CLS lowering ?

[KennyN]

Now that my car (`10 CLS G E without airmatic) is outside its warranty period i am contemplating have it lowered , well just the rear. So here are the questions :

Just lowering the rear by 25- 30mm, will it have any major effects on the rear camber settings requiring adjusting (camber bolts) ,at present the rear tyres are wearing uniformly across their width ?

Can you buy the rear springs only as i have only seen either fronts or full sets for sale ?

Having lowered most of my previous cars is there anything bespoke to MB that i need to watch out for , tooling etc. ?

At the moment i feel the car is sitting too high at the rear , as they all do IMHO , but perfect at the front and due to the amount of local speed bumps i feel lowering the front would have expensive consequences. Pic below is the car with a full tank of diesel.

Thoughts ?

Kenny

 

[MWCLS]

Shame you don't have airmatic, if you are going to lower the car I
Would replace all springs, you may end up with a car looking too low at back. Imo leave well alone.

 

[Silver CL55]

Mine had airmatic so used the links available.
Remember it is based on a w211 so should be similar, I agree it looks a little high at the back.
They look better on 19's too!

 

[whitenemesis]

If you only lower the back you could upset the handling, you will need to have the geo checked.

Always best to change shock absorbers as well, get a matched set of springs and shocks all round. Perhaps a set of adjustable coilovers would be best. Have a look at Bilsteins

 

[KennyN]

Would replace all springs, you may end up with a car looking too low at back.

A 30mm drop at the rear ,with a full tank, would make the tyre / arch clearance exactly the same at the rear as it is at the front which would give the stance I am looking for , if the front was dropped at all it would look too low , for me anyway, as the tyres would be disappearing inside the arches.

Remember it is based on a w211 so should be similar, I agree it looks a little high at the back.

I had a look at a YT video of rear spring replacement on a 211 and it seems pretty straight forward so I would have no doubts about doing the work myself. I wonder why the airmatic cars seem to sit level yet the sprung ones sit nose down **** up as every one I looked at without the airmatic sat the same way

If you only lower the back you could upset the handling, you will need to have the geo checked.

Always best to change shock absorbers as well, get a matched set of springs and shocks all round. Perhaps a set of adjustable coilovers would be best. Have a look at Bilsteins

In an ideal world coilovers would be fine if I had a spare 2k lying around but in reality it is not an option as I just want the rear to sit a little lower than it is at present so it is a little more "level". If the shocks had a bit of mileage on them then I would consider replacing them but with 27k on the car I would be loathed to replace them as there is a few miles left in them , I hope.

I find the suspension firm on the standard car as the roads around here are in a terrible state and making the suspension any firmer would make for an uncomfortable ride.

One thing I did notice on the EPC was that there was rubber spacers at the top of each rear spring , the size of this spacer is dependent on the options the car has fitted and compensates for their extra weight. With my chassis number entered into the EPC mine has a 21mm spacer fitted , there is spacers that go down to 5mm so I could swap them with mine dropping the car around 15mm at the rear which may be just enough to make it a little more level , IMHO.

Kenny

 

[MWCLS]

This was my main reason for purchasing a car with airmatic. But like you say 27k on the clock changeing shocks/springs or coil over route seems crazy when you have a perfectly good suspension set up.

Ultimately if it bugs you, what choices do you have? Spend the money or leave as is.

 

[gunning]

I'm not sure if pb brakes do the w219 coilovers. But if they do they are only about £650 delivered and in my opinion as good as HR or KW.

 

[gunning]

Just had a look and they do the set for about £630 delivered but if you go in their website you can get adjustable top mounts for that price.

 

[KennyN]

What choices do you have? Spend the money or leave as is.

Don't mind spending a few quid on the car , just not coilover money. A set of H+R or Eibach springs will be around £200 which is not a problem as I can sell the unused front ones on Ebay as there is no point in keeping them if they are never going to be fitted . IF alignment is required for the rear drop then again not an issue but trying to find someone local to "trust" may well be as there are numerous post of members cars being worse after them being "aligned"

I could always just get my Visa statement and leave that in the boot , which should lower it nicely.

Kenny

 

[MWCLS]

I could always just get my Visa statement and leave that in the boot , which should lower it.


LOL, you can have mine to and your car will be decked

 

[whitenemesis]

Go with the reduced height rubber spacers, see how it affects the handling. Cheap and easily reversible

 

[tromppost]

Leave it, Mercedes must have done some r&d !! How wrong could they have got it ?

 

[KennyN]

How wrong could they have got it

Not wrong at all , I just think it would be more pleasing to my eye if it sat like this :

Kenny

 

[jacko1971]

Did you get this done Kenny? I've got a broken spring so was going to take advantage of that, change both rears using 30mm lowering springs and leave the front alone

 

[Lit91]

Id just replace all springs with H&R or Eibach. This will ensure perfect balance all round & the spring ratings will correlate.

 

[BlackC55]

We are an H&R agent. Email me if I can help

 

[KennyN]

Did you get this done Kenny? I've got a broken spring so was going to take advantage of that, change both rears using 30mm lowering springs and leave the front alone

Not yet mate, I am going to try the thinner spring seat first which will only be £20. If it needs to go lower I will then look into springs in the summer as I have my paddle shift to get coded and my windows to get tinted so any more luxuries may be frowned upon.

Just check google images for lowered CLS as some of the sprung ones look pretty low at the back with certain makes of spring.

A 25 - 30 mm drop would be spot on at the rear but nothing at the front as we would loose the front bumper on some of the speed bumps around here.

Kenny

 

[jacko1971]

Cheers mate. Thats just what I intend to do. 30mm lower on the rear and nothing on the front. I've priced up a set of Eibach springs and it'll be going in next week. I'll use the existing spring seats. The gap between the arch and the wheel is definitely higher at the back than the front and I think it will be a lot more pleasing on the eye to lower the rear a touch. There are various doom mongers that will state that whatever you do to the back you should do to the front as that is the geometry that Mercedes intended. But I'm not one of those.

 

[jacko1971]

Id just replace all springs with H&R or Eibach. This will ensure perfect balance all round & the spring ratings will correlate.

Priced a set of 30mm lowering Eibachs but will only use the rears I think.
(Further advice from anyone is welcome though as to how it will affect the geometry of the car)
I'll get the lowering springs rears on and see what it looks like. This kind of place and that kind of advice is why we frequent these forums I think :bannana:

 

[KennyN]

There are various doom mongers that will state that whatever you do to the back you should do to the front as that is the geometry that Mercedes intended. But I'm not one of those.

The Airmatic equipped CLS`s sit perfectly level not just the AMG ones , why the coil spring ones don't have the F+R ride height similar I don't know .

I will be interested to see how your car sits with the Eibach springs , if it sits nice I may just forget the seats and just get the springs. Are you going to fit them yourself ?

Kenny