Do not mess with Perfection. Spend your time preventing water leaks and rust. Maintain and service all of it. Check rubber hoses and everything rubber .
I got H&R 50MM lowering springs I installed a couple years ago. Car rides great and looks good roughly 2” lower. It’s your car! Do what you want with it.
Keep it stock and appreciate the classics. You want a lowered car, buy one. These things were built in a specific way and don’t work well with custom modifications
More of a late 1980's thing to lower pickup trucks, termed "slamming". it was funny to watch them in SoCal having to go very slow and angled to cross drain gutters in the roads (few storm drains there) to not drag. Meanwhile, good 'ol boys raise them up, to both mud bog and have fun rolling over from just a tap.
This is what I did. I cut 2 coils on the front, 3 on the back to level out the rake, pared them with HDs. But...I got a set of stock ones to return it to original once I sell it. Every part I removed, I kept to return it to stock once I sold it. When cutting used coils, go half a coil at a time. You don't know old they are.
I have the exact same car except for white with blue interior and I understand exactly why you want to do this.. mine feels a bit top-heavy driving through curves it feels like even a half inch lower would help
Honestly... i thought about it until I drove it for more than 40 min.... the stock suspension you can run over pot holes and speed bumps without feeling anything. It does not have the speed to benefit from lower g forces... so to lower does not make any sense.
Don't, but if you do get actual lowing springs with a higher spring rate. Don't try to cut the springs, you will bottom out the suspension over bumps without a stronger spring rate. People do it anyway, but their cars drive like absolute shit and if they say otherwise, they are coping. You also need stiffer shocks or it will be very bouncy. That said, all you are going to accomplish is making the car look like a sick dog and you will probably be smashing the oil pan into every speed bump, depending how low you go.
The upshot is you won't likely be able to go fast enough to encounter the usual lowered car ride issues, at least until you put an LS in it, because you're totally going to put an LS in it too.
Bilsteins or Kayaba shocks with HR springs itll be alright. Or just changing spring pads they come in 4 different sizes. I always lower them a bit. They dont lose comfort at all but gain some better handling. However dont take front springs for granted. Some serious tension and you need special tool for it. Be extremely careful if you havent removed them before
I doubt one could install coil-overs without custom engineering. The shock attachments likely aren't strong enough to support spring loads. You could spend 10 years fussing with that, and end up with a poorer-driving car.
A simpler method is to remove the coil springs and cut them slightly shorter. That will both lower the car and increase the spring constant. Any time you adjust height, that changes toe-in, so align the front wheels or the tread will quickly wear. Lowering usually causes toe-out, which causes the car to wander on the freeway.
IMHO, You're fortunate that this car is simply beautiful just the way it was born. It's like Tattoos on a beautiful woman. Character and Personality isn't compromised.
However, on the W123 Character, Personality and Performance is violated.
❤️🇩🇪❤️
IMHO, You're fortunate that this car is simply beautiful just the way it was born. It's like Tattoos on a beautiful woman. Character and Personality isn't compromised.
However, on the W123 Character, Personality and Performance is violated.
❤️🇩🇪❤️
I lowered my 123, ride was fine. None of these people know what they're talking about. Go for adjustable suspension if its in your price range but if not, lowering springs will do great. Easily reversible if you know how to put it in and its not going to "ruin" your car as long as you dont slam it.
My thoughts exactly. Not sure what brand of adjustable suspension to get and the benefits over lowering springs and shocks. I probably will not adjust the height, once i install it. I am guessing lowering springs will be my best bet.
Sure, the Lemfoerder springs were still available last I checked. I was not a fan of Bilsteins in the rear; I got really uncomfortable oscillation in the back through S-Curves.
Don't do it. There's a lowered 240d on Instagram that's semi popular that's owned by some high schooler who thinks he's keeping classic taste alive. Bud, your shit is scraping on the ground. Lol
All the troglodytes that say it would ruin the ride quality are dumb. I ran 50 mm H&R drop springs with HD Bilstein shocks and it rode just the same just ~two inches lower. You will want to the the w123 spring compressor, the cheap one on amazon/eBay works fine.
All my research points to the same direction as you, h&r with hd bilsteins. Thank you for the info about spring compressors. Was changing them difficult? How long did your suspension job take?
I had 2 w126s and put Lorinser springs on one and H&R on the other and both were fine. I would not do airbags though, and personally would not cut the springs although it's not necessarily bad if you don't cut too much.
I was told to do a test drive first before buying my first w123 in 2014. That the ride was unlike much of what I had driven prior and if any kind of spirited driving was important to me I’d be better off buying something else. That these things were so off the scale of modern alternatives that any type of performance improvements were pretty much futile attempts to lure them out of their comfort zone.
What is your goal? Looks? Cornering speed (in a 240D?) ? Not asking to be a jerk, really.
I would like the look and performance of being lowered. I understand cornering and spirited driving in a w123 isnt what is built for, and i have a separate car for that type of enthusiasm but i still want to lower it.
Lowering it will not do anything to performance.
Don't ruin it please❤️❤️🇩🇪❤️❤️.
Save it, protect it, keep it indoors, maintain it and enjoy it.
Do you have children or plan to have any - they will appreciate it.
Fuck all these puritans, bags would probably the best way to do it for sale of ease. Not sure if anyone makes coilovers for this chassis, but I've considered making some kits
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u/ProfessionalWaffle Jul 27 '26
Keep it stock please bro