[milky2k]

Hello all. I've had my SLK320 for about 6 months now. I noticed that when I got it, the ride seemed a little firm. Sometimes after driving around all weekend I ended up a little tired and even got a sore back. I already have occasional back problems so that doesn't help. I would go over train tracks, rough patches of asphalt, small potholes and such and I would always tense up in anticipation of the jolt I would get as the car went over them. I checked around on some of the boards and saw that some people got softer suspensions because they had similar complaints about the ride. I wasn't looking forward to spending extra cash without knowing for sure new shocks or springs would fix my problem or that I would even be happy with it after installation. It occurred to me that when we go offroading in my truck we "air down" to get a bigger contact patch and it ends up making the ride more pleasant on rough terrain rather than staying at regular psi. So I decided to let a little air out of my tires, maybe 1 or 2 psi, my gauge isn't that precise, and then took it for a drive and I am very pleased with the ride quality now. I no longer feel tired after driving around all day and I'm not afraid of a little rough road. It really has made the car much more pleasant to drive. I have also been monitoring my MPG and on my last fill up I hit 24 MPG so that is good too. I figure I saved myself several hundred dollars in suspension parts alone. And if I need to undo this change, I just put air back in. At this point I am not concerned about what it may do to the tires since I plan to replace them in the next 6 months, however, I doubt that running 1-2 psi lower than MB recommends is going to measurably affect tire life. So there's my tip for everyone, lower your psi a little if you think the ride is too firm. I'm interested to hear from everyone if you think this is a good idea or not. Thanks

 

[jbanks15]

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