I cant believe how nicely engineered this suspension is to the car. It rides better than stock in soaking up the bumps but when you accelerate hard or brake real hard it just doesnt rock at all....as it were planted on the ground. It feels like riding on a slammed car in the twisties but while cruising the car feels better than anything Ive driven in. I would say it feels better than the M3 I drove not to long ago...and my car is rolling on stock 17" and Micheling Pilot A/S


It is a beautiful thing and if anybody ever has the opportunity to get a Kleeman speed sensitive suspension I highly recommend it.

 

Congrats lou.

Does this mean your keeping the 430?

 

yes it does and now that I have the all season tires it doesnt get stuck in the snow at all....and I tested it out yesterday on 2.5 inches

we have got to meet up and check out the rides now that it modded we have to see

 

Sounds great! Glad you're keeping the benz. Which all-seasons did you end up getting?
P.S. did you ever find out if there is an adaptor for the alpine for the steering wheel audio controls? TIA.

 

Nice!! Good to hear you went for the Kleeman suspension.

 

congrats on the new suspension!

 

I heard there is an adaptor you can only get in Japan I tried to get a member in the Benz forum to get it for me which he said he would but still no word. It has been a little over a month so I dont think he can get it. If we can get a source in Japan that can order it and send it to us it will be the cheapest way.

I went with the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S in OEM size and it made a world of difference.

I invested $900 in all season radials and Im happier than a PIG in shit

How is your Benz treating you ??

 

Congrats Lou, sounds sweeet!

 

Must be nice to have such a good suspension system

 

I couldnt believe it myself it handled turns like it was an NSX and when I raced it off the line the car never rocked back at all. Then when I hit the brakes really hard like from 50 MPH the car never rocked forward. I had the Eibach with Konis before and they did not even come close.

I will have to say this is the best handling car I have ever driven in my life including the M3, 330 Ci, 300z, CL-S, Miata, Integra thats all that come to mind. It makes the car feel so light and nimble it totally transforms your ride .

here is a pic I took before installing them next to the Koni yellows Im trying to sell



you have to tighten the shock when the car is on the ground not on the lift and the springs have to be installed a specific way. All and all it was the best mod to date other than the tires on the clk

 

Hmmm... gotta look into that. I'm waiting on this part to buy an Alpine headunit; possibly the IVA-D900. I have the Alpine NVE-N851 from my other car sitting in my house ready to be installed in the C32 but I'd hate to lose the audio controls. Kinda got used to it from the Acuras and the Benz adds a few more features.

Are the Pilots sticky enough for the suspension? The suspension sounds awesome. I'm looking to get the H&R coilovers in the spring to tighten up the handling.

I've only driven it twice in the past 2 weeks. Been trying to drive it on the weekends but the snow & salt. The garage I normally park near work dented a co-worker's car so I stopped driving the Benz. I've been parking the QX4 in the street at work, so I've been saving a ton of money for parking.

 

damn i didnt know u were gonna buy it when u said it cost like almost 2 g's

congrats man

 

Nice suspension!

cl-driver - I'm thinking about H&R sways first for the C32 to improve handling.

 

I was thinking about the sways too. Not sure how stiff the car will be with them. I live in NY (the roads aren't too pretty). I figure the coilovers will help in handling w/o stiffening the suspension too much. I just went on the Kleeman website and saw that a suspension kit is available for the W203's. Not sure how it compares to stock & the H&R's.

 

True, i just dont want to deal with lowering b/c of camber issues, etc. im trying to get some opinions from the guys mbworld.

 

the kleeman suspension lowers the car only .7 to .75 from stock ride height. The suspension feels nicer than stock and light years better than stock in the twisties.

The suspension is simply awesome remember the dampers are made for the springs so its all works great together. Also in my situation the cLK 55 is about an inch lower than the clk 430 so Im still riding higher than the clk55 and handle better than it.

the wheels and tires on the clk430 are exactly the same on the clk55 so I dont even need to upgrade the wheels

The dampers are very heavy and made of quality materials.

check mbworld.org and look up kleemann suspensions....the cl500 and almost all the $100K cars that MB make have the adaptive suspension. I checked the AMG models all have the same but with height changing also but I dont need that. My car doesnt rub at all where I use to with the Eibachs that lowered 1.2 inch Im about .50 inch higher than that and no scraping

 

With winter driving, tires make all the damn difference in the world. Four cars back, my ride was a new 97 GS Type R integra, and the said not to drive on the Potenza RE010's in rain or snow.

Rain was no problem, but my driveway has an uphill and sidehill grade to it (but not much.)

I damn near banged the thing up trying to pull into a parking spot when I couldn't climb the hill. Snow was maybe 1-2".