SL55 - is my suspension too low?

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hedgehogsdad

Active Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
177
Location
Chester
Car
Mercedes C63 AMG
Hi all,

Loving my SL a couple of weeks in. I've booked it in to my local indie next week for a health check, while it's still under the dealer's warranty. I'm going to get them to change the ABC fluid and advise me on any other things which I should do, but having looked at it and compared it to other SLs from photographs I wonder if the front end is too low?

I've taken a couple of photos, the first as it is in the standard setting, the second with the suspension raised one notch. In both cases the engine is running.

Standard
standard.jpg

and raised one notch

raised.jpg

Am I being paranoid or is this too low?

Thanks in advance
 
Yes, i suspect someone has installed lowering links to the car.
 
Yes, i suspect someone has installed lowering links to the car.
Ah, that might explain it. How can I tell? I'm going to have to take the driver's side front wheel off tomorrow and I think I have a leak in the washer fluid reservoir.

I take it that lowering links are ok to have??
 
Looks good. My C class on coil-overs

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When you jack the car, you should be able to see if you have lowering links, they are threaded links as opposed to the fixed ones as suggested above. The video link below should make sense.

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When you jack the car, you should be able to see if you have lowering links, they are threaded links as opposed to the fixed ones as suggested above. The video link below should make sense.

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Cheers, presumably I can raise the car using the button inside so that I can get my jack under it? I don't have a low trolley jack which will fit when it's at standard height.
 
Cheers, presumably I can raise the car using the button inside so that I can get my jack under it? I don't have a low trolley jack which will fit when it's
You could roll onto some wood, should give that little clearance to get the jack in and set suspension to highest setting.
 
Update:

I took my car to a local Mercedes specialist last week, mainly to have the ABC fluid changed, but also to have it looked over with a view to trying to get it as "right" as possible. They have advised that the car is tidy, there are a couple of ball-joints which have slight play in them, and have advised that these will need changing in the future. There is a slight engine oil leak, and also a leak in the washer reservoir, but otherwise, they gave the car a clean bill of health - phew!!

I asked them whether the car is sitting low, and they said that they thought that it was. There are NO lowering links on the front suspension, and they think that the ECU has been coded with the front lower than standard - it appears that this can be done Resetting a high riding R230 with ABC.

They have tried to reset the ride height back to standard for me using their diagnostic tool (not sure if it's Star), but the system kicks them out before they can save the new settings.

Has anyone come across this happening in the past, and if so, any suggestions.

I do like the lower stance, but the specialist has said that there is evidence of the car grounding underneath and so I'd like to get it raised a bit.
 
I remember when I had an E55K (with AirMATIC) I learnt that some cars could be lowered using Star.

Wasn't possible on mine in particular but we tried.

So I would assume it could be raised similarly.

The caveat was it could only be done with Star.
 
You can use the links to raise the car too.

For the fronts if you make the links longer it will provide the drop but if you make the links shorter it will raise the car.

The rear links are the opposite, shorter will provide the drop but if you make it longer it will raise the car. There is only 1 link at the rear.

As a rule of thumb, every 5mm lenght change will give about 28mm change in height.20210902_145957.jpg
 
Update:

I took my car to a local Mercedes specialist last week, mainly to have the ABC fluid changed, but also to have it looked over with a view to trying to get it as "right" as possible. They have advised that the car is tidy, there are a couple of ball-joints which have slight play in them, and have advised that these will need changing in the future. There is a slight engine oil leak, and also a leak in the washer reservoir, but otherwise, they gave the car a clean bill of health - phew!!

I asked them whether the car is sitting low, and they said that they thought that it was. There are NO lowering links on the front suspension, and they think that the ECU has been coded with the front lower than standard - it appears that this can be done Resetting a high riding R230 with ABC.

They have tried to reset the ride height back to standard for me using their diagnostic tool (not sure if it's Star), but the system kicks them out before they can save the new settings.

Has anyone come across this happening in the past, and if so, any suggestions.

I do like the lower stance, but the specialist has said that there is evidence of the car grounding underneath and so I'd like to get it raised a bit.

Ok, so a further update....

I finally got round to taking a front wheel off earlier, to try to find a leak in my washer fluid reservoir (which I can't!!).

Lo and behold, these are the links on the front of my car. These look like adjustable (and rusty) links to me.🤔

link.jpg

Assuming that they are, this seems to be the culprit. Where would I find standard links and how easy are they to fit??

Cheers
 
Ok, so a further update....

I finally got round to taking a front wheel off earlier, to try to find a leak in my washer fluid reservoir (which I can't!!).

Lo and behold, these are the links on the front of my car. These look like adjustable (and rusty) links to me.🤔

View attachment 119313

Assuming that they are, this seems to be the culprit. Where would I find standard links and how easy are they to fit??

Cheers
Try your main dealer. I forget how much they are now but they’re not ridiculously expensive.
 
Try your main dealer. I forget how much they are now but they’re not ridiculously expensive.
Will do thanks.

Don't suppose anyone has a part number, or at least the name of the part so I don't look stupid when I call them
 
Ok, so a further update....

I finally got round to taking a front wheel off earlier, to try to find a leak in my washer fluid reservoir (which I can't!!).

Lo and behold, these are the links on the front of my car. These look like adjustable (and rusty) links to me.🤔

View attachment 119313

Assuming that they are, this seems to be the culprit. Where would I find standard links and how easy are they to fit??

Cheers
Why not adjust them as described above?
 
They look very rusty and I'm not sure how freely they would move. I thought, as they are apparently easy to fit, that I might just put new ones on.

I guess I could always got for new adjustable links, particularly if I could get them in stainless steel?
 
Will do thanks.

Don't suppose anyone has a part number, or at least the name of the part so I don't look stupid when I call them
They’ll know what you mean when you say “air suspension links”, it’s common that they’re replaced on cars with airmatic.
 
Try your main dealer. I forget how much they are now but they’re not ridiculously expensive.
Just tried my main dealer and the part is no longer available. Part number is A2303200089.

Looks like I'm going to have to get some new adjustable links and try to set them to (almost) stock height. Any suggestions on the best place to get them, would prefer to avoid eBay if possible in case the quality isn't great?
 
A2303200489 ?
 

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