Shock And Awe

Recently, restoration, I mean rehabilitation activities for Klaudia has been around the powerplant and the latest involved upgrading the engine with a belt tensioner vibration damper or in other places it's called tensioner shock absorber. What the belt tensioner shock absorber actually do is to prolong the life of the belt tensioner by taking in excessive vibrations. Excessive vibrations can cause belt slapping that can result in a split-second of a slack, this is triggered sometimes when A/C compressor kicks in. This moment of slack can possibly make the compressor and its sensors go crazy that may behave with a prolonged shut-off interval which can make the engine operate in higher temperature levels or at worse, overheats. In other words, this is a chicken-and-egg problem. In addition to this, premature belt fatigue and squeaking is more frequent and damaging to the early M102 installations. Early W201 models with M102 engine from 1984 to early 1985 does not have this feature. Obviously, for Klaudia this is a major but simple feature "upgrade", something AMG has never thought of because the patent is owned by an American. And this is the one rudimentary component that never gets the credit of putting 190E in the "tank" status in its glory days.

Now that Klaudia is settled with the engine shock. It's now time to focus on the other vibration handling components which is known as the suspension system. 190E was among the early adapters for multi-link suspension even before it became a buzzword in the Japanese area of rice responsibility. In this project, Klaudia was treated with a pair of brand new Bilstein B36-1389 Heavy Duty Shock Absorbers.

The major parts were acquired from ENKAT (Evangelista, Makati City)



Then drove a few kilometers further South to reach JP Wheels at Paranaque City. JP Wheels was the shop who did Lavramon for Klaudia and very happy about it. JP Wheels veteran technicians quickly went through the job.



While getting ready for the camber alignment as well, The old and dysfunctional Sachs has to go.



In layman's term, camber alignment/correction is the process of making sure the tires are standing straight up the vertical axis, I hope the last two words aren't too technical.



Dismantling an old shock and removing the old busted spindle bushings are not really simple tasks, but definitely doable and these guys have been around the business long enough to know how the previous owner totally sucked up.



The cheap Sachs is gone and now here comes the Bilstein.



Putting all these together is really fun to watch.



After swiping the plastic and went home. The ride is no longer "sporty", if you know what I mean.



The Bilstein Heavy Duty Shock Absorbers suits my daily driving needs, it doesn't have to be a sleeper, all I need is just a steady ride and a smart stance. And Bilstein delivered the punch. As I have read from some people these type of shock absorbers are rough, but I guess it's relatively subjective.



Job well done for JP Wheels.