Flight Test

I have been working on lowering my 2006 S65 with STAR for a bit and have had a fair amount of success but also have several questions.

Initially I had a terrible time getting the lowering to take and the system would have a ABC visit workshop warning mission. I then started taking baby steps and have had decent success. The system seems to be very picky about the inclination angles. I found that 4.8 (front) and -1.4(Back) seems to work well. Make sure you put in the minus sign on the rear or they will not take. The system seems to do better if you do small lowering steps (on the low speed setting) just do one lowering click all the way around or just do one end at a time and save the settings. Once complete you have to do a level calibration and a load adjustment for the settings to take. You can access the test from the fault tab and then click on the fault and it will run the test. (See picture)

I started out at about 28.2 inches in the front measured from the ground to the fender lip and about 28.3 inches in the back. I have successfully lowered it to 26.5 in the front and about 26.25inches in the back. Initially when I tried to lower it about 2 to three inches all at once the settings would not take. But doing them in little steps and doing a level/load cal seems to successfully save the settings.

One question for the pros out there is for the medium speed adjustment and the high speed adjustment, do you have to put the settings where you want them, such as .4 inches lower for medium speed and another .4 inches lower for high speed? I know the car from the factory lowers about .8 inches at high speed but I have not changed either the medium or high speed settings yet. The S class steps are quite a bit different from the instructions posted on the E55 forum and they do not seem to have the option for multiple speed settings. Any advice on settings for medium and high speed?

I have really enjoyed the firmer feel of the car with it lowered, it is not quite as soft as before which is nice.


Any one out there have tips or advice?

Oxygen

I believe the low/medium/high speed adjustment is not about the speed of the car, but relating to how fast the adjustment takes place when you use the + / - buttons in SDS.

Great write up, thank you very much... going to go give it a shot now.

Flight Test

If you select the medium or high speed setting it puts up the voltage screen just like on the low speed. So I am guessing you can set where you want the car to end up at those speeds. I remember reading somewhere the logic sequence that lowered the car at speed, it was something like if you are over 60 mph for five minutes it lowers .8 inches, I do not remember what the medium speed logic sequence is.

If I get some more time I will play with the different settings although it will be difficult to verify the high speed settings driving down the road.

Hope you were successful!

Oxygen

I did not get a chance to play with the car yesterday as I was waiting at the dealership for an oil change, tranny fluid change and a coil pack replacement.

I did come up with some cool stuff though...

I always found the IBM laptops to be a little bulky for the purposes of diagnosing the cars, unless they are stationary on a cart.

If you are out in the field or at meets / track days you would want something portable and preferably with a touch-screen interface.

The SDS laptop acts as a wireless access point with the built int WiFi card and the iPad connects to the laptop. The multiplexer is attached to the laptop as one convenient system. You plug the laptop into the car and close the lid, everything else is done through the iPad, and you have decent range as far as wireless communication goes.

Video of the system in action on YouTube: http://youtu.be/fuFyRRC4ACo

Also, since the laptop and the iPad are running LMI software, if you have a 3G internet connection you can have someone remotely login to the SDS laptop, say from the shop, and diagnose the vehicle with you.

Lowering the car:

Flight Test

That is awesome! I was sure suprised how fast your SDS system was running. Mine is on a very old laptop and takes forever. I will have to test out your setup. Thank you very much for sharing!

Oxygen

I am running the system on an IBM T41, 120GB 7200RPM drive, 2GB RAM and Windows XP.

Oxygen

Oh and it's wrapped in CF

Flight Test

Funny you should say that. I was just researching covering all the wood in the interior with carbon.

http://www.carbonfiberfilm.com/blog/...ferent-colors/

Oxygen

Here is the whole rig... just plug into the OBD port and the battery should last about 2 hours if properly charged...

Oxygen

I bought a TON of the 3M Di-Noc black CF material and was planning to wrap the interior wood trim. I am not 100% sure how to go about the chrome strips that runs along the center console and the door trim though.

Flight Test

On the E55 thread on this subject it look like he was able to seperate the chrome piece and wrap the trim and put the chrome back on. Have you used the stuff before, does it go around the curves OK?

Oxygen

I'll wait for him to respond on how he did it.. that's my biggest concern is the chrome trim on the leading edge.

I have used it before, with a little heat it goes on like butter! Any surface, any curve.

Flight Test

Any idea the effects of the adhesive over time? If years down the road I want to go back to stock I don't want the wood trim all messed up because of the old adhesive. I just keep thinking of old stickers that turn to a crusty mess over time.

Oxygen

I think these 3M Di-Noc products are super high quality and are supposed to leave no mess or resedue behind.

NRL

Hey Oxygen,
Hey guys, which DAS system do you have?
Can you recommend a DAS system off the net (2011)?

There are quite a few out there that I can't figure out which one to get. I like the idea of the ones that don't require the IBM laptop and runs as a VM..

Thx

hkimsoft

Hi Flight Test,

I know this is an old thread but this thread seems to be most related to what I am trying to do... I have 2003 S55 with ABC and wanted to lower it. I was wondering if you could confirm the steps that I am taking below.

0. Engine running, ABC sport off, lowest height setting, MB Star connected.
1. Go into the "initial setup with manual settings..."
2. From "Level Calibration", there I lowered (on the low speed setting) one click all the way around, F2 then set the angles to 4.8 and -1.4 and save. All went good.
3. I then went to "Load Calibration", all went good and error message goes away.
4. But the problem is as soon as I complete the "Load Calibration", it goes back to normal height again... so repeating step 2 and 3 over and over has no effect...

Did I miss anything? If it's not too much trouble, could you provide me with the detailed steps?

Thanks in advance.

Flight Test

Sorry for the long delay!

I would recommend playing with the angle settings in .1 changes to see if that helps. There seems to be a window based setting that calculates the ride height with a set inclination angle (If either is outside a set tolerance it throws them out and returns to the original ride height). I had mine lowered as far as it would go but it took lots of tries to get those angles and the lowering setting to work. I suggest just trying the front or the back until it will keep and then go to the other end. Make sure to measure and record the fender gap after each attempt.

Hope that helps.

hkimsoft

No apologies necessary. I've tried again and again over the last few weeks and it finally took it. No adjustments to the steps... just need lot of patience and do them in very small increments. I lowered an inch all around and alignments were within specs too.

Thanks again.

Grip Grip

Great thread. I'm going to give this a shot tomorrow.