oalvarez

i have come to the following conclusion:

adjusting the suspension settings does not affect/alter the ride height

adjusting the suspension from soft to most firm is a felt difference when driving

I HAVE NO IDEA WHY the car either lowers itself, raises itself, and stays EITHER LOWERED or RAISED. this is random, but it only happens when DEFINATELY shutting off the motor, i haven't confirmed upon startup. no sloped driveways or anything like it. the car is BRAND NEW.

thoughts?

bmms8

it lowers the car aytomatically when you go above speeds of 75 mph. try this, raise your car when you start it up, and if your gonna go on the freeway, pass 75 mph, and on your mfd you will see the car telling you its lowering, and canvelling your ride adjustment. it lowers because your car can then handle better. also, when you get out, or get in, the car is just adjusting the height for YOU! i really dont see why your getting upset, or using caps..the car is just doing its job. have fun..

oalvarez

i never once said anything about doing 75mph, i do understand that the car performs in this fashion. it's because it lowers the center of gravity and helps reduce lift (underbody), hence, the slight improvement in handling/road adherance.

upset? huh?

caps are for exclamation, they dont' denote level of contentedness or unhappiness, as you have shown.

i am having fun with my car, just would like to understand why the car does what it does. personally, i don't care for the 4x4 look, maybe it's because my last car was a porsche.

will continue to do some research

CALBenzo

The system is always constantly adjusting the ride height. Since I have it lowered, it is easier to notice the height adjustments which vary about +/- 0.75".

oalvarez

thanks, Cal, that does help. looking forward to lowering it down a bit.

regards

marksatex

What I find annoying is that I have on occasion pulled into a parking slot no scrape of the front spoiler. Get out and go inside. Later I return, when backing the car has lowered so that it scrapes! Hard to tell it is lower when you walk up to it.


Go figure. This has happened 2 times, each time the Airmatic was in Sport II and on low height. But remind you I was careful NOT to scrape on entry.

F1Fan

So I take it that airmatic loses some pressure while parked? And that the pressure is not immediately recovered once the car is started again?

oalvarez

I think that's right, F1. my prob is that i've only had the car for a short while and have just started "testing" it. i could almost swear that it doesn't always lower at shutoff and stays high. i'm also trying to determine if the suspension settings (soft/firm1/firm2) have anything to do with it.

CALBenzo

The system definitely lowers (sometimes) when parked, although I haven't paid attention to whether it lowers all the time. You can see and hear it sometimes.

As Marksatex stated, I first noticed this when parked. I had parked and drove over a parking block. Unfortunately, this one had a bolt sticking up from the top of it. I cleared it when initially parking (I got out and checked). However, when I was leaving, I heard some scraping and a cracking noise. When I went to check, the bolt from the parking block was scraping against the bottom of the housing or cover that allows access to the fog lights. It had even made small hole in it so luckily I was backing up slowly. I had to raise the car up to get it off the bolt.

DWP

We could start a whole new thread on "favorite-uses-of-Airmatic-besides-showing-it-off-to-brother-in-law". My favorite - actually, my only - use of "manual" Airmatic is to get a little extra clearance to open the door when I'm parked at a high curb.

CALBenzo

That's a good one, but get out quickly before the airmatic lowers

benzboy

I've had my E500 for 15 months now. The "elevated" position is also good for driving through standing water and those little snowplow gifts that are left in front of your driveway (I know you California guys would not know about those).

jprescott

My favorite was when I slid off my driveway apron in an ice storm over the winter and raised it up for clearance. Impressed the neighbors. Saved the bottom of my car.

F1Fan

Hah I'll bet the 4Matic owners are now thinking that they can drive offroad with their cars!

AH320

I think that the airmatic system adjust and level itself for the sake of the engine oil and headlight. Try parking on a slope up with the front forward up the slope, the front end will lower itself, now park it backward, the rearend will drop itself. Its pretty cool cause i've parked at a friend's house, his drive way slope down and sideways, so when I get out, my left side wheels tucks in under the wheel well and the other side is like i have the car lifted.


Later

jefrose55

I thought the airmattic suspension was just in rest mode when parking also. However i noticed the car would move up and down when at traffic lights was extremely low in the morning especially when cold outside. Took the car for service and was informed the front airmatic was failing and my front struts were cracked because of they weren't designed to take the weight of the car. Front struts and air suspension replaced under warranty.

Jeff

04 e55
04 Range Rover