Hello everyone !

Please bear with my zero knowledge

I recently had quite a miserable/catastrophic experience. My cl500'02 blew a high pressure line that connects to the valve block & a rapid loss of fluid and the red ABC warning came on. The car emptied its entire reservoir of Pentosin on the ground. Thankfully I was parked when it happened. Knowing that I can't afford to keep the ABC alive, I bought the Yellowspeed coilover (20F & 14R) a week after buying the car. I also suspected that ABC is going to fail sooner or later as the white warning message used to appear randomly & hence started to learn about coilovers from these forums. Unfortunately, it happened just a month after I got this car. The thing is I can't replace the struts myself, that leaves me to find a garage who understands these conversions. However, I would like to make certain things clear to myself before starting this conversion. Again, please bear with my insufficient/zero knowledge with certain terms.

Thanks to Aarkaah, OCKlasse, Oriental Mirage & everyone else for sharing their valuable knowledge

These are the things I didn’t understand well & will appreciate your wise advice.

1 - Leave the dampening adjustment pins in the dampening mechanism when installing the rear shocks. Leave them there and cover them with the factory cover.
What are dampening adjustment pins? Where are they located?

2 - Height adjustment and damper needle installed in rear shocks permanently
It comes with the kit?

3 - If you set your car height too high - you will encounter bounciness, If you set your car height too low - you will scrape.
Mine came with 20”AMG wheels & Lorinser body kit. What is the best height to start with without damaging the body?
- Do not pre-load the springs.
I didn’t understand this quite well.

4 - Do get a full alignment after a break-in period and before you judge or make any hasty decisions or changes. Negative camber will be your enemy on the fronts.
After installing the coilovers, do I need to do the alignment immediately? What is negative camber? I will be taking the car to a reliable computerized alignment shop. Do I need to worry?

5 - My damper settings are now 32Fronts/27 Rears (from full soft).
You make these settings after installation and when the car is lowered to the ground?

6 - 3/8" female brass caps for the hydraulic lines
Swap from ABC tandem pump to regular power steering will require this?

7 - capped the lines, disabled power to the abc system
How do you disable the power to the ABC system?

8 - Without an alignment, road attitude was quirky, so went to Midas for alignment. They were able to set toe (castor came back with correct toe setting), but camber was -2 degrees and not adjustable. Mechanic ordered camber bolt kit for Mavis to install-align tomorrow
What is toe & castor? I didn’t understand about the camber bolt kit. Do I need this as well?

9 - If anyone swapping in coil-overs and removed the ABC components then experienced clunking-rattling sounds from the passenger rear area: this's caused by the rear ABC accumulator mounting bracket. It's in the trunk, located just above and right of the spare tire well, under the trunk floor cover. Lift and remove the trunk cover. The bracket is completely flat and black, so it can be mistaken as trunk floor. it has three bolts welded to it that go through the floor of the trunk. If you removed the accumulator that it once held, then there aren't nuts on the opposite side (facing the road) to hold it down.
Is this necessary for the conversion?

10 - Before installing the rear struts place the dampening adjuster knob in place on the top of each strut. Not doing so will not allow the dampening adjuster to be placed on after installation due to the rear glass sloping very close to the top of the strut, not allowing the pin of the dampening rod to be inserted.
Dampening adjuster knob comes with the kit or is with stock?

11 - Pull the canbus cable out of the abc module
Will this help me to skip the white warning message after conversion? Any more options?

Please help
Thanks

 

Hi Aref

Im currently converting my CL600 to yellow speeds

1 This is the damper allen adjustment rods , have yellow round heads its in the bag with c spanners in the kit

2 yes comes with kit but must be put in top of shock before fitting onto car

3 try 26.5 inches ground to wheel arch front 27 rear ground to wheel arch

4 negative camber top of wheel further into wheel arch than bottom of wheel , alignment get it checked

5 yes or before fitting makes no difference

6 You can keep tandem pump and just feed back into abc tank , electrical connector must be disconnected

7 Fuse F9 20amp and F46 5amp plus above connector on tandem pump

8 you might need bolt kit about $20 per bolt

9 Ive removed everything abc except pump tank and dead end hose other hose next to it

10 see question 1 it comes with coilover kit

11 I've just removed fuse F9 and F46

Hope this helps

 

Aref, based on your list of questions this seems like a massive project that you are not equipped to handle. Wouldn't it be easier to simply replace the ABC hose and move on?

Also, assuming you are successful, you are ending up with a second rate system that was not designed for the car and it will never perform as well as it did with the ABC. You have a beautiful car. Why would you want to do that?

Incidentially there are a lot of people climbing on this fear of the ABC system bandwagon. I love mine and it performs great. My car has never had an ABC problem and it is 13 years old. If it ever did I would fix it and keep the car in top condition. After 13 years it still performs like a supercar, why would you want to lessen its abilities? That is the whole point of the car.

Just my 2.4 cents worth.

 

Thanks RonCL55 for your valuable advice. From the day i got this car, I never truly enjoyed or experienced the ABC as it was already faulty. The white warning message used to appear randomly. Moreover, I had this car towed to a very authentic garage after the catastrophic incident. They quote me $1,220/- for the repair & also assured me that very soon I will be visiting for another issues as the age of the car is expected to give more. Since, I already have the kit, I'm just hoping to find a garage where I can get the ABC replaced. I wish I could keep the ABC but sadly cant afford that much expenses. This car certainly looks beautiful but i will be posting few more threads with the problems of this car. Frankly, I just hope to drive this car few miles every other day & I will be happy. Im not a racer nor an aggressive driver. Im trying to work for this car so that it stays with me as long as possible.

 

Thanks Staurtph ! Really appreciated. I will be starting the conversion probably this week. Might do video recording as well. If possible, please help me with any more doubts or issues the garage may face while working on this.

 

I found the garage and the work is scheduled to start tomorrow at 4am GMT. I had hard time explaining about not swapping the steering pump from S500. I just hope the work goes normal without much complications. Car is already towed to the garage. Its completely down and the front tyres are under the fender. Im expecting a crack soon . Fingers crossed !

 

The conversion from ABC to coilovers is completed. Knowing the risks I went straight to road and drove at 120kph speed. Used brakes aggressively even at turns and did turns at high speed as well. TBH, this is not my way of driving. I love this car and would drive it as peacefully as I can. So, the important thing/difference that I noticed between ABC and these coilovers is nothing. The car is surprisingly smooth and all the quirchy, titchy, bi*chy sound at slightly uneven roads that were with ABC is now all gone. I still didn't do the alignment which ofcourse is very imp. The mechanic advised me to drive the car 3-4 days and then do the alignment. I must say that anyone who cant afford or spend time maintaining the ABC, should consider the Yellowspeed coilovers. I might be the 1st one to do that at my place.

SPECIAL THANKS TO STUARTPH : His advice & help during the conversion process helped alot. The mechanic got stuck at several places and Stuart's prompt replies were priceless.


After Conversion

 

You are either extremely lucky or you have low miles or both. ABC suspension problems, death, and taxes are your only certainties in life. Just because you haven't died yet doesn't mean it could not happen tomorrow. Same with ABC. You can be certain the problems are coming.

Yeah, it won't handle as well. There is no arguing that but it's a shame to own a car where you are constantly throwing money at a problem with no cure in sight. The coil over conversion is for those willing to give up.some handling for dependability. If it's so great, why did the MB Black series SL not use ABC?

 

Blown V8, you are missing my point. The CL was a highly engineered super car for it’s day (being compared favorably to Ferraris, Aston Martin’s, Bentleys and Jaguars) and that is why many of us have it and continue to think of it as a supercar today. The ABC was part of that overall integrated supercar system. You remove the ABC and you simply have a car with an awesome engine that looks good and goes great in a straight line. There are lots of cars out there like that and, in my opinion, what you have is no longer unique or a supercar. So for me it’s all about what you’re looking for. Toyotas are also very dependable but they are not supercars.

In terms of costs you say you’d be constantly throwing money at something with no end in sight. I actually don’t think that’s a fair criticism of the car and my concern is that people may pass up buying a truly awesome car based on a bit of a “sky is falling mentality” (not meaning disrespect here, just cautioning against broad over statements). As I said, my car has not had any ABC problems for the last 13 years and my mechanic, who is a Mercedes specialist, is not overly concerned about it. He has told me that occasionally he has to fix a pump or a hose here and there (pressurized rubber hoses do fail overtime) but there is no overall fatal flaw here where it’s all going to crap out on the same day. So for me I will fix things as they arise. If you are so worried about it, you could do what Shiv did and totally replace the entire system for a little over $10,000 and you then have it problem free for another 13 years. That doesn’t sound to me like an unreasonable worst case solution to retain the supercar qualities of the CL.

 

Aref, sorry to hijack your thread on pro/con ABC issues. I know that wasn’t where you were going and happy you were able to get your situation addressed so quickly.

I think your CL is incredible looking. That blue really pops!

 

Aref,

Sorry I didn't see your thread earlier. I'm on the w212 forums now. Glad you got what you needed answered by other forum members. Enjoy the worry-free miles.

 

No worries bro. I read your ABC removal thread & got hope to keep this car. Im sure many w215 owners read your reviews & did the conversions. Any reason as to why you sold your 215 ?

 

Thats okay. Even though I cant distinguish between ABC and Coilovers while driving, I do believe keeping ABC is possible if one does regular service & maintenance.

Right now what Im really struggling is finding the Cigar fuse. I know there are 2 fuse boxes on the front engine bay and 1 at the rear seat. Can someone please take a picture of another fuse box location ? Im searching for fuse 86

Thanks

 

Yes. Drove a w212 E550 biturbo 4matic and fell in love. I live in pa. So awd, turbos, 4 seats was hard to pass up. Still miss my cl55. But sold it to a close friend so I still see it and cry every once in a while.

 

you special ordered 20front and 14kg rear spring rates? others have stated they received 14kg front and 10kg spring rates, some said it was bouncy. i also remember reading that pmercury ordered 20kg front and 20kg rear spring rates and the ride was very harsh, and didn't function as a proper suspension setup...now im confused

 

A CL is a far cry from a Supercar, it's merely an SL coupe. They gained the title of depreciation Kings a few years back. A ten-year-old CL55 AMG is currently worth only about $3,000 more than an Acura RSX Type S of the same year and the same milage. Just let that sink in for a second: a car which sold new for nearly $120,000 new has lost its value so fast that it's now barely worth more than a car which went for $23,000 when new. So after talking to the MB dealer and two independents I was told ABC is very problematic and trouble codes are quit common.

 

Since starting working at a Mercedes dealer I’ve actually seen zero w215’s come in for service

everybody I talk to at work says “I must really love my car” implying they’d never want to own a CL after having to work on them ten years prior

 

This car is certainly a supercar. It is NOT a SL. I own both and there is a BIG difference in the engineering. Both are built solid despite the aged and worn initially incredible ABC suspension. Regardless....this car was built better than 95% of supercars in the early 2000’s. That horrible comparison of a garbage Acura is so disrespectful. I converted mine over to YellowSpeed Racing Adjustable Coilovers a few years ago on my widebody CL55. No complaints. It’s great! Those who hate on it are blinded by their own perception and limited experience. I’ve never heard of an ‘owner’ of this conversion complain. Only those who sit on the sideline. “Are you smarter than Mercedes engineering who spent millions of dollars in research and development......” Blah blah blah. ABC is great. But not mandatory. Both my CL55 and SL500 are converted. While many of my friends are in the process of switching theirs. It’s an excellent option.

 

I have a Strutmasters coilovers set (4 struts) for sale. I bought them on Dec 13, 2019 and had them installed on 02/10/2020. I just replaced them with VVK struts. There is nothing wrong with the struts, I just wanted the adjustments.
The Strutmasters coilovers have exactly 2653 miles, practically new. I want 1/2 price of the Strutmasters current price, shipping on the buyer.

Please PM if interested.

 

Diesel, That is a good deal..! I wish you would have posted that 3 months ago! I spent that amount taking shortcuts. I purchased individual components and build my own coil overs using Lesjofors Springs, Bilstein struts, Monroe mounts! Then have to make some mounting holes modifications..! But all was around $800. This job requires a good spring compression unit..! So guys jump on that! Labor is intensive mainly in the rear, but it is all learning experiences!

 

Not everyone is so fortunate, check out @goldelementautoworks coil over and Mercedes specialist. You will switch one day if you keep the car long enough

 

This is Brandon Green, owner of Gold Element Autoworks. Thank you for the mention! 👍 ABC is only fantastic when it is working properly. For those who have not had to deal with the repeated failures of this system, it is very difficult to comprehend the inconveniences, expenses and mental anguish associated with maintaining such a dynamic system. By design, it’s not that complicated to understand. What’s hard to understand is the cost financially and mentally of owning such a wonderful vehicle, whose suspension is keeping many owners from enjoying spirited drives and bigs smiles as the top retracts and the sun warms your face. All because a high pressure line blew (hopefully not the one that runs up along the heat shield, right side of engine), or because a valve block needs rebuilt, strut replaced, abc pump failed, accumulators need replaced, etc. Any of these things can cost a fortune. I know someone willing to do their own repairs can save a lot of money. But the average SL owner is not willing to get dirty and become an overnight mechanic. So they will pay a shop or the dealership to fix it. And Mercedes hate working on these cars’ suspensions. So they charge ridiculous prices. Anyways……I deal with the reality of hundreds of customers. I know their stories. I’ve empathized with their pains. Why buy the car then? Why not buy a car without ABC? Because the SL, CL and S are unbelievably awesome cars…..with or without active body control. Adjustable coilovers are a great option. I drive on them every day. With confidence. I own an ABC vehicle as well. And several Airmatic vehicles. So I definitely and certainly….unequivocally know the difference. Nothing will be as perfect as ABC. But these cars are still great without.