E8o5

I have the sport package on me 04 e-320 and I have a couple quick question when you press the airmatic button from comfort to sports 1 & 2 is the car suppose to get lower or is it only affect the stiffness of the car? Because I don't notice my car get lower at all.. PLus another question is it normal that the right hand side of the car is about 6/8" higher than the left side? should I be concern?

Abboushi

No, the comfort sport and sport ll, is just the stiffness of the ride for a "sportier firm" feel. the button that raises the car is on the left side of it there isnt a lowering button. But if you did want to lower your E there is several options 1 being washers <-cheap, 2 lowering links <-250.00 or 3 ELM <-800-1300.00

E8o5

That's what I thought but was not sure. I just have heard many people always asking how much gap there's between the wheels when in sport setting so that's why i was asking.
thanks..

bigmel

hey E.. the car is lower in sporty I or sporty II. the Airmatic DC(Dual Control) its lower about .6in (15mm) which not a lot. also when you drive above 68mph the car is lower too. However, the height adjustments are so small you may not notice it.

Diesel Benz

Don't know if they have changed this for different model years but I confirm the above for my car. If you are stationary and go from standard (comfort) to Sports I, you can see the car lower a bit. It takes a few seconds before it starts adjusting.

It does adjust automatically at high speeds but my E really adjusts also when stationary and changing the Airmatic setting. The W221 appears to be different but it neither has a separate Airmatic button from the tranny program setting, those are combined to one.

Roehl

I read about this on the manual. The car is suppose to adjust lower when in SPORTY mode. But mine doesn't.

Diesel Benz

Are you sure? Set Airmatic first to the normal mode. Let the car idle stationary, then change to Sport I or II and carefully watch the star at the hood, after a few seconds you should see the nose going a bit downwards.

Note that Sports I and II should have the same level settings.

Vik888

I can't even find out what exactly those modes are in the manual to be honest. It just tells you Sport 1, Sport 2, Comfort. There is no real description of it.

I have an 08 E550.

To add to Abboushi's post .. another alternative to lowering the car is to do it via the SDS/Star Computer. I'm planning on taking that route since I only want the car lower by about 1" at the lower setting.

gnma

I think you affect the stiffness of the springs, but not the height. I say this bec. my E500 has the "shock absorber" button, to go from I & II, but it also has a button to raise/lower the car, and you get a "vehicle is rising" prompt on the COMAND system which can be confirmed visually and audibly. Do u have this button? (May be diff. on the E320 sports)....?

jimmydagreek

I also asked this in another post: Anyone know a good place to purchase and install the RENNtech ELM???

Barry45RPM

I believe the Sport 1 & 2 settings adjust the firmness of the suspension. The car lowers just a bit, when underway, at speed.

The raise vehicle button is a separate adjustment that you use when you want to lift the car to clear snow or you're on a dirt road with wheel tracks & a center hump. Its not a driving mode.

Vik888

I also use the raise vehicle button to raise the car when coming out of some horribly designed driveways where its almost certain I'm going to scrape the front bumper on the ground.

There are several around SoCal.

Roehl

http://www4.mercedes-benz.com/e/cars...D2.html#N1C23E

on this manual it says,
Sports1 - the vehicle level is lowered by 10mm
Sports2 - the vehicle level is lowered by 15mm

I don't know if its gonna lower more you're in Sports2 and travelling more than 70mph.

RyRoRyan

From what I understand the car will not drop at any speed under 68, when you put it in sport mode. It will just get stiffer. It will however lower .6" when you have it in either I or II and going over 68 MPH. When you get under 68 it will return itself to the "normal" ride height.

Roehl

Im not sure if this feature was available in the earlier model of W211 ('03). But as I was trying on mine sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I think I'm gonna have it checked.

jimmydagreek

Yes, I have an 03 E500 with Airmatic...

Roehl

Does it lower your car when you're in sport1 and sport2 mode? I think mine just stop working. The raise button still works though...

jimmydagreek

Yes but it's very minimal and you really have to stare and wait for the airmatic to kick in but it does lower...

Diesel Benz

This may be different for US cars but I wanted to second the view above. At least my W211 cars with Airmatic do lower when the car is stationary. If you are used to looking at it, it isn't even too difficult to see.

At least Euro cars lower at higher speed even if the basic setting is selected. I guess this creates confusion. The car sort of automatically goes from basic to sports I mode at high speeds, and returns to normal at lower speed.

On the W221 this is different, the car does not adjust suspension height from the combined tranny/suspension mode setting. It does it only at speed. At low speeds the suspension mode setting only affects shocks operation.

kans

I had driven both Euro and US version so i know the difference. For Euro cars, yes, the airmatic will lower on Sport 1 and even lower on sport 2 and the suspension would stiffer a lot from normal to sport 2. For US cars, the airmatic won't lower but stiffer a little bit, but once you get going and the car will lower a little bit at certain speed.
PS: for us cars, if you switch from normal to sport 1 or sport 2, the center guage will display a logo. For Euro cars, you don't see that but you feel it

Hope this help

Benz-O-Rama

Check your owner's manual. Page 231 of mine clearly states that at 68 mph AND one of the sport modes selected, the car will lower itself up to 0.6" (15mm)

The US cars do not lower themselves while stationary w/ the sport button. As noted above, the sporty1 and sporty2 mode will alter the ride stiffness. But the car will lower itself in one of the sporty modes at 68mph+

Diesel Benz

Early Euro cars did not show the suspension mode selection at the IC but later ones (already somewhere from 2003) do (or then the cluster SW has been updated on the car I've tried).

From the previous posts it should be clear that US cars are set differently, this is the current text from the Euro manual (no speed condition for car lowering at Sports mode):

Comfort or sports tuning

Airmatic DC (dual control) comprises two components: the Adaptive Damping System (ADS) and spring stiffness adjustment.
ADS automatically regulates the suspension as appropriate to particular driving conditions. Parallel to this, the spring stiffness switches between "comfort" and "sports" levels.

• your driving style
• the road surface conditions
• your individual selection

Your selection remains stored even if you remove the key from the ignition lock.
To select the damping program Indicator lamps Start the engine.

Sports tuning I

Press button once.
One indicator lamp lights up.
The vehicle level is lowered by 10 mm.

Sports tuning II

Press button twice.
Two indicator lamps light up.
The vehicle level is lowered by 15 mm.

Comfort tuning

Press button repeatedly until indicator lamps go out.

Benz-O-Rama

It definitely looks like the US cars are different. Can't play dvd movies in our COMANDs and now this. We got hosed.

Diesel Benz

I realise it is even worse, they've dropped the manual gear selector mode (I guess from basic cars) and the speed limiter too. Not a big issue really but already having these small differences costs a fortune.

Roehl

I did test it on mine while parked. I put a masking tape on front and rear of the car (taped on body and wheels). It does lower while stationary. But the weird thing is... once it lowers and when I switch it back to Comfort mode, it doesnt go up. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt. I need to get this checked.