Improving ride quality and handling of a C350 CDI sport

[flango]

Track developments or advanced racing are the UK chassis and suspension guru's

 

[6cyl]

Thank you Flango.

I've just tried joining Wheels In Motion forum as they seem to be offering suspension services that may be able to help, didn't like my email address, bizarre.

 

[flango]

Thank you Flango. I've just tried joining Wheels In Motion forum as they seem to be offering suspension services that may be able to help, didn't like my email address, bizarre.

Tony the owner of wheels in motion is a member on here I take all my cars to him for alignment there is no one finer and Tony's place is a 300 mile round trip for me

 

[6cyl]

Found another company that may be able to help. Any one here used them before ?
Services - Centre GravityCentre Gravity

Looks like they can measure dampers and springs, as well as 4 wheel alignment etc.

 

[HB]

Man quit the high tech bull. It's a cclass Merc. Fit some Eibach pro kit springs and either koni sports or Bilstein B8 shocks and be happy

 

[6cyl]

Man quit the high tech bull. It's a cclass Merc. Fit some Eibach pro kit springs and either koni sports or Bilstein B8 shocks and be happy

Spend the best part of £1k and hope it works better ?

 

[HB]

It does work better. I've done it to every car I've had and they all respond brilliantly. Bilsteins are a bit harder , konis are adjustable, there is nothing out of the ordinary you will find with some suspension guru for a standard w204.

 

[Windydog]

High tech bull? Really? A well set up car on reasonable adjustables will trounce an off the shelf performance pack any day. Both on cars and bikes. Corner weighting and compression/rebound fettling with appropriate spring rates i.e. compliant is a surely a better way forward. Top notch Ohlins on my Aprilia bike (3k worth supposedly setup correctly) and it was horrible compared to factory units set up by someone who knew what they were doing.

To perhaps digress slightly to the OP, this is a great point and one that manufacturers hopefully are listening to.

Before I chose my latest ride, everything I tried was far too hard, Audi A4 Avant Sport, S Lines, BMW 3 Series was okay but the M-Sport was concrete, all of them meaning my little girl bounced up and down in her car seat in the vibrating rear view mirror even on a good stretch of the M4. I even had to change an Audi to a C-Max because my dog was suffering badly (heart rate and temp) on long journeys.

So hence I went with a MB Elegance. I had no intention of getting one, but my little girl fell asleep in 5 mins on the test drive and stayed quite happy, I bought it there and then. I am definitely in the market for a "sporty" estate but if manufacturers insist on making the ride rock hard for a 1% performance gain against a 50% comfort loss for some mag review by a 25 year old wannabe racer, then more is the pity.

 

[HB]

The high tech bull I am referring to is involving the suspension gurus to talk about a W204 sport. The suspension kits I have mentioned totally transfom the ride quality and control of the car. Stock sport suspension on 3 series is horrible as is Audi. Mercedes is the most forgiving but still not good.
Again I will say, get a set of Eibach sport line springs and koni sport dampers and the car will be immaculate. It rides better than an elegance and has much better control than the sport versions of all 3 makes.

 

[Windydog]

Thats a pretty big and confident call there HB, not going to argue though, i'm listening!

Thanks for the thought.

 

[6cyl]

I am definitely in the market for a "sporty" estate but if manufacturers insist on making the ride rock hard for a 1% performance gain against a 50% comfort loss for some mag review by a 25 year old wannabe racer, then more is the pity.

The high tech bull I am referring to is involving the suspension gurus to talk about a W204 sport. The suspension kits I have mentioned totally transfom the ride quality and control of the car. Stock sport suspension on 3 series is horrible as is Audi. Mercedes is the most forgiving but still not good.
Again I will say, get a set of Eibach sport line springs and koni sport dampers and the car will be immaculate. It rides better than an elegance and has much better control than the sport versions of all 3 makes.

HB - I value your input. I agree on using higher quality dampers. Eibach sport lines springs, I'll take a guess, are probably shorter and stiffer than the oem "Sport". I don't think the car will benefit from harder springs. I'll ask Eibach importers or Eibach themselves. Have you used Koni/Bilstein on your car ? May be you can take me out in your car ? It'll save me a lot of time (and money) if the solution is available off the shelf and I'll promise to refrain from the suspensiontechnobabble in future.

Windydog - the issue I have is that the car doesn't handle well, despite the hard springs and "sporty" damping, so there is no benefit, apart from feeling "sporty" for the short test drive to impress the punters, of which I am one, as I did not recognise it at the time.

 

[flango]

I've just seen what the car is, if you are trying to balance and sort a suspension set up on the C350 diesel you are going to have to throw a lot of money at it, it's an inherently unbalanced car. I've never driven a C class yet that was balanced and handled well and that includes every C63 I've driven including MB and Brabus ones around the ring.

It's just not that sort of car you can fix with motorsport suspension tuning, I'd run with HB's suggestion and use Eibach or Bilstein. I've used both and they are both good. I would not throw vast ammounts of money at a car you will improve very little.

All IMHO of course (now waits to be flamed)

 

[6cyl]

No flaming required - My aim is not to end up with a track monster, nor expecting for it to be a finely balanced B road blaster. I'd start with a better platform. There is too much weight up front on the W204 saloon. The estate may be better in this regard, was that one of the reasons Volvo raced their 850 estates in the 90s?

I want the car to handle the potholes, speed bumps and the general poor state of UK roads, with compliance but not wallow. It's the family car that my wife drives as well (otherwise I'd bought a E350 ... which she felt was too wide).

I haven't managed to speak to the suspension experts yet - I'll see if the ROI is worthwhile before proceeding.

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Thanks for all your comments so far - Keep them coming !