Could the lowering springs and shocks I had fitted 90,000km become sagged or improperly seated over time, as I look at my car now and it seems a bit wrong.

In the photos the back might be about stock height while the front a touch low. It does bottom out in certain situations recently whereas before it wouldn’t. The shocks are Bilstein HD's, springs Eibach Pro Kit. These were put in 2010 and only driven on smooth roads.

Apart from the jacked-up visual funk I’m experiencing excessive wear on the tyre shoulders, with tyres looking done at 20,000km. Pulling out of a car park a few weeks ago with the wheels turned a stranger noticed them and said to ‘inflate tyres to 48 psi and get a camber kit and new tyres’. They were 31 psi at that point and did look like they needed some air, so I went to 44psi.

I am grateful for any advice that might steer me in the right direction before I take the car into a suspension shop. Hopefully I can stay with the shocks and springs and they can be adjusted somehow to a more even ride height and then new donuts can be added. Depending on the advice I receive the other option for me is a return to all original springs/shocks/rims/tyres for a straightforward solution. After all the original look isn't too bad. I uploaded a pic (not my car) but my concern is will I get a rude (albeit stock) surprise in the handling department by doing this that I’ll then obviously have to live with.

Thanks,

Attached Thumbnails

     

If you fitted ANY new (especially anything to change the height in either direction), you need to do an alignment.

__________________

1990 190E 3.0L

I would not run tire at 44 psi.

__________________
Jim

I've never understood what guys were trying to accomplish with aftermarket springs and shocks. Back in the day I made fairly frequent trips between southern and northern California. If I was in a hurry I drove I-5 and my '88 190E 2.6 special order five-speed rode like and S-class an got 30 MPG.

If I had some time I would go up CA highway 1 or halfway up US 101 or I-5, then across 198 to north on the 25 and back to 101 south of San Jose. On the southbound trip I would sometimes continue south on 25 south of 198, which is a paved one lane bumpy, twisty roller coaster, and with the soft OE springs, long suspension travel, and perfect damping I could run that road at near rally car speeds.

Like all cars I have owned it was not perfect, but needed little to be near so. The OE 185/65VR-15 tires weren't that grippy, so I bought a set of 6.5" take-off 300E wheels (same offset as the OE 6" wide wheels) and mounted a set of 205/60VR-15 Michelin XGTV, which definitely improved grip while giving the car an very aggressive look.

With about 57 percent front weight, understeer can be a problem, but dialing in as much negative camber and positive caster, equal on both sides, available within the adjustment range (negative 3/4 degree camber, plus 10.5 degrees caster) it is somewhat mitigated. The less front heavy W124 should be even better.

The only thing I never got around to was installing a 3.27 LSD axle from a 16-valve to eliminate the inside wheel spin on tight second gear corners and also further mitigate understeer.

All and all it's a superb freeway cruiser while at the same time being a pretty damned good back road athlete. The one task it definately failed at was hot lapping the big Willow Springs track... too much understeer, too soft springs, and not enough damping, but I bought it for road use and had two other competent street/track cars that could not come close matching the 190 on a long road trip. The trip to Willow was just a lark to see how she'd do.

My suggestion: Unless you're trying to turn it into a race car, take the springs and shocks back to OE spec.

I run cold tire pressure of 40/36. Maximum cold placarded pressure on the current 205/55ZR-15 Dunlop Sport 8000s is 44 psi.

Duke

Duke, I totally agree with you.

Here is a good read on tire pressures

https://tiresize.com/pressure-calculator/

__________________
1993 2.6 Sportline 5 speed
1992 2.3 Canadian delivery

I never understood what I was trying to accomplish either. Seriously, back then I guess I thought it'd give my Merc a more sporting character or something.



When I took delivery back in 2010 from a used dealer after buying sight unseen it needed the (as I now know, usual) slew of jobs: the wiring harness, head gasket, suspension arms/bushes, even a trans overhaul as second slipped. The springs and shocks were no good either so never really got to trial good condition OE spec. If I do as you suggest I wonder how my existing rims will look with the higher ride height. I imagine original spec springs and shocks also call for original wheels and tyres so the fatter tyre gives the illusion of filling up the arches. My indy mechanic just sources the stock 8-hole alloys from the local dealer so I might need to be sitting down when I call them.




Ah, a stick 190E 2.6 sounds like a joy, and much livelier than a slushbox E320 I'd imagine. In the 90's I had a garden variety '87 Nissan Skyline R31 (sedan) with a creamy 3.0 L motor (RB30E) and a five speed, a gem of an engine that I even liked more than the M104. It was quiet like the M103 but kicked down really hard.




Agreed. What I didn't know before I got my Merc was how it'd modify my driving to super content and laid back. I just cruise around town and rarely get bothered by much at all. A safe motor in more ways than one.

I never understood what I was trying to accomplish either

When I got the car the springs and shocks needed replacing (along with wiring harness, head gasket etc.) so was never able to experience the original setup unfortunately.


If I do as you suggest am I right in assuming the original 8-hole alloys should be part of this change. Wouldn't more tyre be needed to appear to fill up the arches.


Sounds like a joy, and much livelier than my auto E320; a slushbox suits the car I have to admit, it's just the sort of car you want an auto with. Used to own a five-speed '87 Nissan Skyline R31 (sedan) which was a basic car but had this creamy 3.0 L motor (RB30E). Since then I've only ever driven inline sixes.


Agreed. What I didn't know before I received my Merc was how it'd sculpt my driving attitude to super content and laid back. I just cruise around town and rarely get bothered by much at all. Other motorists always seem to give me room as well.

"I imagine original spec springs and shocks also call for original wheels and tyres so the fatter tyre gives the illusion of filling up the arches. My indy mechanic just sources the stock 8-hole alloys from the local dealer so I might need to be sitting down when I call them."

Without knowing what wheel/tire setup you have I can't answer, but I would be more concerned with ride and handling than whether the tires visually fill up the wheel wells, and if you want to keep the speedo accurate you should run tires with about the same revs/mile figure as OE.

As you can see in the attached image the current 205/55ZR-15 Dunlop Sport 8000 tires that are a bit shorter than the OE 185/65VR-15 tires leave a lot of space above the tire and the bottom of the fender line. I plan to going back to a 205/60R-15 (about the same OD as OE) as I don't need as aggressive a tire, but I'm having a tough time finding something I like. I missed out on the Vredestein Sportrac 5 before they went out of production. It's a summer high performance tire, so no tread siping and a wear rating of only 300 means a fairly soft and sticky compound by today's standards.

Pretty much all tires in this size nowadays are "all season" with wear ratings of 500-700. At 500 miles per year I don't need a 50K mile tire.

Duke

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/attachments/tech-help/149800d1541695377-odd-starting-issue-88-190e-2-6-mbz-6-18.jpg