The change to coil springs on the front was a bad one, obviously brought on by sales people and not by engineering. Resulted in millions of broken coil springs and tremendous cost for Mercedes and owners.
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450/451 Suspension interchange?
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Why the change is anyone's guess. Cheapness at manufacturing change the usual reason. Don't buy the sales people driving the change. They sell cupholders and the like - and finance.... Most prospective customers haven't a clue about the mechanical bits beneath the skin. The internet has shown us that.
The broken coils were expensive for Mercedes no doubt. But a drop in the ocean relative to what the leaky Roadster cost them. Then along came BMW with mini and game over for smart. Innovation takes decades to become accepted - Audi's experience with the A2 demonstrates that. Mercedes' retreat to conventionality with its A-Class another casualty.
Would still love to know who the engineers were who laid out the 450 and Roadster. So many elements of previous small cars of the 1960's I'll wager some were drawn out of retirement after working for the likes of Fiat, DAF, etc. Leaf front springs were a Fiat staple.
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Originally posted by THEDON View PostThat's interesting... when did they stop using leaf spring on the 450?
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