How low is low. W210

[renault12ts]

Sorry for late reply, I missed this origanlly, double

Standard car AFAIK.

wheel centre to arch - 14.75"
Ground to arch - 26.5"

Why are we measuring in inches

Come in to the 21st century.

Uh, yep, I agree, I love mms, but I started this on the US site and as you know the only mms they use are in tyre ( tire ) sizes, and even then not all of them.

 

[renault12ts]

Update.. Thanks to 230K and his car lift I have now discovered the reason for my low ride height...two broken springs...oh well!!

 

[maddog]

Measurements used to vary on mine due to the self levelling suspension it would settle over a few days , catch it when you had just parked at and it could be 10mm higher than the next day

Had me scratching my head as i thought the car had dropped as it kept scraping on speedbumps etc turned out it had , a front spring had broken

 

[maddog]

Update.. Thanks to 230K and his car lift I have now discovered the reason for my low ride height...two broken springs...oh well!!

On the plus side springs arent expensive from MB , i think i paid £40 each which i didnt think was bad , a chance to check and clean up the perches as well

 

[renault12ts]

On the plus side springs arent expensive from MB , i think i paid £40 each which i didnt think was bad , a chance to check and clean up the perches as well

Quoted £51 plus vat each to-day for fronts.

 

[shorty]

|When your under the car why not change the shocks , i have bilstiens in mine and the handling is great even on rough irish roads

 

[ShinyF1]

Just spent a week in gloriously sunny Donegal. Crashing and scraping along country roads. I looked at the under side of the engine cover and it's almost scraped through. I can't live like this, even at home a small hump taken at more than 3mph leads to a big bang on the other side.

So, is there something wrong? Dampers or springs, what do you think? Or maybe fit 5 pip rubbers?

I've just spent Easter between Grange [Sligo] and Millford [Donegal] - decent weather / rubbish roads.

I bottom out the front end over [carefully taken] speed bumps regularly and put it down to a very long front overhang. Previously had BMWs with virtually no front overhang and no such problem. Not helped my MB lowered suspension....

Front 25.5"
Rear 26"

 

[shorty]

The roads over in the west are very bad , narrow with dry stone walls and potholes . It makes me wonder why we have high road tax and s**t roads

 

[renault12ts]

New springs fitted to-day. A transformation. £40 for labour a revelation.
Front now rides 14.25" from wheel centre.

 

[renault12ts]

I've just spent Easter between Grange [Sligo] and Millford [Donegal] - decent weather / rubbish roads.

I bottom out the front end over [carefully taken] speed bumps regularly and put it down to a very long front overhang. Previously had BMWs with virtually no front overhang and no such problem. Not helped my MB lowered suspension....

Front 25.5"
Rear 26"

Just seen this post. Mine were 24.25 and 25.25 before the spring swap. So you can appreciate what I had to contend with on the same roads ( I was through Milford twice at Easter ). But I have the optional steel sump guard.

 

[IanT]

Sorry to bump an old thread...

Just measured the ride height on my W210 E320 CDI Avantgarde and the ground-to-top of wheel arch figures are:

Front: 25.25"
Rear: 25.75"

Does anyone know what the factory settings are? WIS says to use some special tools that measure the angles of the wishbones, so without resorting to trigonometry and guesswork, how do I work out if my springs are 'in spec'?

I'm mainly asking as I've just bought the car and plan to keep it for a good long while and the tyres, whilst being nearly new (7mm+) are worn almost bald on the front inside edges only. Obviously the tracking needs attention, but I'd like to be sure the springs are not needing replacement first.

Of course, this being an Avantgarde chassis makes the ride height lower than Elegance / Classic, but I have a steep drive and sometimes get a gentle scrape from the exhaust as I enter / leave the drive. A fractional raising of the suspension would completely remove that, and be most welcome.

How easy is it to replace springs on these cars, what tools are needed? I have a standard set of spring compressors (as you'd use for normal McPherson struts etc). I've read that MB sell spacers for fitting to the ends of the springs to account for different spring lengths in production early on, not deemed necessary for later cars as they sorted their tolerances out.

Ian.

 

[IanT]

I'll add some more readings, wheel centres to arch tops...

Front: 335mm
Rear: 350mm

New money this time.

Ian.

 

[lynall]

Item 40 available 5 to 21mm not sure on proper name but genune merc part iirc not to dear.

Here parts nos etc http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb2.asp?TP=1&F=210070%5F66G&M=113%2E940&GA=722%2E623722%2E632&CT=F&cat=66G&SID=32&SGR=052&SGN=01

Lynall

 

[IanT]

Cheers Lynall, is it a straightforward job to have the springs out? I've got normal (Clarke) spring compressors.

Ian.

 

[E320Trip]

Did you ever remove your springs?