sjn2004

Hi, a friend of mine has a E500 2002 plate. The car has air suspension and one rear wheel has dropped down just inside the wheel arch and a warning light has lit on the dash. He's taken it to an official MB dealer who has quoted £1400 (2000USD) just to repair one corner. Obviously this sounds silly money and he's worried that even if he gets it repaired that another corner may go shortly. Does this price sound right and is there a common weak point in the system?

Would it be possible to scrap the air suspension and modify the car to have standard suspension (eg like a lower model eg E220?)

thanks

220S

fwiw, a lot of people go this route rather than the dealer: http://www.arnottindustries.com/

aintez

just had a look incase mine goes and they only have fronts listed.... so what about the rears ?

SZMB

Do a search for this problem in this forum and you'll find a few postings. It costs about $1200 to $1500 for a replacement at the MB dealer in the US, depending on where you live. I just had one front corner replaced for about $1200, after a $300 good-will discount. You can buy a remaufactured one for $500 in Ebay and bring it to any indy shop for replacement. It does not seem like a difficult job. The shock, spring and air bag are all in one piece, that's why it's so expensive, I think. The front and rear shocks are different, and the rear shocks are much cheaper. You probably can convert the air suspension system to the conventional type, but my guess is that the cost of conversion will exceed the cost of replacement.

mcleantmw

You don't have to get the rebuilt air shocks from eBay............here's the Website for the Arnott firm that refurbishes and sells FRONT airshocks (not rear) directly for $500 ($400 with core return) with Lifetime Warranty. Mine haven't gone out yet but will probably order these when they fail unless my MB Dealer will give me new ones for near the same price..........but they don't warrant them with a Lifetime Warranty either! http://www.arnottindustries.com/part...18_pid127.html Anyone tried these and if so, what was the labor to do it.............not sure whether my MB Dealer would installed rebuilt units but there are indepentent shops that should be willing to do it?

SZMB

The ones sold in Ebay is from Arnott Inc. Same price, same life time warranty, same remanufactured parts.

mcleantmw

Check out this link to the BenzWorld.org forum...........Arnott will provide a 10% discount on orders from members of the BenzWorld.org forum which I also belong to: http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w211...ml#post3769684

vettdvr

Since you referenced the rear this is probably an Airspring and not the air shock. The air shock referenced is for the front. Arnott does not yet have a air spring replacement for the rear, I looked. Only MB supplies this part and it is expensive. My air springs also failed and were warranty replaced at the dealer. I would expect $2000 to $3000 US to replace both air springs. I would not just do one at that mileage. The differential must be pulled completely from the car to do the work in addition to the $$$$ parts. Best of luck. Warning driving in this condition can burn out/fail the air pump and add another $400 to $700 for replacement.

daminchi

I have all front and rear air shock for sale if anyones looking.

jcpca356

someone should manufacture plain jane tube shock replacements that can be easily installed and override the airshocks.

blackdeath

Do you still have them and how much do you want for them? I need the passenger rear side.

daminchi

I have all four. 500 each.

blackdeath

Where did you get them and how old are they? Is it the complete assembly with the air spring and shock?

gaazmon

they have conversion kits for gmcs, lincolns, cadillacs, etc but i've never seen one for the MBs. must be something with the computers.

vettdvr

It's all about the numbers. They have to have enough forcasted sales to make it justify the investment to mfg the item.

BTDT

Ser05E500

Has anyone used arnott shocks on their car??

hellah fresh

Hello! Have you solved this problem yet? I have an 03' E500 and the front right airshock went out. I was wondering do i have to replace the whole air shock or will it be something else?

daminchi

https://mbworld.org/forums/suspensio...ml#post4264127

amgthinker

I have a 05 e500 4matic my warning light came on pointing to the air ride suspension the front is lifted way up and the rear was low like it was on sport 2 but the driver side rear has Ben going low and car won't Rais is this the bag that has a leak or what

vettdvr

I put my $$ on blown bad on right front strut.

wjcandee

Okay, seriously. Take it to a good Indy and use the arnott stuff if it isn't just a blown or crimped line or compressor. Partsgeek.com is one place to get the stuff at a fair price. Call them on the phone after looking online . They will confirm that the parts are right for your car on the phone, and often offer discounts if you are ready to buy right then...

amgthinker

OK thanks

wjcandee

Are you in the New York area? If so I have a good Indy I would use for this, who is honest and is used to pulling the whole undercarriage to get the rear bag out when it is required. Look at the Arnott video of how to replace the rear bag on the E350. The MB part is two pieces, joined by a hose that runs through the undercarriage so you have to remove the whole undercarriage to get the part out. The Arnott is one piece, so you take the whole car apart to get the old MB part out, then you put it back together, and just before you put the wheel on, you install the Arnott. Holy crap. The next time (which hopefully there won't be), all you do is pull off the wheel and replace the Arnott with another Arnott. I myself wish that I knew about Arnott 5 years ago when I had to replace the rear bag. Did it at the dealer with the MB part. I have since become smarter.

The front strut from Arnott is just a well-remanufactured Bilstein OE one, so for the price it's a no-brainer. The rear one, as mentioned above, is Arnott's own sensible design, which is what Bilstein should have designed in the first place.

moooooooon8

Hi,
My rear airbags were going low overnight , this started a couple of months ago but recently the car would drop after a half hour from shutting off. I looked online and found the arnotts from parts geek. 634$ for both sides. To replace them
- take the wheels off
- remove the fender lining
- remove the the screws holding the shocks(for more space to remove the airbag.)one will be in the trunk.
- remove the nut and screw holding the airbag.
- disconnect the air hose connected to the airbag, it will deflate.
- remove the airbag and install the new one.
I didn't remove the old reservoir needed for the OE airbags. Just left it in place.
The rides perfect, no errors on the dash and it raises normally and the sports settings works like before.

ps. Disconnect the battery before starting ( the one in the trunk) and resync the windows and moonroof.
It only took like 2 hours.

wjcandee

Fascinating. I don't know if you saw the Arnott video, but they have you take the whole car apart to get that old reservoir out, reassemble just about everything, then just pop their product in before putting the tire back on. It never occurred to me that it would be okay to leave in the old reservoir. That's real Shade Tree Mechanic thinking, in a good way!

The problem with Airmatic was that the rear bags are relatively-inexpensive but it takes a zillion dollars of labor to remove and replace them. The front struts are easy to change, but the parts are expensive as crap. You have just addressed the major issue with the rear bags, provided, of course, that you use the excellent Arnott solution.