SEEG

I haven't been here for awhile. I bought my E550 4matic new in 2007 and haven't had many problems except blowing through a set of tires in a ridiculously short period of time. I was just pulling of the freeway a couple of hundred miles from home and got the "red screen of death" telling me to STOP as the vehicle was to low. The local dealer (not my regular dealer) claims I "blew" the front drivers side shock and wants $1500 to replace it and the part is back ordered and the car is not driveable. Does that sound right? I know the E550 has a tuneable suspension but really, $1500 for a shock. Can my local independent handle such a repair assuming I can get the car home?

Oh, can my car really be worth $21000. I was wandering around the lot and saw a 2011 S class and thought I might move up.They want $93k for their car. I checked the value of mine on line and was shocked. Not sure what I expected but it wasn't $20000.

thanks

homeofstone

Get the airmatic shocks from Advance auto parts or Arnott. Cost will be about $900.00 U.S for a pair plus labor which should be about 150.00 to 200.00 U.S dollars.The Arnott air shock comes with lifetime warranty. I put two on my E500 about 6 weeks ago. At that time I got a special price through Advance Auto Parts for less than 850.00 for the front pair including shipping and tax.

WEBSRFR

I agree with the previous post. I think for less than the cost of one air shock replacement at the dealer you can get both shocks done and won't have to worry about it in the future.

As for your car situation... I too have a 2007 E550 and I think your E550 is worth about $23-24 IF your car is in pristine condition, has low miles, and is very well equipped. Some might be going for less but the E550s are VERY rare so you are much better off trying to sell it privately and find someone who really wants the car.

As for the S class, I too am thinking about one for my next car purchase. Why pay the premium for a 2011 over a 2010? I'd go for a 2010 S550 as you get all the benefits of the facelift (sort of like how you got the benefits of the W211 facelift when you bought the 2007 E550). I really don;t see what you are getting extra in a 2011 if you an find a well equipped and low-mileage 2010 S550. You can buy a low mileage 2010 S550 CPO for mid to low 50s and that is such a great deal for that car. If you wait a year when the new generation S class comes out you can likely get an even better deal. If you do buy an S550 get it CPO and extend that warranty for as long as they will let you you. Anything going wrong in that car is not going to be cheap to fix...

Oh and your E550 (and mine) is still depreciating about $400-$450 a month

vettdvr

Welcome to the airmatic world of poor reliability and very high repair cost. If you had conventional spring set up you would not have these issues. Rear air springs run about $4000, not to mention the air compressor. I have replaced both rear air springs, both rear ride control shocks, and one front shock , in addition to the air compressor. Wish it hqad come with coil over's I would have saved a bucket of $$$

SEEG

Thanks for the replies. I talked w/ the service manager and he suggested the Arnotts had some reliability problems. I told him to order 2 and get them on. Only problem is that he's saying $500 each for labor. Seems high to me. I'll talk w/Arnottt and figure out how much time is required for a remove and replace.

homeofstone

I did mine at home in my garage. Took me 3 hours from start to finish. If you do yours other than the bolts that hold the shock, take out the three bolts that attach the upper ball joints and disconnect the sway, do both sides at the same time so the entire suspension will drop low enough to install the new shocks. Its not difficult, just takes a little time. A shop near my house that specializes in German cars quoted me 175.00 total labor for the two, so labor of 500.00 each is out right theft. A formatic may cost more but over 800.00 more, really?

vettdvr

Changing the shock is a little more work than a ball joint labor. To determine what is about right what would be the labor to change the top ball joint and add about 1 hr 30 minutes labor to that cost. That shold be close.

So if ball joint labor is $200 at $75/hr you would pay about $300 for the strut in labor. Remember the guys doing the work have to pay health care, overhead and other expense not just they hourly pay.

The $500 + 400 for the shock is about $600 less than installing a new shock and still not a bad deal. The arnott is warranty for life, keep the invoice.

Remember this price is base on Fair ball joint price. You can determine that price and guestimate your fair price.

koomzi

Hello,

i found this Forum through Google.
i was reading that you got the 2 air shocks replaced.
were they the front ones or the rear ones.
i have a 2007 E550 4Matic and the Drivers Side Air shock / strut is non functional and the car has dropped on the drivers side and it tries to come up but seems like something is leaking air as it comes up a little but i can hear air noise and it goes back down again.

what do you recommend ???
secondly i couldn't find any air strut / air shock on Advance auto parts site.
can you please point me to that.

i will really appreciate a quick response to this.

Thanks

vettdvr

You must have a bad air bag on the strut. The fix is to change the strut.

koomzi

thanks a bunch for the reply.

i couldn't find any air strut / air shock on Advance auto parts site.
can you please point me to that.


lastly i also have 2004 E500 and when parrked overnight it drops really low but when i start it up it comes back up just fine and rides fine as well.
and its low from the back only on both sides.

what do you think could be wrong with that one.

deltadude388

I know a lot of peeps here have had issues with their air shocks but if one were to take some steps back and let's say I simply pick a number here, eg. 30,000 Mercedes Benz with air shocks manufactured in the last 5-7 years, how many will end up have air shock issues? What would you think that % is? 10%? 50%?

Just curious.

homeofstone

Here is a link to one on Advance Auto Parts site passenger side = http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...rchTerm=arnott driver's side= http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...rchTerm=arnott

ozusa

It's an air-bag. It will eventually fatigue and split. The question is after how many years or miles. I would not touch an E500 over 100,000 miles except if I was willing to budget for new shocks and very expensive rear-end replacement labor. Others may disagree.

Wilburnter

I know a lot of peeps here have had issues with their air shocks

06E5004ME

Actually, the problem is rarely the airbag itself. Main reason for rear bags' deflation is corrosion in aluminum reservoir tanks. I wasn't going to swallow $2000 for new airbags. What I did may not work for everyone but I took the hoses off, found the leaks (you can actually see the holes in the tanks), found a good welding shop. They welded it really nice, then, I took everything to a place where they do hoses/clamps for high pressure lines, they took care of it for around $50 and the clamps are good for 500PSI. So far, no leaks even after leaving the car sitting for 1 month. Cost me $300 fix both rear bag leak issues.

deltadude388

Where is this reservoir located? Isn't it inside the trunk?

06E5004ME

Not in the trunk. If you follow the hose coming out of the airbag, you'll see it. Tanks are visible if you get under te car, they are hard to miss. Although, I have a wagon, so I'm not sure what's the setup on the sedans.

vettdvr

Ok it's your fault. After this message my right front strut airbag blew out. I have pulled the front down and waiting for the Arnott strut to show. I replaced the Left about 10,000 miles ago thinking do one, I"ll sell the car, but I bought an Airplane and now fly vs drive the MB. At least the Plane doesn't have "airmatic" but it does ride as if it were riding on air.

ozusa

I forgot to mention that if you sacrifice a chicken or goat under a full moon, it extends the life of your air-bags by 30K miles/36 months. An SBC requires at least 3 virgins and a much more complicated ceremony.

vettdvr

Dang what type of Chicken? I need to do this before I install the new strut. Guess I messed up when I replaced the SBC brake system could not find any of those 3 what ya ma call it 's?

UPS has parts at local in town shipper hopefully I will have the strut this evening. I have everything out except the old strut. The wires/airlines off 3 nuts hand tight on top and the bottom through bolt nut off ready to pull. The ball joint had to come apart as I DON'T have the 3 bolt attachment Upper arm. Hopefully this goes quick. I also have all the parts to do brake job front and rear to include new rotors. I had not planned this as summer work 95+ due to heat but the strut failure has forced this repair on.

Now in the last 20,000 miles this car will have the following new parts. You estimate the cost.

Rear air springs
Rear airmatic shocks, one was leaking oil
New air compressor for airmatic
New both front struts.

This doesn't include the history of SBC failure, Ignition key, a/c, and litney of other items.

The real question now is can I get 50,000 miles on it before airmatic or sbc failure again?

I planned to drive this car the 250,000 with MB reliability but the cost of parts will far exceed the replacement cost at the rate of failure I see. I bought the car new and exclusive of the 1st oil change have had some major breakdown between every oil change.

nyoh2002

i also have just gotten the low car message. only the drivers side is low. first do i need to change both struts or does only the drivers side need it.

second, are there any special tools or tips needed. my dealer said that the computer would need to be reset after?

thanks for any help

homeofstone

Here is link to e550 4matic arnott at advance auto parts http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...rchTerm=arnott

nyoh2002

Can I just install it without any computer

nyoh2002

Or special tools

homeofstone

Computer is not needed. You will need good set of metric sockets and torx/star bits nothing real special.
The upper ball joint and sway bar (both sides) will need to be disconnected. Also I would replace both front strut shocks at same time. On the 4 matic I am not sure if axle will have to be removed.