Installation of 500E Front Swaybar
    A good modification for any car with a swaybar is to replace it with a larger one. A larger swaybar reduces the amount of body roll a car experiences in hard cornering. Reduction of body roll makes for better road holding abilities, thus making a better handling car. For this modification I bought a 500E front swaybar, the 500E came with  lager swaybars than the E420. The 500E bar is the most cost effective swaybar on the market for the 124, others that are the same size can cost two times as much, larger bars may run three times as much. The installation of the front swaybar is very easy one can install the bar in about 1 hour.


Step 1:
Jack the car up and place it on jack stands as shown, for added safety I placed the jack on the transmission cross member.

Step 2:
Remove the wheels, and the belly pan.


Step 3:
Remove the 4 nuts shown, one will need two 13mm wrenches to accomplish this task. Repeat on the other side. Once all hardware is removed the bar will drop down.


Once the bar is removed one can see the mounting surface. This is a good time to clean all mounting surfaces, the cleaned surfaces then can be greased to keep the bushings from squeaking.

Step 4:
Replace old bar with new, follow instructions in reverse.


Here one can see what the two bars look like, the 500E bar is on the right side while the E420 bar is on the left.


Another shot of  the two bars, the 500E bar is on the top, E420 bar is on the bottom.



I took this opportunity to measure the two bars for myself, the factory measurements are; 26.5 mm for the E420 bar, and 28 mm for the 500E bar. Click on the picture for a bigger view.

    The 500E swaybar upgrade is cheap, and pays off with better handling. I would recommend this to any 124 owner who would like to reduce the amount of body roll they experience. My driving impressions were very good, the car now corners flatter, with body roll being reduced about 30%. All in all this is was a very good upgrade.

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Note: Safety is the number 1 concern, if you do not have the proper tools do not proceed with this installation. I am not liable for any mishap that may occur during this procedure. The risk is all yours.