Pics of stock suspension lowered with 1-dot pads?

[Glen]

Front springs are definitely stock and un-cut. Plus I have relatively fresh stock struts.

[gsxr]

Wow. I wish we could measure what the height was when the cars were new from the factory....

[Glen]

All I can say is that when I changed from 3-bump to 1-bump, my car dropped about .7 inches, which is what I expected given the pad thickness change and pivot ratio.

[gsxr]

Glen, you have a good point. In the past I've experienced little change in ride height when swapping spring pads, but it's possible that the car I was experimenting on (not an E500E) may have been resting on the suspension stop (strut shaft stop buffer).

I may try swapping in a 1-pt pad up front on my E500 for grins, just to see what the ride height changes too. I'll also check the amount of travel available by lifting up the strut dust boot, and observing the amount of bare strut shaft visible. This is tough with wide wheels installed though - very little room to insert tools to lift the dust boot, have a flashlight in there, etc.

I will probably swap springs between cars... I plan to revert the 500E to mostly stock. I'm not sure what I'll do with the E500 yet, but it wll at least get the Cabrio Sport front springs for test purposes. I still think the H&R's will be lower than I want. Still no joy on obtaining detailed E60 spring specs to replicate 'em.... *sigh*

[Glen]

I know you know this but don't forget to loosen the LCA mount bolts after you put in the 1-bump pads to gain maximum lowering and relieve stress on the bushings. Obviously you'll need an alignment afterwards too...

[gsxr]

Correct. The LCA bushings should be stress relieved after ride height adjustments. This is normally done during the alignment procedure.

[KarlC]

I though I would post this here also ....

Yesterday with much need help from Glen we (He) lower my car a bit, here is what we (He) did ....

Front
- Installed #1 pads ( the stock set up was a #3 pads )
- Stock measurement from the center of the wheel cap was 13 3/4"
- With # 1 pads installed and a bit of settling we ended with 13 1/4" (1/2" lower)
- Wheel / Tire set 19 x 9.5 Brabus III's ET 35 with 5mm spacers and 265/35/19

Back
- The back had #1 pads from the factory (From all we could tell) so we left them
- Stock measurement from the center of the wheel cap was 14 1/2"
- We (Glen) messed around with the SLS to try and adjust the it down but all it would go was 14 3/8" (1/8" lower)
- Wheel / Tire set 19 x 9.5 Brabus III's ET 35 with 5mm spacers and 265/35/19
- At some point soon I would like to lower the back a bit more, just have to decide how.

Car had 1/2 tank of gas durring all of this.

For those that are wondering both Glen and I agee that the 19" wheels / tire set up ride just as well as the 17" I have, the key is picking the right tires.

I BIG THANKS to Glen for all of his help !!

[KarlC]

Wow. I wish we could measure what the height was when the cars were new from the factory....

Not sure if this helps but .....

Front with stock # 3 pad
- Stock measurement from the center of the wheel cap was 13 3/4"

Back with stock # 1 pad
- Stock measurement from the center of the wheel cap was 14 1/2"

Car had 1/2 tank of gas durring all of this.