mrweelr

Well, my car blew the front left AirMatic strut today on the way home and I limped it home with the fender basically on top of the front tire. No damage done and I verified the front left strut is hissing when I inflate it in STAR/DAS so I'm going to order two new front units ASAP.

Quick question for those of you who've gone through this, where is the best price on these Arnott struts? I see from Arnott direct they are $525 and from CarID they are $375, big difference. Is CarID reputable and are their Arnott struts genuine? I need to order these ASAP as this is my daily driver so if someone could share their experience, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks,
Jeremy

https://www.arnottindustries.com/par...18_pid134.html

http://www.carid.com/2005-mercedes-e...FSVo7AodjXMAwQ

mrweelr

Elhonaz

That 375 is insanely low if they are the real deal!

novae500

try some of your local auto parts store where they have online coupon codes like 30% and get through them. Believe arnott gives 10% off with a MB10 code on this forum.

Hulk

Won't get much lower than 375$

TheOtherDodge

Arnott was out of stock when I needed one and they wouldn't budge on the price either.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Right-Front-...-/191132801544

Give them a call to discuss price, but it will be cheaper than $375! They had me send mine in and had it back to me within 5 days.

Hulk

Those are good guys, here in south florida, father and son business , Patrick is on this forum and owns an E55, good guys, clean big shop.

viper04

Nice, do they only do the fronts. Can the rears be rebuild? Just curious. Thanks.

Hulk

I don't know about the rear air bags, call them

elirich

Try PARTSGEEK.Com. They have alot of part for the w211 2004 E500. I've ordered several at 1/4 to 1/16 of dealer costs. Great company.

mrweelr

Thanks guys. I think I'll go with CarID for that price. Just wanted to make sure they weren't unscrupulous or selling knock-off parts or anything. I knew my car was bound to blow a bag anytime with the mileage on it. Fortunately, the fronts look like an easy fix.

veryswag

I guess 95K on the original struts is not too bad

veryswag

I did a quick search on CarID and they don't seem to be a very reputable vendor. just thought I'd give you a heads up. may be worth the peace of mind to get it directly from Arnott

http://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.carid.com


they do have decent reviews on 1 other site though and an A on BBB even though theres a ton of complaints opened. may be worth a shot but i would use a credit card through paypal if they have that payment option

mrweelr

veryswag - Hey, thanks for the heads up on CarID, I guess you get what you pay for, right? I will call Arnott today and buy these front air struts directly from them. If the price is too good to be true, there's usually a reason :-)

mrweelr

I called Arnott and the remanufactured E55 front air struts are on national backorder with no ETA on availability. Not sure what to do now...anyone have a spare set they want to sell? I tried calling a few places and no one has them in stock.

https://www.arnottindustries.com/par...34_gid521.html

https://www.arnottindustries.com/par...34_gid522.html

O-55

You may have to do what Dodge did and send yours in to be rebuilt. Compare Arnott's and Master Tech's turnaround times and fees and go from there.

Hulk

Call mastertech posted above

mrweelr

I'm trying to avoid having to pull the old airstruts out, shipping them and waiting for return shipping. It looks like there are a few available on eBay for around $700 to $800. Will make some phone calls to see if anyone has these in stock.

TheOtherDodge

The turnaround time was 4 days for mine. We can keep making suggestions but good luck anyway.

O-55

Purchase a new Bilstein unit if you are willing to spend $800 on a strut. Recoup $75.00 by sending your original strut to Arnott.

mrweelr

Thinking about doing an adjustable coilover conversion, I have some homework to do. Will post the outcome either way...

RedBullJnky

I have my used ones for sale since I switched to coil overs

mrweelr

W211 remanufactured air struts are completely unavailable today. I ended up going with Rebuild Master Tech, both front struts rebuilt for $850 with overnight send/return shipping from California included in that price. They turn them around in one day, so this is the way to go if you don't want to get raped by the dealer or convert your car to coilovers. Will post impressions after I get the rebuilt front struts installed.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Front-Air-Sh...66ac8d&vxp=mtr

TheOtherDodge

You will be happy with the product!

Hulk

Yup good guys there