I'm having some goodies installed by Steve from mbenznl in the upcoming month. I know this has been a discussed topic and I've read through the topics but would like to get some feedback to my situation per say. I am planning on 19" wheels (most likley BBS LMs w/ Tirerack's recommended offsets and wheel sizes) and the Carlsson RS lip. I am only interested in lowering the car 1/2-3/4" so that I can stay within specifications of mercedes and have my car aligned well (for max tread wear) without extreme negative camber in the rear. But my question to all of you folks is do you think I should leave the ride height alone because I don't think I'd be happy scratching my lip over every speed bump and semi steep ramp I come across. So what do you guys think?

 

Sorry to revive a dead thread but I have a similar question and this poor guy didn't even get one response. I'm hoping to have Steve hook me up with a Star Diag. lowering mod next time he's in town but I'm running the 19' Titan Grey SL/CL/S 65 wheels. Does anyone know for sure if the lowering will cause any rubbing at all? I love the lowered look but I certainly wouldn't want to risk any damage to the car. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

Lowering it 15mm is about as far as you should go if you still want some clearance on the front.

 

15mm? Might as well not lower it at all. Geez...if you're going to pay Steve to do something you might as well do the maximum amount of lowering and even that isn't that low. The perfect drop = reference JAY55 or DragonAMG's car.

 

Well he is concerned about hitting his lip spoiler and even at the stock ride height I hit my air-dam on minor drive-ways. I can't imagine having a lip spoiler and lowering it without issues, but I drive my car hard and like having some clearance when its needed.

 

With the 19" BBS LMs and the Carlsson lip, I can honestly say that lowering this car further than stock height would not be a smart idea. With the lip, the car sits lower than my evo which has a track suspension setup in the front. Wheel gap isn't much of an issue since there is barely any in the front (estimated about 1" or less) and the rear looks almost tucked. I hope this helps you guys. With the lip, I raise my car accordingly when entering low speed zones like shopping malls with those nice speed bumps. So far so good but the clearance isn't much, I know this for sure.

 

On my Mercedes, clearance from the ground is never really an issue and I, too, have a front lip and 19" BBS LM's. The car looks low but is still far from the ground. It's just a personal pet peeve of mine when I see a car that is nicely done but chickened out on the lowering. Just my 2 cents.

 

Chickened out is an interesting way to put it. I drove the evo around on track suspensions setup by Road Race and the car isn't slammed but already the stock front lip gets a lot of abuse from steep driveways. My mercedes is a daily driver and I have no interest in going through that again. People who think slamming the car looks bling bling or so cool has some issues anyways....you don't just go lowering your car blindly because it does mess with the suspension setup and sometimes alignment will solve it but extreme cases you need something more adjustable....I guess you would know this since you run coilovers in your sig. But then again most don't care about suspension since they just want to go fast in a straight line. But chickening out? Hardly, I just want to not worry about turning the car 90 degrees everytime I see a small dip or a speed bump.

 

I just don't understand why it would be an issue with the ability to adjust ride height on the fly with the Airmatic setup.

 

Another issue with going too low is it dramatically alters the camber, geometry etc and can make a car handle like an oxcart. Too low is "All show No go" in real world driving IMHO.

 

Airmatic is great yes, but it doesn't change the characteristic of having a slammed car, as someone pointed out with the increased negative camber in the rear. For a guy that has coilovers, I'm surprised this isn't understood...or did you get coilovers to just lower your car? -_- If the thing looked like an suv in terms of heightness, then yeah maybe lowering it wouldn't be a bad idea but slamming a mercedes in my opinion takes away from some of the elegance that comes with the car....with the stock heigh and bigger wheels, the gap is pretty much gone on the wheel wells...what's the point of doing it then other than risking more damage to the car and crap from mercedes service managers....I would think most mercedes owners have learned from from japanese import guys that slamming the car without care to suspension and handling characteristics is just bling bling rice.

 

I know I've increased the negative camber in the rear. Has it affected the way the car handles? Yes, improved it if anything. The car had way too much body roll at its stock height. I never said I didn't understand that it changes the alignment/geometry of the suspension. It just doesn't affect me any. I don't road race either so it's not that important to me. It's not enough to make a difference for my daily driving.

If you think by just simply putting on bigger wheels on a stock ride height car will kill the wheel gap you're in for a suprise. Though some people on this forum will tell you that it looks great, the other half are just biting their tongue not saying anything because in reality the car is in need of some drastic lowering. But this just tells you one thing.... that it's an opinion.

You should be more worried about damaging the wheels over anything else. I guarantee that you will still drive with caution to avoid certain hazards with or without being lowered.

 

Actually I would think lowering it with camber would help in handling of the car. Why do %99 of track cars have CRAZY camber? Maybe 'cause it helps?

 

Having too much negative camber does have adverse effects on the suspension and tire wear. Not to mention a screwed up ride comfort.

You would be surprised but many of the E55 guys here track their cars.

I think you need to take a physics course in mechanics or something since your information is somewhat flawed dut.

 

You can also raise the car up by pressing the button before going over bumps or driveways. Of course, it would still be safer to negotiate these obstacles at an angle.

 

The toe-out that is usually associated with lowering will kill the tires faster than any negative camber. The last time I checked, doesn't MB's have problems with outer tire wear and not inner wear? Some people on this forum, who do track their cars, have said that they can't get enough negative camber on their cars to offset that outer wear. I'm at almost 6,000 miles since "bling bling ricing" my car with the coilovers and I do not see any unusual wear. I'm at around -2.2º and I do drive my car in an aggressive manner. Ride comfort is a moot topic. If you're running 19 or 20 inch wheels with low profile tires you already feel everything on the road.

 

filling the wheelwell gap with larger wheels is great if you want a car that sits higher off the ground than before and is slower,proper fitment won't lessen the gap anyway.

 

Tire wear? Get the toe corrected. Yea, my information MUST be flawed since most (if not, all) track cars tend to have negative camber.