gaww

So after a few aggravating weeks of waiting, and testing, and hoping, and spending more money, HOPEFULLY the car will be in its intended state by this weekend. Without pointing any fingers or saying anything bad, I just wish certain things didnt go down the way they did. First off, when I spoke with Sander at TWS about and suspension set for the w124 he assured me repeatedly that the shock AND spring set from a w202 would work on a w124. Even though I had my doubts about the suspension components since Bilstein had completely different part numbers, I took his word. The springs work fine since they slam the car, but the w202 shocks that were sent to me didnt even work. The rears retrofitted fine, but the fronts never worked because the w202 uses shocks in the front and w124 uses struts. So that's trip 1 to the mechanic that I had to pay for: installing springs with no shocks.

Without the proper strut in the front, the slamming of the car was too much for the stock struts to handle so the car got dumped. Stock wheel/tire is "tucked" under the wheel fender. Granted that the stock 195/15/65 tires would barely clear the fender, I could drive the thing home. But the minute I put on the 18x8 et35 carlsson 2/6 with 225/40/18 rubber, my fender SAT on top of the tire and I couldnt even manage to turn the wheel without running into the hitting the fender. So, I brought the car back in and put in bump 4's in front to replace the bump 2's. It did the raise the car somewhat, but not enough so the new wheels are still unusable. So now that's trip 2 to the mechanic I had to pay for.

So finally my bilstein sports come in, after I spoke to Sander and Albert at TWS and explained that the set should have come with the proper shocks to begin with. I get the correct parts this time FOR a w124, v36-0365 for the fronts and b36-1470 for the rears. I tried to install the rear shocks yesterday but since the stock shocks are still relatively new with <1k miles on them I couldnt get them out. Between the 95 degree Chicago weather right now plus me not really wanting to take the risk of the front spring inadvertendly by some freak accident fly out when I take off the strut, I chose to bring it to MCLS autos, aka GORBETTEAM's shop. Hopefully, HOPEFULLY, with the bilstein sports, my car will raise enough in the front to look like the rest of you guys with about 1 finger gap. Right now i have NEGATIVE 2 finger gap. So with this, that's gonna be trip 3 to the mechanic I'll have to pay for.

I'll trust MCLS tho. I've seen GORBET's car and it looks gooood. Hopefully he'll keep it and throw that amg aerokit and exhaust on. I just wish Sander had made absolutely positively sure that the right shock/struts were sent to me to begin with. I would've saved a good amount of money and frustration and would've been able to drive my dream w124 slammed on vogltands and carlssons instead of this two seater chevy.

Thnx for all the help in this aggravating experience. Wouldnt know what to do without you guys. Sure hope that phrase distance makes the heart grow fonder is true in this case. Pics will follow. 3 mechanics trips worth.

AMG_Fred

wow, thats horrible. I was wondering what happened to your car. It sure looks like gorbetts team can help you out and i hope you car comes out well. Good luck !

gaww

AHHHHHHHH! so after another couple hundred bucks at the mechanic, the car is STILL F-k-d! i dont think i can take this anymore. i literally need to . i had the bilstein sports installed, assuming that the problem was that the vogtlands lowered the car so much that the front shocks couldnt handle the increased load. so as im driving down to the shop im praying and hoping that the stiffer bilstein sports actually raised the front. nope. exact same ride height. i dont get it. everybody else and their mother is running vogtland springs plus bilstein sports and are getting about a 1 finger gap. im still tucked and dumped. i cant fit my carlsson 2/6s in there and even if i run stretched out 215s that not gonna help since i need at least 25 mm of clearance. my 195/15s barely clear it when turning. it must be something different with the later model w124s. cali and chris are running it fine. i even have bump 4s in that mofro. i dont think fender spacers or rolling is gonna help since those two things barely move the top of the wheel fender out, which is where all my problems are. i think i need to go to h&r's because these vogtlands are not working at all. fck. i just cant bear to think of all the labor costs i put into making these friggin springs work. chrisdpham, be careful with your setup. i have the same exact setup as you, i cant drive my car. this is frustrating beyond belief. Only good ive gotten out of this latest experience is meeting GORBETTEAM at MCLS autos. wow. clean shop, lots of european cars, and a couple of old school musclecars sitting on chrome dubs.

gaww

is there any chance whatsoever that the wrong springs were packaged to me? the box says w202 30-60mm red violet vogtland springs. cant be the suspension components because the stock springs sat just fine when i purchased it.

GORBETTTEAM

Gaww,
Stop by Saturday, buddy...

gaww

GORBET,

pm sent.

mysticblu999

sounds like your carlssons are the wrong offset......

gaww

carlssons are 18x8 et 35, exact same setup as zorroamg, and same specs as most guys running 18x8's. i do have continentals on there right now and they appear to have a "fatter" sidewall than usual. that might be one of the problems. i have a set of near-new 215/40/18s in yokohama paradas sitting around in the garage. those might be the answer.

CaliE320

Gaww,

Man sorry to hear about that.. I'll have to see what Sander & Albert were thinking when they sent you those wrong parts. Especially after doing Chris's & my install correctly. Continentals are a bit fatter but the drop you have is substantially more then my set-up. Are the spring part numbers accurate on the Vogtland web-site? What did the guys say at the shop you got them installed at? Try calling TWS up again and see if they have any idea what the problem can be. I don't think offset is the problem here since you're tucked.
Dumb question but could the parts be installed wrong? Maybe the springs were installed upsidedown or rear to front. I used to work at a shop and we actually had to fix problems like that more then you think. I'll give you my
part number tomorrow.

~Cali

cap'n jasper

I can't believe that W202 & W124 springs are interchangable. I guess physically they will fit because the spring pads are the same size but even if the ride height ended up about right the spring rates would be all wrong?

gaww

guys,

the springs are definitely installed correctly. the thinner diameter ones are in the back and the larger ones in front. believe me ive had my car up in my own garage multiple to make sure that the springs were sitting properly, pads in, etc. i think maybe it's just an issue with w202 springs. they are perfectly fine with stock wheels but the minute you have the tire/wheel move more than 10mm outware toward the fender, you got problems. which leads me to believe that chris' installation might not be legit either since TWS put 202 springs in his car too. the back sits perfect but it's the front that's dumped. TWS has offered to take the springs back, and now im considering what to get. im just scared of vogtlands, but they look oh so good on cali's ride. h&r is my bet right now. hopefully i can get tws to credit me at least one of my mechanic visits. to everybody in the future running a forum search on "vogtland lowering springs w124 w202 suspension", do NOT use non-w124 componenets no matter how convinced the shop sounds. TWS knows their stuff, but ill give them the benefit of the doubt and say they missed this time.

cap'n jasper

I'd go one further and say do NOT use non Mercedes components!
Why don't you consider Sportline springs? Mercedes spent a lot of money developing the W124. I wonder how much the others spent?