bootman30

Hello all.

I’m having the front struts on my 89 300E replaced with Biltein HDs. I’d like to get the car to steer more precisely and generally be tighter / less drift off of center while at high speed, although the car is used mostly on long highway trips, so I don’t want to drop it down too far, if at all. The car has 150K miles on it, so I would only like to put in $300-$600 more, in addition to the front struts.

A. What else can you suggest, in some order of priority? I’m already paying to have the struts installed and the car aligned, so are there any items that come in the category of “absolutely I’d change that bushing, etc.” I saw a list for the back suspension that said the following:

Idle arm busing and steering arm bushing,
Control arm rubber,
New drop link
New shock tower bushings,
Spring pads,
Front and rear arm bushings,
Front drop links,

However, I’m told those parts alone run $400 and on a MB suspect that the instillation cost would far exceed my budget? While I assume that changing the comparable parts in the front would tighten up the ride and steering, would it be that noticeable and do you think it is worth the $700-$900 to do?

B. The back shocks are the original shocks and are thus “soft” settings – not the HDs that I’m putting on the front, so should I spend the other $280 to have the back shocks replaced with Bilstein HDs rather than start replacing bushings?

C. Also, I’m told that the Bilstein HDs will cause the front to ride higher than it now does, so I was planning to go down the bump stop scale so that my car does not ride too high in the front, as is discussed in the prior suspension thread.

Thank you in advance.

Luke@tirerack

replace all 4 shocks at the same time and you may want to consider springs as well

MTI

At a bare minimum, change the shock tower rubber mount, the strut bump stop and the dust bellows. As for the spring pads, you'll probably find that they are still in good condition, but replace them anyway since they're such a low cost item. Are you certain about the HD struts affecting ride height or is it anecdotal information? The Bilstein HD's are pretty much the equivalent of the "sportline" struts and I've never heard of struts affecting ride hight, which is more a function of the coil springs and pads.

bootman30

Thank you BTI: The MB dealership and a service center both said that the front would come up because of the HDs. I don't know why, although the left front strut is leaking, so maybe the new HD's would raise it? The dealership here in Manhattan may not know about an 89 300 . . . I was in their service area and of about 50 cars that were being worked on, I don't recall seeing anything that did not look like it was still under warrantee.

Thank you Luke. I already ordered the front struts and Bilstein said it was just fine to replace the front struts with HDs, leaving the backs with the original struts. I also recall hearing that even if I later get the back shocks changed to HDs I won't have to realign the car. Do you agree with that approach, or are you saying that the car will not handle appropriately with HDs front and original soft in back?

Luke and BTI: I was told that I will definitely need the alignment after the struts go on, at least according to MB and the instillation shop. Biltein said it is recommended. Others have said no. How come I can't get a straight answer?