Stasis3131

From what I have been told nobody has a bagged r230 body style benz... they dont make kits and my abc system to a crap a few months ago. My friend that owns a custom shop here in houston took on the task of making me a custom kit. I talked to a few people on the forum and they said it can't be done well here it is folks. Rides better then stock imo. Ride height is more adjustable to be slammed or raised up to clear most anything. The stock system would not get me high enough to clear steep inclines. I busted 2 carbon lips already in parking garages. I am doing a black series conversion and I didnt want to invest that type of money and cant clear inclines with ease. Body work cost too much . The r&d took about a month to get the best setup. All the pumps and tank were put in the trunk and spare tire removed. So I still retain the use of my trunk. I will load good pics of trunk soon once I return from a business trip.

I know most purists will not like this over the abc system but I refused to pay 9k to fix that system on a 2005 car. I am into modding cars and I wont be selling this car anytime soon.

Also no rubbing of any kind. Body roll is no worse then it already was for this heavy car. Best thing is no more expensive repairs. Air ride is easy to maintain and cheap to diagnose or repair. Shop gave 5 year warranty on this anyway. Any questions just ask


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz43xQ6DQWI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Stasis3131

I forget to mention no warning lights on dash :-)

kingnash

cool. cant wait to see pics. a video would be better!

Thericker

PM pricing & if possible to buy a kit from them? I live in So Cal.. Thnx

jagata

He gave the link of the video at the end of his post, here it is again,

Stasis3131

Figured I would answer the question here instead of a pm for those who inboxed me.
The car is not airbags only. It has the stock struts on there. The r230 has some of the strongest struts you can put on a car.so I wanted to keep them. The struts were taken apart and modified with custom machined brackets and sleeves to be able to slide the air bags on. Most air bags go on top of the strut. But on our benz it goes on the bottom. So we had to get creative to make it work. We had the brackets made at a machine shop in houston that specializes in making parts for airplanes. We wanted to get the best quality that we could. So essentially the car is the same except you get more travel up and down then the abc. And you can control just the front or rear of car. Just got rid of all the computers and simplified the cars suspension.

And to answer if it can be bought as a kit yes it can and we are working on it. Gonna test my car for a few more months and put some serious miles on the system before I become a vendor. I want to make sure this system is gonna stay working . Mainly the fabbed parts. All the air ride products are proven and from reputable companies.


I also will put up alot of pics of the trunk and more videos of car rolling down interstates and roads of houston.

Viper98912

nice work

JadAwada

What is the kit price? And can you explain more what was done as it is not clear that the suspension has air bags.

Regards,
Jad

Stasis3131

Pricing isnt yet confirmed
But essentially what has been done is tge stock strut was modified and fitted with a airbag on the bottom. Same location where the stock abc system was on the strut. Compressors and the air management was put into trunk where the spare tire was. System uses air instead of fluid so its similiar to what we have already. Just less complicated And you can independently lower/raise the front and rear. Or do them together.

I will make a detailed video on the functionality of the system and components used to make it work
Stay tuned

sl65_rockford

Where in Houston are you located?

Ekselent

Great upgrade…. Thank you.

Stasis3131

West houston in katy area of town

ttboost

Very nice. And very interested. I haven't had a problem yet, but I expect to soon. This is a very attractive solution. Did you reuse the hydraulic lines for the pneumatic lines? or run all new lines?

fledda

subscribed

Stasis3131

We ran all new lines . Didn't want to use the old lines since they.carried fluid instead of air. Pretty much removed all abc components and put them up for sale on ebay to recoup some money. One of my valve blocks went out along with sweating lines. But other then that everything else was working. I am gonna load up more pics and videos tomorrow so everyone will have a better idea of this setup

ttboost

Thank you for the info. I look forward to more info on this. Did you guys happen to weigh the before and after? Curious if there is a weight savings...guessing like 30-40lbs or so?

Stasis3131

We didn't weigh it before and after but I don't believe we lost any weight. We took all the old stuff out and added 2 small air compressors and a air tank in the trunk. So it all cancels each other out

ttboost

Sounds reasonable. I just figured there was a lot of "heavy" fluid and then the addition of the pump(s) etc...A better solution with no extra weight = good. Hopefully the cost is not other worldly...

ianking

great to see this! Im planning to do this to my car as well! Did you install sway bars on your car?

What did you use to get rid of the dash lights?

And what power steering pump did you replace your stock one with after removing all the ABC parts?


Sorry for the multiple questions!

Jan T

Nice! I was wondering when someone was going to do that. The usual lowering kit is nice, but then the car only goes up only so far with the ABC to clear things. I have air ride on my black Pantera GT5S because the front spoiler is so low and big, and I like to slam it close to the ground when riding, and can then raise it up about 10" or so as needed. Jagata I see you have an LP640, which I need next, Ithaca green. Cars & coffee?

2MnyToys

Any update on this?

Captain-fitch

Any updates?? I'm so close to buying my dream R230 and if I could put it straight on bags I would be beyond happy!

V12TTenthusiast

I'm curious about that coil over conversion for the R230's on ebay 2500 for the kit if u trade the struts/pump/valve block in. Someone should go test it out for us lol

benz_addict

That is an SL500, noticed the brakes
Take the AMG badge off
ABC is better than this air-ride BS

ttboost

But probably not as maintenance friendly or cost effective...