W124 Anti Roll Bar prices

[MDMB69]

I've decided its time to upgrade my anti roll bars on my 95 E280 estate.
I upgraded to Eibach springs about 18 months ago and had been planning to fit Eibach anti roll bars.
However the Eibachs are discontinued and I'm not sure how easy they are to get. So I thought maybe I'll go with Mercedes bars.
In studying the various roll bars on the now defunct www.124performance.com website and checking what I have actually fitted, my car is fitted with the 27.5mm sportline front bar as standard and the standard 15mm bar at the rear. This option was also standard on the E300 convertible. However the sportline package on the E300 convertible fitted the 16.5mm sportline bar to the rear but the 'limo' 28.5 bar to the front to retain the handling balance.
The Eibach bars are 28mm and 17mm, fine for the saloon which upgrades from 26.5mmF & 15mmR but the estate and convertible have firmer rear suspension and therefore I believe the Eibachs will give too much oversteer. Hence the reason for the already uprated standard front bar to maintain balance. I had considered also the E500 rear bar but again I think this will upset the balance which I think is fine right now, just needs less roll.

Now to the point.
I've seen other posts on prices of the bars on this site from last year, however todays prices for the bars from the dealer are:

Front limo bar - £112 +vat
Rear sportline bar £78 + vat
Front bushes £4 each + vat
Rear bushes £2 each + vat.

Therefore about £250 all in with vat.
The Eibachs are £280.

I reckon I'll get the correct balance for my car with my new set up.

Does anyone have any experience with this set up or any comments on prices as I'm going to order them tomorrow.
They seem to have gone up a lot in price since last year.

 

[clive williams]

I've decided its time to upgrade my anti roll bars on my 95 E280 estate.
I upgraded to Eibach springs about 18 months ago and had been planning to fit Eibach anti roll bars.
However the Eibachs are discontinued and I'm not sure how easy they are to get. So I thought maybe I'll go with Mercedes bars.
In studying the various roll bars on the now defunct www.124performance.com website and checking what I have actually fitted, my car is fitted with the 27.5mm sportline front bar as standard and the standard 15mm bar at the rear. This option was also standard on the E300 convertible. However the sportline package on the E300 convertible fitted the 16.5mm sportline bar to the rear but the 'limo' 28.5 bar to the front to retain the handling balance.
The Eibach bars are 28mm and 17mm, fine for the saloon which upgrades from 26.5mmF & 15mmR but the estate and convertible have firmer rear suspension and therefore I believe the Eibachs will give too much oversteer. Hence the reason for the already uprated standard front bar to maintain balance. I had considered also the E500 rear bar but again I think this will upset the balance which I think is fine right now, just needs less roll.

Now to the point.
I've seen other posts on prices of the bars on this site from last year, however todays prices for the bars from the dealer are:

Front limo bar - £112 +vat
Rear sportline bar £78 + vat
Front bushes £4 each + vat
Rear bushes £2 each + vat.

Therefore about £250 all in with vat.
The Eibachs are £280.

I reckon I'll get the correct balance for my car with my new set up.

Does anyone have any experience with this set up or any comments on prices as I'm going to order them tomorrow.
They seem to have gone up a lot in price since last year.

MDMB,

The increase in the rear will obviously reduce the roll and oversteer so the set up should work. What else have you done to the suspension? It's unusual to replace the anti-roll bars without tweeking the rest such as the bushes and dampers and maybe the top mounts? Is the rear self levelling? in which case you are very much confined with what you can do with the dampers unless you can find somebody to rebuild the standard struts. Have you also considered the roll-bar location. Dropping it down will have the effect of improving the anti-dive. You can relocate the bar at the rear but I'm not sure how the multilink is affected by it to reduce the squat.

Clive

500E
E320CDIT210

 

[Bolide]

More bar

I considered a bigger front anti-roll bar on-and-off for 10 years for my 250TD. In the end I didn't do it as I considered the handling balance to be excellent & the product of years of development time - something I can't reproduce. But if I were to modify a W124 estate I'd look at the benefits & drawbacks of the Sportline setup and of a stiffer bar

Sportline is a bit jiggly for my tastes but it does reduce body roll significantly and I like it for that. By contrast, a stiffer front bar may stop the front end from doing so much leaning as you turn in (probably the worst trait of the cars) at the expense of a more choppy ride across diagonal bumps as the car may tend to pitch side-to-side more quickly

I don't think changing the rear bar will do that much - the estate has rising-rate rear suspension and most of the time it's hard enough. I don't think any change you make will cause oversteer

I'd put the biggest bar on the front you can find then experiment with ARB bushes & bush tightness to get the right feel. A 500E bar would be ideal but the shape of the centre part of the bar may not work with the straight six engine. Some measuring will be needed

Unlike stiffer springs, a bigger bar will have no effect on the ride & handling unless you're cornering or crossing diagonal ridges. So I'd uprate the bar before changing spring rates. You've changed spring rates already, but it's apparently not had the effect you wanted, which suggests the Eibachs are not much stiffer than standard. That's probably perfect for what you want to achieve

Bear in mind that with 195/65 or 205/60 15 tyres there will be prodigious amounts of sidewall flex and that a stiffer front bar will cause the tyres to roll more onto their edges and cause more understeer. And do make sure that the front balljoints, track rods, steering idler & rear track control arms are 100% before starting

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[turnipsock]

The Eibach bars are 28mm and 17mm, fine for the saloon which upgrades from 26.5mmF & 15mmR

I think this would produce more understeer, but I could be wrong.

I thought a tighter back end produced more understeer.

 

[MDMB69]

A tighter rear end produces oversteer when powering through a corner on rear wheel drive cars. A front wheel drive car will want a stiffer front end to achieve this. However in both you want a neutral handling car when off the power. It a lot of experimenting but its worth noting factory set ups, however they are usually set up for slight understeer. Hence the reason I'm increasing both my front and rear bars by 1mm & 1.5mm respectively.
I have lowered Eibach springs with rubber spring assisters in every coil, 3 per coil up front and 2 per coil at the rear. This stiffens up the suspension hell of a lot more without being too firm and greatly reduces body roll. I'm also running on 225/45/17 tyres.
I noticed recently that my inner front edge of my front tyres were worn considerably due to the increased negative camber the lowering produces. I've adjusted the camber now to compensate and set up the tracking again, but I noticed this has increased understeer again slightly. Generally the car handles very well for a big car and the steering is very precise, which was helped greatly by new front shocks.
I'm a firm believer of hard anti-roll bars and comfortable springs. I've swapped suspension on lots of big cars to get them to handle better, but unfortunately they always sit too low for my liking.
After I order my anti roll bars today my next step will be to find a sportline steering box, but I've never seen one these advertised anywhere and reckon the dealer price will be horrendous.

 

[MDMB69]

Just discovered from my dealer that parts went up by as much as 100% on some items earlier this month. I was just too late.