E430 lowering doesn't seem lower?
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Joined: Feb 2002
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John Deere
E430 lowering doesn't seem lower?
I posted this in the W210 forum, but thought a wider audience here may help...
I just put on a set of Vogtland lowering springs along with Bilstein sport shocks, and I was expecting to see a noticeable drop. In fact I was a bit worried 1.5" lowering would be a bit much, using my highly scientific method of thumb and forefinger estimation of the tire/wheel well lip gap before it was done.
Now it's done, and the front looks a hair lower (and just a hair), and the back looks the same as before. Maybe me eyes are deceiving me, but I assumed 1.5" would look differently. Are my expectations off base? For $900 in parts and labor, I thought I'd get more then a stiffer ride.
(I have the sport package with the 17" OEM wheels)
The interesting part is that the installer, who is a master MB mechanic (now running his own shop) swore up and down that the '98 and above E430 Sport came with sport Bilsteins (which implies lower springs) as well as beefier sway bars. So if he is correct, I shouldn't expect to see any change, as I would have essentially replaced apples with apples. But many on this forum have pointed out that the sport package on the 98 E430 was body style and wheel size alone...no suspension upgrades at all from the non-sport 430.
He may be confused with the E55 W210, which surely did have beefier bits, but I'm just guessing.
Any ideas?
I just put on a set of Vogtland lowering springs along with Bilstein sport shocks, and I was expecting to see a noticeable drop. In fact I was a bit worried 1.5" lowering would be a bit much, using my highly scientific method of thumb and forefinger estimation of the tire/wheel well lip gap before it was done.
Now it's done, and the front looks a hair lower (and just a hair), and the back looks the same as before. Maybe me eyes are deceiving me, but I assumed 1.5" would look differently. Are my expectations off base? For $900 in parts and labor, I thought I'd get more then a stiffer ride.
(I have the sport package with the 17" OEM wheels)
The interesting part is that the installer, who is a master MB mechanic (now running his own shop) swore up and down that the '98 and above E430 Sport came with sport Bilsteins (which implies lower springs) as well as beefier sway bars. So if he is correct, I shouldn't expect to see any change, as I would have essentially replaced apples with apples. But many on this forum have pointed out that the sport package on the 98 E430 was body style and wheel size alone...no suspension upgrades at all from the non-sport 430.
He may be confused with the E55 W210, which surely did have beefier bits, but I'm just guessing.
Any ideas?
TR Moderator & Tire God
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 3,545
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From: SouthBend, IN USA
depends on the weather
give it a couple of weeks and check then .... springs some times have to settle ... especially if you went with new spring pads ...
but, you old springs could have also sagged so much that they were lower than they should have been ...
did you have the ride height properly measured before the install?
The 430 Sport was just body cladding and wheels as you have already been told
but, you old springs could have also sagged so much that they were lower than they should have been ...
did you have the ride height properly measured before the install?
The 430 Sport was just body cladding and wheels as you have already been told
