Too much vertical motion over bumps !!

[nazab]

My 2006 300c has only 11000 miles on it and I hate the too much vertical motion up and down of the body over the bumps on medium and high speeds !! not the sideway motion which is really minimal , but the vertical motion as if the car is like a Yoyo ... I want to have a more Merc. or Bmw German cars feeling .. So what should I change without lowering the car as the roads here are very bad and full of bumps .. Pro kit ? sway bars ? shock absorbers ? your advice will be very much appreciated ..

[TMag]

So basically, your looking for a stiffer ride? Don't think sway bars will help. I have been looking for better performance shocks.

[FactoryD]

First off, it's pretty cool hearing from an LXer in Egypt!

If you don't want to lower you ride, you should upgrade your suspension with some decent coilovers, which have an adjustable height, such as the KW variant 1 or 2.

Good luck.

[nazab]

So basically, your looking for a stiffer ride? Don't think sway bars will help. I have been looking for better performance shocks.

So you think shocks will do without changing the coil springs ? The soft springs I believe will shorten the life of the new shocks as they allow excessive motion / travel of the shock absorbers ..

[nazab]

First off, it's pretty cool hearing from an LXer in Egypt!

If you don't want to lower you ride, you should upgrade your suspension with some decent coilovers, which have an adjustable height, such as the KW variant 1 or 2.

Good luck.

Thank you for the advice .. but have you tried it personally ? would appreciate the views of someone who has already installed KW variant 1 or 2 .. it costs around $ 1600 .. so one needs to be sure ..

[formerice]

I would check out the take out SRT8 suspentions, GSM or EBay? Just keep your sways, (the same) and your stock springs. Softer springs will only have a slight effect on wearing out the shocks- dampers. On my fairly softly sprung QC 4X4 Ram I put on Rancho 9000 shocks and adjusted them to the firmest setting. I cant believe how great that huge barge of a truck handles! Firm shocks with soft springs.

[MattRobertson]

I had an entirely different experience -- as have many others -- with respect to the springs wearing out the shocks. The first thing my dealer service manager told me was they would kill the shocks since the Pro-Kit reduced shock travel to only four inches. And sure enough, in six months he was proven right. As an early adopter of the springs I was one of the first, if not the first, to blow out the shocks. Since then many others have had the same problem.

Over the last couple of years a pattern has emerged with respect to lowering springs: If you drive on smooth roads and do not push the car, lowering springs are fine. If you drive over rough roads, then the compression that lowering springs demand off the shocks kills them. Sometimes it is a few months and sometimes more, but you are unquestionably reducing shock life, and these cars frankly come with cheaply-made shocks.

I went to the KW Variant 2 suspension system, which is a complete suspension replacement. Coilovers in the front and shocks/springs in the back. It works extremely well and does exactly what you are looking for. If you can find an SRT take-off suspension one can be had for about US$400 plus shipping, but given your location that may be a problem. You can also buy the ST Suspensions coilover kit for just under US$1100. These are essentially KW Variant 1's with slightly less expensive materials used in manufacture (ST is a division of KW).

All of the coilovers you can buy on the market are made by KW in fact, except for the new Tein system, which is adjustable from within the car on the fly and sounds very, very interesting.

[nazab]

Thank you Matt .. that iswhat I thought too .. it is logical .. so the KW variant 2 solved this bouncing effect that spoils the ride over the bumps .. it is nowas solid as German cars I assume ?

[36 chambers]

srt-8 setup works,but kwv2s are the way to go!!!

[MattRobertson]

it is nowas solid as German cars I assume ?

That would be a good analogy, yes. The V2's are adjustable for rebound. Call the two extremes "loose" and "tight" where "loose" is the least rebound control and the most likely to be preferred by your grandmother on a smooth highway and "tight" is the firmest, most controlled ride.

Setting the dial to either extreme is a bad idea. Going "full tight" is actually a condition that will blow the seals on the shocks. I had mine at 1/2 turn from "full loose" for about a month since I had a lot of highway driving to do. I dialed it back down to 1/2 turn from "full tight" for a track run I did a week ago and I *vastly* prefer this setting for any sort of use. It is a more technical feel and in the end just plain more comfortable to me. No bouncing of any kind.

The SRT take-off suspension (which is not adjustable) will get you 85% of the way there for 35% of the cash outlay... assuming you can get a set shipped to you. I would not buy a new set from a dealer.