air bags or air struts anyone?

[expo5.0]

thinking about adding a little bit of adjustability to my ride height

my rear end would rub horribly at the height i want it to sit at, while the front is already down there and does not--- so i'm thinking i will start by just doing the rear.

wondering if anyone else has done something similar on one of our cars?

I have a lot of experience with these types of things etc., and will post some pictures and results as i go along as well.

For now i'm not going to try to go any lower than #1 pads and my eibach pro kit would allow- but that may definitely change down the road.

[c280nz]

im a bit confused by the middle bit about lowering the back in your post?
but if you go lower, you can massage out the guards a bit to allow more room, and there is also removable plastic guards that give more room for the tires.
also so pritty standard issue advice is get a set of rear adjustable camber arms to reduce tire wear, well worth it!

[expo5.0]

my rear already has a good bit of trimming done- fitting 275/30/19 without rubbing even at stock height required that.

basically, due to my staggered set-up being taller in the rear i've been running with stock rear and lowered front for a while (and that looks ok), now i want to get the rear down- but honestly will not be able to drive/want to drive with it at that height.

[c280nz]

with wheels that wide youd basically have to tub the thing to slam it down

[expo5.0]

or you can watch me do it...

this isn't a thread where i'm looking for people to tell me what i can't do, i'm already doing this and have already ordered many of the parts that i will need. It would have been nice if there had been someone on here that had some experience with something similar.

the tires will fit, they do fit, i drive it every day- i just want to go a bit lower at times and be able to adjust a bit which is entirely reasonable and already in progress

[OCKlasse]

Originally posted by expo5.0
or you can watch me do it...

this isn't a thread where i'm looking for people to tell me what i can't do, i'm already doing this and have already ordered many of the parts that i will need. It would have been nice if there had been someone on here that had some experience with something similar.

the tires will fit, they do fit, i drive it every day- i just want to go a bit lower at times and be able to adjust a bit which is entirely reasonable and already in progress

Well, air bags you can do, air struts you cannot do because our suspension is not setup for strut bags (like a macpherson suspension). I would definitely run nothing larger than 1500lb bags, and you will need to do some fabrication to have mounts for the new bags. You will also more than likely need to relocate your shocks and run smaller ones. These reasons and more were why I did not want to go the air route.

[c280nz]

Originally posted by expo5.0
or you can watch me do it...

this isn't a thread where i'm looking for people to tell me what i can't do, i'm already doing this and have already ordered many of the parts that i will need. It would have been nice if there had been someone on here that had some experience with something similar.

the tires will fit, they do fit, i drive it every day- i just want to go a bit lower at times and be able to adjust a bit which is entirely reasonable and already in progress

i look foward to seeing the car and suspension job you install, slamed down with large wheels will look sik. take lots of pics along the way and keep them posted up, so you can help others out into the future
i wasnt implying that you cant do it, maby you took my attitude wrong, i was meaning there is going to be a bit of work involved with lowering with that wide tires, id imagine youd have to roll out the outside and inside to get them tucking, but maby you dont even want to go as low as im thinking?


and i did give you some advice im not all cant dont wont,
-have you looked into adjustable rear camber arms? these will allow you to tune tire clearances better, and reduce tire wear when rolling around a bit lower, as its pritty easy to see greater than -3 degrees camber on these cars, and with big tires it can get expensive
speedybenz is the man on the forum who supplys these

p.s if you search back a few pages you will see a nice write up from OCKlasse about his install, just incase hes to modest to say it! one of the nicer C's around this place i mite add

[expo5.0]

due to the rear tire size i don't know if i need that kit- i will be driving at stock height (it doesn't look very high at all with my package and my front ride height)

does that make sense? or am i thinking of something wrong?

-drew

[c280nz]

yea that makes sense.
at standard hight camber shouldnt be an issue, unless the outside or inside of the wheel is hitting a wheel arch/ guard

If your front is lowered it will be showing strong negative camber, but there is little really that can be done about the front camber, some people talk of offset camber bolts for the front, but these only allow for a very small amount of correction.
Besides you need the camber in the front so the guards dont rub too much while cornering.

[expo5.0]

yeah, i actually had teh front aligned at the dealer and they were able to get it within pretty good specs, imo.

you are correct that the failure to completely compensate for lowering it might actually be necessary to fit my tires without rubbing.