ok long story short i purchased a 2003 e320 sport with all 4 airstruts bottomed out!!! ive been thinking of doing the conversion and also contemplated fixing the airmaric system. reading post after post i figured the air struts were toast. today i lifted the car up to inspect and lube the bolts for the pending conversion. while the car was up i wiggled the electrical connction going to rear airspring. lowered it back down drove it to the store and boom car was level and looking good. umbelievable!!!!!! i almost bought the stgrutmaster conversion !!!! glad i had good luck..talk about a fixer upper...

 

I have 4 cars with air springs. I'd never replace them with coilovers. All my cars are in the replacement range, I've replaced from one to four springs on each of the cars, and when the time comes I just replace them as needed. It isn't hard or unreasonably expensive, and I'd never buy someone's converted car used.

 

I know guys (from the net) who spend in the range of $7000 to convert just rear suspension on their trucks to air-suspension.
They are very happy with the projects.

 

So your saying we (us) with airmatic would be able to find your vides on you tube? Love saving money!
Lol

 

I don't have videos on the net, sorry. I think there are videos for such projects though.

My W211 E500 now has Arnott rear springs, and the MB reservoirs were left in place. I've replaced each front shock on the same car and used MB OEM equipment there. The last one was changed last week. It would have saved me some trouble to just do both when the first front went out, but I waited instead.

W164 ML63 has all four shocks replaced with Arnotts. I did one axle one day and 6 months later the other axle. Also replaced the pump - went with a rebuilt pump that was cheap. I feel that I probably should have put OEM equipment on that car - I drive it pretty hard and sometimes larger speed bumps seem to bottom out when I don't go slow enough on the downslope. Other than that, they work great.

2009 X5 - actually haven't had to replace one yet so sorry for misleading with the previous post.

Last is a 2005 LR3. I've replaced 2 shocks, both front sides. I went with used shocks because they were available, but if I stick around here and abuse that car much more I'll probably put some newer equipment on.

My point is that I have had the same feeling everyone gets when they have a shock down, but it's always a great feeling to have things normalized by replacing one or two shocks. I have no idea if Arnott is good with their replacement under warranty, but they do claim a spectacular lifetime warranty. I've never had to replace one yet, though I've only got a few years on my oldest one. I wouldn't trade the ride for the "convenience" of deleting my suspension for steel springs and struts. It just doesn't make sense to me, although that's something that I know other people like to do. For me, it is just easier to replace as needed.

Last relevant note here is that I'm in the Middle East and it gets to be 130+ F in the summers here, so it is not at all surprising to me that a 10 year old car would need shocks. I'd expect them to fail in much better weather than this. I'm looking for a good car for the States and would gladly choose a used MB with air suspension.