300TE front ride height

[Paul the Tall]

This has probably been answered before but I need to know.
I have just changed all the springs on my 1991 300TE with Sachs apparently oem. The suppliers say they are the correct part and I have looked it up on the Russian site. Done the adjustment for equipment too. (no air con) Should be A124 321 21 04.
I now have ride heights of 16.5" front and 15.5" rear. Great for Paris Dakar but a bit high for Essex.
(measured from wheel centre to arch)
Does anyone have the approx. heights I should be getting? Anyone recommend a better spring.

Cheers
Paul

 

[LostKiwi]

There are two parts to spring selection. The first is the spring itself and the second is the spring pad at the top of the spring. These are available in various thickness increments and go from 8mm to 23 mm (from memory). You can determine which you have by feeling for the bumps on the outside of them - more bumps is thicker. They are usually 1-4 bumps (burls).
Every 5mm difference in the pad makes a 7.5mm difference in ride height.

As for best springs? MB. Its the only way to be sure they will be the right height.

 

[Chazchuzzlewitt]

As LostKiwi said the top pads make a big difference. My 320 came with the wrong front springs when I bought it, as it has the sports chassis and a 'specialist' had put on standard springs in the past. I double-checked the correct part number with my local MB dealer (and the eye-watering price), then after much OCD number-checking got the Sachs equivalent. I tried 1 'nib' pads at first thinking they would be sporty, but the car was too nose-down for my liking and I changed to 2-nib which gave the correct ride height.

 

[Paul the Tall]

As LostKiwi said the top pads make a big difference. My 320 came with the wrong front springs when I bought it, as it has the sports chassis and a 'specialist' had put on standard springs in the past. I double-checked the correct part number with my local MB dealer (and the eye-watering price), then after much OCD number-checking got the Sachs equivalent. I tried 1 'nib' pads at first thinking they would be sporty, but the car was too nose-down for my liking and I changed to 2-nib which gave the correct ride height.

Thanks for the input.
I did not change the top pads as the replacements I was sent were too thick. That would have made it even higher. They are only 8 or 10 mm from memory. The car had its original springs on and sat a lot nicer. I am just trying to sort the problem out with the supplier.
How much is eye watering?
Cheers
Paul

 

[rayhennig]

How much is eye watering?l

I've just paid about £100 each for 2 front Sportline springs.

RayH

 

[Chazchuzzlewitt]

Thanks for the input.
I did not change the top pads as the replacements I was sent were too thick. That would have made it even higher. They are only 8 or 10 mm from memory. The car had its original springs on and sat a lot nicer. I am just trying to sort the problem out with the supplier.
How much is eye watering?
Cheers
Paul

Sounds like you have the correct pads then, probably best as LostKiwi said to get the springs from the dealer if you want to be 100% sure they're correct. I was on a bit of a budget when I did mine (having to buy the compressor as well to do the job), so £100 or so a spring was too much when the Sachs were £70 for the pair from Germany.

 

[Zahid Jahangir]

I'm looking to change the sport line springs to some lowering springs from Germany for my 300TE-24 for £130 around 30mm drop. I'm sure these should be an easy simple swap.

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