. The right rear corner was an inch lower than all others. I thought the air spring was leaking so I took it to the stealership (name of which will remain anonymous until this is resolved for my car's sake and their reputation if it turns out they were telling the truth). I am told that there is a leak and they have to replace the rear air spring and shock? This is a $1200 part. It also is going to cost $1000 in labor due to the fact it takes 10 hours to remove the whole rear axle to take off what is just a fancy coil over shock to me. I start looking around to see about these claims of cost and repair time. They are legit if that is the problem. I get the car back minus $2500 they lifted from my wallet on the way out. I get home start admiring my car and realize it is still sitting 3/4" to 1" lower on the back right wheel. I call the service guy and started to explain he says bring it back in and let me take a look. Why the F did he not do that before he called and said come pick it up? Now I am pissed that I think I just threw 2500 at a problem that did not exist and worried that these guys are incompetent. I start looking around arming myself automatic weapon caliber knowledge to take these thieves down. When I showed up today to pick it up again they tell that they got with in a 1/4" on the right rear and that is as good gold. I laid the law down on them and explained that if there was a leak or wasn't it did not change a thing about the cars ride height in that corner. If it was leaking it would still level out then sag and constantly try to compensate and the compressor would run. It would not be exactly the same height whether fully lowered or raised. I say it must be a sensor problem or something the previous owner did to lower it. Turns out there are 5 washers on either side in the front and the rear is slotted to lower it a s described above earlier. The solution they provided when I came to pick up the car after they said it was right this time was take three washers from the right front and they tried to stick the rear sensor back to stock position. I had them put it on the lift and it was obvious that the sensor was still cockeyed on one side due to the clean metal under neither had been covered by it's previous location. Now they are going to take completely back to stock and level out electronically. I don't believe that the air spring was bad. They told me it was leaking from the small hard plastic line fitting at the spring that fills it. I had them bring the part out to show me and it looks undamaged or flawed. It is about the same size as a tire valve stem accept female into the air spring. I tell them I am taking the air spring to get tested and ask the mechanic in front of the service manager and manager if it is going to leak and he says yes. I have it right now and it will be pressured tested in the morning and this will be the decider of the fate of the these poor souls.

All things aside, I am a nice 6'3" 220 lb. guy who wants to believe that people are generally good and that you get what you pay for. For my sake more than theirs I hope that it does leak and I don't have to disfigure anyone and it will help restore my faith in people. I went their thinking that this should be the place that will get it right and I know it will cost me something but I won't have research everything and teach myself how to be a MB tech and double check their work and word. WRONG WRONG WRONG! I would have been happier dealing with my equipment mechanic and we could have fixed it ourselves. Even if it does leak, the fitting can be replaced or wrapped in pipe dope or re-threaded. Why does this always happen when you trust someone to take care of you? Please let me know if anyone has any input or experienced my same lower rear corner issue.

tbone

Just addressing the "rear corner sitting lower" issue - it's common on airmatic W211's that one side sits lower than the other side. Whether it sits 3/4-1" lower, I don't know. That does seem like a bit much. But my left rear sits lower than my right rear.

kamchief

blackdeath I feel your pain. I recently bought my 63 and didn't notice during the delivery process that the suspension button on the center console was sticking. So I take to the local MB dealer and tell the service guy it's probably from a soda getting spilled, but it was like that when I picked it up. He calls me up the next day and says that the technician came to the conclusion that a soda had spilled on the switch. (Is this the same technician that had trouble finding the power steering reservoir?) A new switch was ordered ($275!) and it'll be an hour labor. (Brief history: I didn't call the dealer I bought the car from as soon as I noticed it (11 pm), nor did I call the next day, my bad.) Now the switch still worked, it would just take a few minutes for it to spring back up after it was pressed. So I ask the guy, "Can't you just clean it?" and he says, "Oh no, that switch can't be cleaned." I say, "Fine, whatever, just give me the car back so I can drive it this weekend." When I pick it up, he tells me that when the switch comes in, it should only take a few minutes to change it out. I thought, "Oh reeeeally?" So the next day I popped the console cover off (pull back and up on the lip under the ashtray), unplugged the switch, removed the switch (4 Torx screws), disassembled & cleaned it (Goo-Gone/alcohol), and reinstalled it. 33 minutes later the switch was working like new! I can't wait for the dealer to call and tell me my new switch has arrived.

Anyway, back to the topic, I just wanted the front lowered a little to even things out and may not even mess with the rear.
Curb lift before:


Stock with suspension in sport 2 mode:


Lowered with suspension in sport 2 mode:

TopGun32

I finally got my 19"s on with Hankook v12... wow!

ride is quiet and handling way better than any tire I have personally used.

I also lowered by rear.. and now I can place 1 finger between the wheel well and the tire and this is using Comfort mode on the suspension seeting...

I lowered my rear by gently pushing my sensor bracket closer to the floor.. a few MM is all you need.

Sp1 and Sp2 is a bit lower...

Aside from still have 1 or 2 bent rims..and some vibration.. the car is running better than ever.

lowerin and wider rims and car looks much better and feels responsive to the turns.

LADY_AMG

I'm scared to lower my car for 80 cents.

kamchief

Ahhh, come on! You are just tricking the sensor into letting a little air out of the front springs. It's less than an inch, so it's nothing radical.

BlackCard

+1 On the Hankook V12, I'm loving them! Already lowered mine through STAR, but I want the rear down about 1/4"-1/2" to level with the front. I hope that doesn't through my alignment off.

KLR CLS

Did this today, and could not be happier with how it turned out. Anybody who spends 2 grand on an ELM is farging nuts. I used 2 machined 5.5mm stainless nuts, and bent the rear bracket. Took about 1 hour due to trying out different rear heights. Now I can spend the $300 I was going to spend on links on something else! Thanks MBworld!

Vader13

Well I know a guy whoes suspension was destroyed because of the 80 cent mod. I will stick with my RT LM2, Is this a civic forum? lol

KLR CLS

You heard of a guy or know someone personally and have seen it? Honestly, I don't know how that could happen. I would hazzard that I torqued those nuts to at least 40lbs. No way they are breaking loose from some non-stressed up/down motions. I considered putting some Zip ties through the bracket and around the control arm as a fail safe. I am going to check the nuts in a few days and add those then. Glad that your ELM makes you sleep better at night, but having done the DIY mod, I think I would be losing sleep having spent 2k to get the same effect.

LADY_AMG

I re-read this thread and thought about maybe trying it, but I'm just so damn scared of my airmatic system having a problem. That is not a bill I want to see from the dealer! LOL

tgoss

I have to agree. A buddy of mine told me the price on a single airmatic strut over the weekend and I almost had a heart attack. I couldn't imagine having to replace 2 or all 4 of those...

I had my stealer just lower it with STAR and I couldn't be happier

Thanks MPRESIV for the sick pics as always

wizos6

Problem with the STAR is that my right side rear seems to much higher than the left rear and its exactly the same on my friends E55 with the same lowering STAR process.

27300man

I don't even think you need washers to lower ther car. Just adjust the top screw holding the sensor? That's how I was lowered.

djrabbi

anyone wanna do this for me? im in NJ lol

r-magic

if u were here in the south i would do it for free. Takes less then 10 minutes!

djrabbi

awwww.....well i don't know which bolt need washers added....or is it kinda obv?

gonzjed

I think this issue is inherent with airmatics. I measured multiple times with a tape measure. A day later, the passenger side was slightly, but noticably higher.

r-magic

Just go to the first page and look at the pics. Its very self explanatory. Just make sure u add a little blue loctite. The links doesn't have any load on it so make sure the nut is tighten enough. The back u just use a long screwdriver and bend the bracket just a little. But just look at the pics and it will guide u through.

BagMan

I added 3 washers to the front and am happy with the look. Question though: When I park in garage and shut the car off, I hear the shocks release air (pffffffffffffft) and the car lowers.

Is the ride height different when driving and parked? FWIW, I usually drive in Sport 1.