I had a friend do this for me about a month ago.
He is a mechanic that works at a local MB dealer...with all the appropriate tools and most important of all a LIFT.
With all of this, it took us about 7-8 hours.
The most time consuming portion being the ride height adjustment, this took several hours to get right.
All of this also didnt include the 4 wheel alignment once it was all done.

In retrospect, if you know where you want the ride height to be, try to make the adjustments on the coilovers, prior to putting them on the car.
Example: I knew I wanted to lower the rears minimally, so set the height all the way to the bottom, the opposite try for the fronts, I wanted this lowered as much as possible...so the setting for these was all the way toward the top.

Good Luck, once its all in, I am sure you will enjoy them!


~Ken

 

Thanks! Keep the info flowing if possible.

 

This would be great if somebody could provide a link to install instructions. I have friend who is fairly competant with cars and I"m hoping we can just do it ourselves and avoid shop costs.

 

Remove wheel and let him see. If he is comfortable. jump right in. It is not that complicate.
-3 nuts at each on top of strut at camber plate mount.
-some bolts and nuts those hold bottom of strut, also link to stabilizer bar.
-Dissasemble old strut and assemble new set. Use same camber plate.
-Put it back in.
-Adjust the ride height. Drive little bit. Check ride height at each coner. Note each. Adjust height accordingly. (you can search in this forum for ride height that you like.)
-Drive to alignment shop.
-Enjoy.
That was how I did.

 

why stress over it? bust out your amex. If you have to ask questions like this you shouldn't be doing it. Seriously you want to get hurt and crash or what?

 

I have my amex, visa, mc & discover. I still like to do it if I could. I think it is also hobby and enjoy even my hands get dirty. I believe many car guys feel the same when they do diy even they can easily afford to pay the shop.

 

There is no need for the negative response. If I couldn't do the job myself I wouldn't. I have done many suspension installs on other cars of mine fairly easily. The problem with this car is that it is all wheel drive and a little more complicated. If you don't have anything positve or helpful to say do us all a favor and keep it to yourself. I personally enjoy working on my own car and take pride in it. As far as safety goes, I take it seriously especially on my very expensive car.

 

I'm still looking for coilover install instructions. Anybody have any links or write-ups?

 

I think I saw one at renntech.org under the diy section. It was for installing lowering springs on a 996 c4s but the installation would be the same for coilovers on a turbo I think. But unfortunately for some reason the site is down right now, I will check tommorrow to find the link and post it if the site is back up. And I agree with your do it yourself attitude and not paying for it even if you can. I find I can complete the same jobs faster in my garage without all the fancy tools, than the so-called experts can with all the specialized training, lifts, tools etc. Plus keep the money for even more goodies to come. Hang in there I will find it.

 

Renntech is back up. Here is the link.

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=7073

 

thanks heavy, you beat me too it. Good luck with install stefenolsen.

 

You don't need to separate axle or release the 32mm nut, the axle will pop out of the diff easy once you tip the hub outwards. Just make sure to insert the axle again all the way back into the diff when done.

 

I think you have to either remove the large nut, or the driveshaft bolts. The driveshats don't just pull out of the diff....
I left the shafts attached to the hub and removed the inner driveshaft bolts.

 

Yes they do!! Swear to god, done it several times, last time 2 weeks ago when I put my new KWs on. And.. I did not "plop" them back in all the way and had a little "funny leak" story on top of it too until I lifted the car up and knocked them in properly.

The flanges just sit with a C-clip, pull the axle and the whole axle pops out. Pop it back in and it locks into place.

To swap front coilovers, remove the top three nuts that hold the shock strut. Release the suspension downwards, you can remove the 10mm fasteners for brakeline and ABS sensor cable for a little more movement, but be careful here to not strecth the brakeline or ABS sensor cable.

With a little rotation of the hub, lean the strut a bit, you can squeeze the strut to come outside the fender (at this point, the whole axle pops out from the diff). Slide out the strut out of the hub, then slide in the new strut/coilover. Squeeze it back in under the fender, plop the axle into the diff while gently lifting the brake/hub assembly with a floor jack.

Make sure the axle pops ALL the way in - there's a click feel to it, you can also tap it gently to get it in, ususally no big resistance if you have matched the splines. With gear and e-brake on it usually never moves at all though.

Then mount the top three nuts again and secure the brake line and ABS cable mounts again.

It's really a quick job.

Again, a word of advise, when tilting out the strut/hub, keep an eye on brakeline and ABS cable so to not stretch/put a lot of force on them! Use a floor jack and wood block under the brake disk to limit the "droop"/drop of the hub/disc assembly.

 

Oh and added to it, using this method, the lower control arm doesn't need to be removed.