B4TM4N

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So I thought I'd share a little bit of my personal experience with suspension on the SLK (R171).

When I first began tracking, I knew nothing about the importance of tires and suspension. In fact I just wanted suspension for the looks of lowering. I started off by picking up a set of Eibach Pro-Kit springs. They were probably the cheapest springs on the market at around $250 - $350 CDN and probably did the least amount of drop. Approx 1.0" if I recall, but for accuracy please see www.eibach.com. Anyways, if you're only looking for the look of having the awkward gap removed without compromising the stock ride-quality feel, this spring will help you do that without giving up that OEM feel. I mean it was a little stiffer, but it wasn't too noticable and that might be because SLK suspension is generally stiffer than most other MB's as it is. (Note, I did not swap shocks. stock was fine).






However, if you are looking for a more aggressive feel and don't want to take the financial jump of Coilovers, H&R springs would have been a better choice. I believe they also do a deeper drop (closer to the 1.7" or 1.8" mark if I recall). I don't know if you need to swap shocks though.
Anyways, getting sucked in deeper and deeper down the tracking bunny-hole, I couldn't fight it anymore and I picked up a set of Bilstein PSS9 Coilovers. I haven't had the chance to put it to a real test yet, but I can feel it's much stiffer. Also the ride-height drops much more than any of the springs mentioned earlier. As you can see, the rear is practically tucking.








When regular rims go back on, I'll try to throw up another pic.

P.S. Eibach springs are for sale now!!

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2006 SLK 280 6MT

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alroumi

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Congratulations on the upgrade, the car looks much more pronounced now.

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06 Kleemann Designo Mocha Black SLK55 AMG
06 Porsche Cayenne S
07 Jaguar XKR Coupe'

I use the Torque and keep the HP for my Steak Sauce!

Ikarus

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The Eibachs looked perfect. Your current setup is too low, in my opinion.

Ynot

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+1, For regular street driving, an inch is perfect, it has the best stance, the PSS9 looks way too low, might be good on the track to keep you planted

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06' SLK 350, Iridium/Ash all pkgs. 6-spd, 19" DCR.


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dsb

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Thanks for the info. I'm much more interested in the performance difference between the two vs just the difference in the amount of lowering.

I'll hold my comments until you post pics with your other wheels. BTW, they are adjustable aren't they? Couldn't you simply raise the rear a little?

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06 Mercedes Benz SLK55
Caspian Blue / Black & Ash

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FishtailnZ

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Your having fun with the car Kelvin, that's what counts...looks good too!

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- Bill

Waiting on a 2009 C63 Opal Fire Red/Alpaca Grey

R.I.P. 2006 SLK55 Caspian Blue/Beige
Stock 1/4 mile results: ET 12.72, trap 110.80, 60' 1.80

Some guys they just give up living and start dying little by little, piece by piece. Some guys come home from work and wash up and go racin' in the street... - B. Springsteen

B4TM4N

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Well I was gonna hold out to post until I had some additional pics but I just returned from the track...(well actually it was last Saturday)...

I can now talk more about performance difference:

Using the Coilovers
First things first, I can definately say that there is a significant difference in handling. Yes they are height adjustable as well as stiffness adjustable. The problem lies in that you have to remove the brakes and possibly part of...(I forgot what it's called...the linkage in the back) to get to the coils to lower the rear. The front is easier because where you do the adjusting it is visible and you just have to remove the wheels. To adjust stiffness in the rears, there is a knob at the top of the coils that you can just turn to choose how soft or stiff you want it to be. The only thing is that it requires you to cut a hole in the trunk fabric to get to it. The good thing is, MB seems to have that in mind because they've made pre-cut dotted lines as to where it is going to come out. If you close the trunk partition you can see on both sides where the dotted lines come out. Now to adjust stiffness in the front, for some reason it's underneath the coils instead of on the top like most CO's that I've seen. To adjust this you have to jack up the car, remove the cap and then there's the same knob with numbers from 1 - 9. 9 being the softest. My current set up is 3/4 stiffest in the rears and fully lowered while the front is slightly higher and 1/2 stiffness. This is just because the rear is so much more difficult to adjust. To be honest, I expected a really harsh ride but in the end, after driving it for a few days, it's really not bad at all. It's stiffer yes, but not harsh at all.

Where I Tracked
To give a quick background, I ran on a Shannonville Motorsport Park which is about 2 hours East of Toronto and it's actually a more technical track. In fact I believe it started off as a bike track but this I'm not sure of. I like this track and this group that I run with for 2 reasons:
1) It is more technical and not very high-speed so this tests out the nimbleness and handling of having a roadster
2) There are a lot of Hondas that run with this group. This is great practice because these light machines usually dominate low-speed tracks with a great number of corners (that is of course until the rare Lotus Elise driver shows up to play). S2000s are my favourite competitor.

Performance on Track
Saturday was the day I've been waiting for. I was able to get my brother to come along track with his w204 C300 6MT and we threw on R-compounds (Toyo Proxes RA1 to be exact) on both cars to try to make it closer to an apple-to-apple suspension comparison (even though I know they are both very different cars). Anyways, so I got to track, set up the tires and lined up to run out there. I really should have timed myself to compare, but I couldn't help but just drive and do nothing else. When I took the first corner, I already knew that this was what I've been looking for.

I tracked once with stock suspension and I found there to be quite a bit body roll for a little roadster. I guess it had to do with MB trying to keep it somewhat comfortable for a weekend cruiser. When I added the Eibachs, it gave me that nice lowered look and slightly stiffer (barely noticeable) suspension to have a little bit more fun on track. Coupled with the tires, also gave me a stab at the S2000s that run pretty well in this circuit. Now to step it up with the Bilstein PSS9s. I could not believe how much body roll was eliminated when I took that first corner! It's hard to throw numbers down the way Road & Track might when they're testing a corner, but I just knew it was significantly better even from my seating position alone. Previously to keep myself restrained in the stock seats, I would prep by sitting as far back as possible, locking in the seatbelt, then forcing my chair up as close as I needed. With the seatbelt fully tensed, it helped a little bit when I took corners and so I relied less on my body to keep me sitting straight up. On Saturday, I didn't really need that at all. All the driver-unfriendly daily driving had been worth it to be able to take corners like that. I wished there were a lot more like there usually are, but that day there was only one Black S2000 that I passed on the track and it felt almost too easy. I believe he's probably a newer driver on close to stock set up (if not completely stock). I think I'm happy enough that I don't really need to continue my search for sway bars and strut bars. For me this is enough to have fun. I will try to follow up soon with pics.

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2006 SLK 280 6MT

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dsb

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Thanks b4tm4n for the review. I think I will eventually move to coilovers. I constantly hear glowing reviews just like yours. Thanks again for the great post.

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06 Mercedes Benz SLK55
Caspian Blue / Black & Ash

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lontong

Yeah thks man... nice colour

B4TM4N

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On the 350 17's...

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2006 SLK 280 6MT

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