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The lower control arms are just from the E320/E350 or steel suspension E500. They are not super hard to get or expensive. They also need to be installed with a plastic cover to be OEM. I have a thread where I talk about all the parts needed (which have not been installed yet - other cars in front).
Can you check your thread list and post the link here?
The Airmatic is adjustable, has nose lift and is adaptive. The steel suspension is basically off an E320. It offers nothing and handles like crap and don't say the E320 is more nimble because of it. The E320 is not better handling but maybe feels lighter because it's LIGHTER, not because is has crap suspension. Coilovers or Airmatic are best due to their respective characteristics, normal suspension is a pile of turd. By all means though, put E200 suspension on your E55, enjoy the increase is resale value
and you went with the ohlins coilovers because that would be the ultimate and preserve you resale value because you "did it right" --
Doesn't seem to be a lot of different threads on the coilover conversion. The only one I really saw was the BC Racing thread that started about 18 mos ago. I have an '06 with 156K and I had a LR slow leak and now just blew out the LF bag.
Can some others weigh in on options? I am committed to going this route but I don't want to just buy from a selection of 1. I am looking for something that tends towards ride comfort vs sport handling. Thats my biggest dilemma. I put H&R's and Koni's on my T5 Volvo and the ride sucks. It was so harsh. Cornered awesome but I am looking for street ride. The guy who installed the BC setup said that ride on full soft was comprable to the Airmatic setup. I would like some other opinions / options.
My car is down and I cannot get it into my mechanic (who highly recommends ripping out the airmatic setup) untl next Friday so I want to use the time to research options and availability.
Thanks!
I just got mine back with BC coilovers. Set on full soft and it is a really smooth ride. I set mine 20 clicks firm and it still feels quite fine. Can be set to whatever height you want. Cost me $1900 total installed. $995 coilovers, $90 used E320 rear arms and $800 install. I now have the peice of mind that they wont leave me stranded or far worse. Really crappy design IMO. Why they didnt atleast have something to stop from bottoming out is beyond me. Very unsafe.
I just got mine back with BC coilovers. Set on full soft and it is a really smooth ride. I set mine 20 clicks firm and it still feels quite fine. Can be set to whatever height you want. Cost me $1900 total installed. $995 coilovers, $90 used E320 rear arms and $800 install. I now have the peice of mind that they wont leave me stranded or far worse. Really crappy design IMO. Why they didnt atleast have something to stop from bottoming out is beyond me. Very unsafe.
I just got mine back with BC coilovers. Set on full soft and it is a really smooth ride. I set mine 20 clicks firm and it still feels quite fine. Can be set to whatever height you want. Cost me $1900 total installed. $995 coilovers, $90 used E320 rear arms and $800 install. I now have the peice of mind that they wont leave me stranded or far worse. Really crappy design IMO. Why they didnt atleast have something to stop from bottoming out is beyond me. Very unsafe.
Was all that you needed was the arm? There is another thread here saying that there are several parts including some plastic bits. I tried Potomac German but they want to sell the whole corner, (upper/lower/hub) as a unit and that is more than the arms are new.
I just found used rear arms off Ebay in good shape for $90 shipped. They were from an E320. Gave those and the BC coilovers to my local indy and he installed it all. Not sure why you would need a bunch of other stuff
Search threads started in the 211 AMG forum under my name and you should see a coilover thread. I was the guinea pig. I went with KW and couldn't be happier. I did have the car dropped super low as well as having a full corner balance. The car handled like it was on rails. Decided to stop tracking the car and raised it up a bit to a finer all around and absolutely NO issues driving around town.
Good luck with your decision and hope you like what you feel after as many of us have.
Search threads started in the 211 AMG forum under my name and you should see a coilover thread. I was the guinea pig. I went with KW and couldn't be happier. I did have the car dropped super low as well as having a full corner balance. The car handled like it was on rails. Decided to stop tracking the car and raised it up a bit to a finer all around and absolutely NO issues driving around town.
Good luck with your decision and hope you like what you feel after as many of us have.
Sweet. I really need to lower mine and get alignment before I judge this upgrade. FYI Mine has dropped about a 1/4-1/2 inch in just a few days of hard driving since install. Could squeeze three fingers in the rear well now I can only do little over two. Still WAY to high. Doesnt look good and probably hurts handling. I was thinking about going to about one finger Both front and rear.
The car is going on on Saturday! My buddy is going to do it on Monday. One thing that I still haven't answered - how to disable the warnings once everything is disconnected. I recall the guy who posted the DIY saying all you need to do is pull a fuse. Can others who did this conversion weigh in?
Coilovers are on! Mechanic agreed that its a B$tch to adjust the rears. I think that the fronts are as low as they can go and the rears had to be raised a bit. Full soft is pretty mushy. I am going to split the difference (15 clicks) and see how that works. Saw that some were running 7-8 clicks from full soft. Anyone else want to weigh in on settings? Anyone running different settings front vs rear?
I have mine set to 10 clicks from full hard. I believe they are 32 clicks total. Slightly firmer than sport 2 mode but handles fantastic. Oh and make sure you get alignment ! Mine was out of whack by a full 2 inches in rear where control arms were replaced.
Thanks for the settings recommendation. I am going to try that. I am at the middle at 15 and I am finding there still isn't quite enough rebound control. Yes, I need to get the alignment scheduled ASAP.
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