spinn

I finally had a chance to make the switch from airmatic to coilovers on my 04 E500. I have Benzoboi and his tech Sergs99m3 to thank for the inspiration to make it happen. All I had to work with was from this thread. From there I developed the part list that I thought was needed and after confirming what others had done previously, figured out that the swap was relatively easy.

During the past month and a half or so, my driver’s rear air spring had developed a leak. I didn’t want to chance it any longer. I hadn’t heard of anyone else in the SF Bay Area attempting the swap, so I had to find a tech that was willing to take on this project. Found Nelson of Benztek Motorsports in Livermore, who was willing to do it. He used to work for Smyth European in San Jose as a Mercedes Tech for 7+ years until he opened up his shop about a year and a half ago. He didn’t think it’d be that difficult to perform, though he did note that the jobber’s estimate to remove the rear air reservoir required lowering the rear support; turned out, he didn’t need to, which saved several hours.


I supplied him with a used set of rear lower control arms from a 08 E350 and a new set of KW Variant 2 coilovers. The lower control arm set came with all bolts/nuts, wire bracket, and covers, so I didn’t need to order extras. The only thing I hadn’t ordered was the front shock/spring shims and retainers which is required with the KW setup; left it to Nelson to order which caused a 1-day delay to get the parts. Had I had all the parts in the beginning, I think it can be installed in about 8 hours; need to factor in some time to adjust height as well. The hardest part of the install was removing the rear airmatic components out without having to drop the rear support and damaging any of the components. It should be done on a lift…not recommended for the DIYer. And since programming the Central Gateway using SDS is necessary, better to have someone who knows his way around SDS to help you.


The ride is a lot more solid and I no longer feel like it’s a boat. I’m just using it for normal street driving, so I set the coilover rebound settings to 9F/12R and it suites me. I at least have peace of mind that I’m not going to end up stranded due to an airmatic blowout/leak in the future. I’m not too crazy about the final minimum height as I think it is a little lower than what I’d hope by about 0.25 inch. I’m just concerned that I won’t be able to get it properly aligned without investing in some sort of rear camber arm or bushings.


Cost-wise, it’s going to depend on which parts you decide on and who your installer is. The parts you need are going to depend on the coilover system you get. I originally thought about getting the D2’s, which didn’t require certain parts, but ended up getting a great deal on the KW’s and it evolved from there. You can check out my parts list and figure out what you have and don’t have to do it.


For everything, it cost me about $2800, but my Extended Warranty helped cover about $1000 of it. Considering it would have cost me about $1100 to just replace one rear air spring, I think the conversion was worth the extra spent now than later.

novae500

nice!!! its alot to spend at one time, but when you factor each one costs $1100 x4, it is obvious which route to go.

spinn

Thx! Totally worth it all. No more aggravations with airmatic.

BenzoBoi

Great write up! Car looks great! Enjoy the new found peace of mind my friend! Car feels so much better, doesn't it?

spinn

I'm definitely enjoying it BenzoBoi. Thx for the tips!

BenzoBoi

Awesome! Hit me up anytime!

Htownbrother

Congrats and thanks for sharing! This is number #1 on my list of things to do.

559cl55amg

Guys I'm looking to convert. Need advice. Doing the conversion does that get rid of the abc system right?? Where can I get this done.. Help pls

BenzoBoi

Make a weekend trip down to socal and have Benz Works in Huntington Beach take care of it.

559cl55amg

Yea serge hooked up my stage 1 upgrade. How much am I looking at to convert? My abc system just failed. Instead of fixing I Want to just convert if repairs are the same. U feel me?

spinn

W211 doesn't have ABC system, thus the conversion is different. Serge supposedly has done the ABC conversion...though, sounds like a long way to tow it to have it done.

MoirJuli

No more aggravations with airmatic

robusa

hi!

thanks for this informative thread.

what needs to be done so there are no error codes/alerts from the car's computer?

spinn

basically you want to switch it from air to steel suspension. My tech just made sure there were no errors coming up on my dash. It's been about a month and no problems whatsoever.

Best to enlist the help of a tech who knows his way around SDS and the central gateway.

robusa

great advice and info! thanks very much.

instead of coilovers, can regular struts/lowering springs also be used?

spinn

yes...see my response to your question in the other thread.

spinn

if anyone in SF Bay Area is planning to install some KW V2 (already purchased) on their W211, please get in touch with me. I'm looking to fabricate a rear shim to give it some extra clearance (to avoid alignment issues), but need the loose rear spring perch to vacuum-form a copy. Don't want to go through removing mine at this time.

https://mbworld.org/forums/attachmen...perch-coil.jpg

Bimbis

i am definitely going for it! spending too much on the airmatic system. not to mention just not having any sort of peace of mind. the system is definitely my car's achilles heel. I can quite easily get a used benz spring/strut locally and just plug it in. should probably have done the same for the rear when they went bust 2 yrs ago. In the 2yrs since i fixed the rear, it's been one thing after the other and i barely manage to get anywhere with the car. now the front struts are gone! thanks for posting.

Dan Wang

I installed KW coilovers into my 06 E320 CDI and I am looking for a little extra room for clearance in the rear. I'd be interested in a rear shim once you have some sets made.

spinn

Looks like I don't have to have one made. Another member told me about his setup. One can buy the Mercedes rear spring perch and it comes with various shims to raise the vehicle height. Those shims can be used with the KW setup (he's got one on each side of his rear), They come in various sizes from 5mm to 21mm.

A211 325 03 84 is the MB part # for the 13mm shim/perch; 03 is the number that represents the shims total thickness which come in 4mm increments. 05 would be for a 21mm shim thickness.

Bimbis

made the switch over the last weekend. car sits level, ride is really soft and taking some getting used to. most importantly, i'm now learning that potholes aren't necessarily the end of the world. she just glides over them as though i was on the raised ride height with comfort mode. i do think back seat passengers may feel a bit sick after a while thanks to the 'boatlike' ride. and there is some increased suspension noise.
all in all, i'm pretty satisfied with the change.
oh, one more thing... the error to visit workshop every time i start up the car was fixed by removing the airmatic system fuse #F37 in the box just in front of the driver!! no errors, no pump running, nothing. just driving my car!!

spinn

What coilovers did you get? Not sure why you would still have a 'boatlike' ride...did you adjust the rebound settings to stiffen it up? Anyways, congrats on the conversion!

PewterGreyBenz

Just want to revise this thread. Although I am looking at installing my Arnotts, I have said that if they fail regardless of the warranty, I won't be replacing as sending them back in and being charged again and again for core would be a hassle and waste regardless of the lifetime warranty.

I will be going the route with StrutMasters who has a complete front and back kit (coil over conversion) and a module to shutdown the warning message. It's around $1600 for everything and the rep at strutmasters say it only takes 5 hours to install.

anyone install this kit and is your guy in livermore available?

spinn

first time hearing about StrutMasters, but the kit sounds fine. I wonder if the 5 hours includes removing ALL airmatic components or does it assume you're leaving certain parts in. The 8-10hrs takes into account that all the airmatic components, incl. compressor, were removed. Anyways, you should give my guy a call if you're willing to come all the way out to Livermore. You can probably save some $ on the warning module, cuz my guy was able to disable it.

PewterGreyBenz

yea that's great, they have a complete bolt on kit. So I would love to come down and have your guy do this for me. I live in sacrament and the drive is a walk . send me a pm of the business, addy and his name. thanks