Mercedes-Benz 260E, '89

[Jorgen]

After selling my W201 ( http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=68651 ) it seemed logical to go bigger and better, so I found this 260E W124, 1989 in Smoke Silver colour.
The body is in pretty good condition, needs some care to be better etc. I kept my BBS RF's from my W201 so no need to worry about the wheels. Current specs on the RF's are 17x9 ET2, 17x10 ET26. But I struggled with the 17x9 ET2 on my W201 front so after giving it some thought, I'm swapping my front and rear centres, the front centre has a lot thicker backspacing.
So far I've owned the car for 2 weeks, done some small details and testfit my wheels. Replaced my hood star, painted the grille, removed tow hook, painted wiper arms and swapped a nasty blue light in the gear selector for an OEM white one.
Like with the last car, I'm going slightly US spec on this car, first in order was US-sized plates, also DIY facelift markers for the front. Next up is the front bumper plastic, converting the plate size to US one. Going to do it on my own, even though there is an OEM part for this.
What I also slightly struggled with the last car was the suspension set up. Ground Control coils were a bit expensive, so was air and I really missed the chance to adjust the height. Now finally Ta-Technix in Europe provides shocks and springs with adjustability for this car for a good price, so this will be slightly easier.








And how the testfit went:

[trm-]

In for more!

[Steven_318ti]

Really like this, can't wait for more updates

[Laef]

You didn't bought the 126 afterall?

This is gonna be good tho!

More of this please.

[Mehowski]

absolutely love these in estate variant, but saloons are cool too

your w201 was wicked so I'll be keepin track of this one too

[loekaaz]

Hey I also know a guy with a 260E or two.....

[Jorgen]

You didn't bought the 126 afterall?

This is gonna be good tho!

More of this please.

I decided to go after a W124 at the moment, the W126 I talked you about had some problems so it would have been a financial mistake.

absolutely love these in estate variant, but saloons are cool too

your w201 was wicked so I'll be keepin track of this one too

Thanks, I thought of buying a S124, but a sedan is my favorite of all the body variants on a W124.

Hey I also know a guy with a 260E or two.....

I hope I don't get the classical 260E owner problem, that the car will stay hibernated

[loekaaz]

I hope I don't get the classical 260E owner problem, that the car will stay hibernated

It takes a lot of "dedication" to keep it hibernated that long....

[Jorgen]

Not much has happened, besides the fact the car was buried under snow for a week. Dug it out, drove it to my garage and it'll stay there until spring decides to start. Summer tires don't work at all on snow with a heavy RWD car.




Anyhow, since I'm after making this car slightly more US-spec I started welding and smoothing the front impact strip. There is an OEM piece for this, but 60€ seems slightly pointless and it would still leave small gaps, so I decided to do it by combining two strips to one and I already has some experience doing so with my W201. Here's where I've got so far:



I also swapped my RF centers, fronts to rear and rears to front. The front centers have a lot more backspacing, so with a 2.5" lip my final rear spec should be 17x10 ET4 & 17x9 ET28 front. Last season I had a lot of problems getting the 17x9 ET1 to fit on my W201 so I decided to make it more aggressive in the rear and easier in the front. But after seeing the testfit I'm not sure 17x10 ET4 will even fit to the rear. Yeah, camber is an option, but currently I'm hoping to fit with stock arches. Even though I jacked up the wheel to mock the lowering, it didn't seem to gain more natural camber.
Did some research, Iamnicpro with his S124 should be running 16x9.5 ET -31 in the rear so my setup seems to fit on paper.



Anyone knows any W124's running 9-10" and low ET's?

[Mehowski]

iamnicpro's w124 is in my opinion perfect, thats why I asked earlier if you considered getting an estate haha

[Jorgen]

iamnicpro's w124 is in my opinion perfect, thats why I asked earlier if you considered getting an estate haha

Understandable, it is one of my favorite W124's as well, it's even in the same color as mine. I did some research and if I pull and roll my fenders slightly and lower it properly, I should achieve the perfect fitment. If any W124 owners want a small database of agressive fitments, I can upload my collected pictures with specs added.

[190Evan]

You can make those fit easily, remember how much these cars camber naturally in the back when you lower them a good amount. I ran 17X9.5 ET-10 up front with fender spacers and a light pull and never rubbed, in the back I had 17X10 ET-12 and I tucked them with no issues but I did had a significant amount of camber, even without the camber I could have fit them so you should be solid. I think you will be fine if you don't plan on tucking them.

[190Evan]

Iamnicpro's car also was on air and when you body these cars they obtain a solid amount of camber, when he was aired up to driving height it looked like it poked in my opinion. So unless youre planning on going to air suspension i wouldn't try for as drastic of numbers.

[Jorgen]

Iamnicpro's car also was on air and when you body these cars they obtain a solid amount of camber, when he was aired up to driving height it looked like it poked in my opinion. So unless youre planning on going to air suspension i wouldn't try for as drastic of numbers.

I'm pretty sure iamnicpro's W124 has always been static, he first ran cut springs and then swapped to YSR coilovers.
I'll get my coilover kit and then see how much it'll camber in. There's a possibility to widen the rear fenders, but would like to run this setup with stock fenders.

[190Evan]

Oh how weird I always assumed it was on air, nevermind that comment then haha.