Yellow speed conversion
 

hi new here, just completed a full conversion to coilovers including all of the abc removal inc, pump. W220 steering pump fitted, and I've gotta say having owned the car 14 months it is the best thing I've ever done. It's a 2000 cl500 car handles & drives really well. It feels more alive and predictable all round

Awesome!

csn you post some pics of current ride height ?

Did you install yourself or have a shop do it ? If a ship did it how much was labor ?

also did you buy the flat or angled strut tops ? Yellowspeed sells both but doesn't really know which cars use which strut , they tell you to look at the old struts

I haven't taken any photos as yet but i did the conversion myself having got fed up of constant abc messages on dash followed by a fluid leak resulting in my left exhaust manifold catching fire while driving. I have a background in motorsport based mechanics so tackled it myself. I wanted a total removal of every bit of the abc system. The removal of the pipe work is the worst part, i found a w220 s500 ps pump was a direct fit even the pulley. I chose the slant top mounts having removed my old struts. I'm sure this is only choice for 215 cars as the flat top would put lower end of strut too far out. I have not felt the need to fit sway bars but if you did i would order flat top mounts then fit w220 lower arms. I'm running the car with about 10 mm gap between top of arches and the tyre (19" wheels) so quite low. I'm currently using 15 clicks of damping on rear & 18 on front, only done approx 120 miles so far so will re adjust if nessersary. So far I've gotta say I'm very impressed, the peace of mind alone is worth it. I feel i can drive it anywhere without the fear of watching my front bumper get ripped of as it goes onto the back of a recovery truck with collapsed abc! Overall the cl feels safe, predictable, reliable & planted on the road now.

Forgot to say, i have also removed the abc control unit completely which has no side effects regarding abs, bas, esp. it also removes the red warnings & leaves a white one saying 'instrument cluster ABC' which can be got rid of by 'r' button on cluster - so you can use the driver display instead of it being dominated by a red message.

How much was the kit and How long did it take to finish it?
Estimated amount of man hours in tear out of everything all the abc system?
The amount of man hours (est) in complete install of the yellow speed setup?
You definitely want to add sway bars if the kit allows for it or if it can be fab'd with little modification as to not cause an imbalance to the counter balancing of the sway bar for which it was designed to do, anti-sway.
Pix would be great to see, stance pix, coil spring pix, strut tower pix and any other pix that would be helpful in seeing how everything is in place.
Thx.

Thanks...that is the best explanation so far of the slanted versus the flat top mounts.

Most people we know of who have done the conversion have not used roll bars and do not report adverse handling characteristics.

I will put some pictures up as soon as I get chance, it's been raining here for a week! I have driven about 200 miles during this first week since finishing the conversion, I'm still very very pleased & have had chance to try throwing it into some fast bends & some brief high speed blasts (three figures!) car feels really safe & predictable it has a sharper turn in than before & it is easier to feel what the car is doing in terms of grip and weight transfer. I always felt the abc made it difficult to sense what was really happening in a corner - always trying to hide what was going on, I didn't really like it whereas i now know when its at its limits of grip and speed. In my opinion the cl was never a sports car but the yellow speed conversion helps make the car more fun to drive fast. I have not had a full alignment yet as I'm still playing with settings so i expect it to feel even better after.

It is different
for me, there is no doubt that ABC is better, but so much trouble and anger that it the little difference worth it converting to yellow
this is my opinion

I am have been wondering why cant we just do a abc airmatic replacement like the S series has as an option, even for the same year(s) range as what most have on here.
Why couldn't the abc airmatic system from an 07 or 08 which I believe is when they made them extremely reliable.
I was wondering if I could buy a wrecked S class and exchange the systems out?
Of course star would be needed to calibrate the system for proper use and function.
Does anyone know if it can be done, it would take care of the sway far issue since it is abc air system.
I know there is out side companies that make air ride for any vehicle but it is very pricey.
Thoughts, experience or advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

There is no such thing as abc airmatic

it's either abc OR airmatic

two completely different systems . One uses hydraulics one uses air

perfectly possible as I found a simple switch in DAS developper to switch a w215 cl from ABC to AIRMATIC
just one click
leveling is automatic
only problem is that you need all this below installed:
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...6907990f13.jpghttps://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...5237d21c93.jpghttps://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...57a6374c16.jpg
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE W216 AIRMATIC CL HAS A SWAY BAR

a very good article about sway bars

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/c215...nly-fit-4.html

also, before focalising on a swaybar, replace all your steering + suspension rubbers
that will give you a firm drive
here a sample of a front kit
price varies from 150 to 400 euro
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...9955b41799.jpg

I'm sure this link applies to the strut masters kit which i dismissed due to its ridiculous cost to the uk & its even more ridiculous ride height. I'm at 26.5" front & 27" rear from ground to top of arches on 19" rims ( very low). There seems to be lots of concerns about sway bars when doing the yellowspeed conversion. My personal advice is buy a cl 215, fit the yellowspeeds, set them up & then go & enjoy how unbelievably well it takes bends without sway bars, its quite strange how a suspension system can be so compliant when driving normally yet so stiff as it piles into a corner at high speeds.

I must ad that my experience is based on fitting this kit to a cl500. I cannot comment on how it would cope on a cl 600 for example. There must be more weight in a top optioned v12 car. Maybe swaybars would be a consideration in this case, even a necessity!

I did wonder at one stage if i could fit struts from an airmatic w220 & then control them with an after market air ride controller / compressor.

yes you can
but that is very far from airmatic then

it will just be leveling and shock absorbing

abc is dynamic, constantly changing firmness independently on each wheel and height according to speed or manual settings
airmatic passive self-levelling (as said by Welwynnick)

now that would be awesome , fit w220 air struts and control them
manually with an aftermarket air ride tank /compressor and switches . Surely that can be done by any competent air suspension shop

Airmatic is not like ABC. It is passive self-levelling, not dynamic, like active suspension. Airmatic rolls in corner just like a coil-sprung car rolls.

Nick

pic works , your car is gorgeous with those rims !

I was thinking the same thing. What size wheels are they?


Nick

Pretty sure those are the Amg package rims from w216/w221

iirc they are 19s

they are 8.5" & 9.5" 19s with 245 front 275 rears. Brand new last week. They are replicas, I believe similar too cls/ 216 Cl AMG.