Hello all,

Before I start. This is not a full AirMatic retrofit, I’m going to make a switchboard that will control the pump, valve body, bags and the valves in the ADS shocks.

my car: I have a 2009 w211 Bluetec, avantgarde, Non AirMatic RWD. 245/35/20. Found a good deal on a e63 amg front bumper and lip so I thought to lower the car, was thinking coil overs until I found this. usually go to the u-pull yards to find odds and ends and stumbled upon a 2005 e500 RWD with AirMatic and active dampers.
E500 had some damage to the right front but it was in good shape, 161k kms on the car. I pulled:
-air pump
-valve body
-all air hoses
-rear hose splitter
-air tank and bracket
-front air strut assemblies
-rear air springs
-rear ADS shocks
-Front calipers (has upgraded brakes compared to the regular ones the Bluetec comes with)

i also got all the harnesses for these things and the lower control arms. I’ve read some forums here about the system and have a wiring diagram (I think is for the w220 though, I’ll attach a copy. And later I can attach my copy with the notes I made for this setup when I get on my laptop.

what I really need help with is figuring out how to wire it all in and keep it simple. For the ADS it looks like the shocks have 2 valves in them and from my understanding that would mean the shock has 3 different modes: all open, one valve open, all closed. If that’s correct I can wire the front and rear for their own sets of switches (one for valve one, L+R, one for valve 2 L+R) the part I’m still figuring out is how the valve body and the valves in the air springs work. All the parts are in my trunk right now and am going to put it together on the ground in my garage to figure out what the valves and wires do. It might be more complicated but i just want to run some switches to raise and lower each corner of the car. And one to switch the pump

if anyone has any wiring diagrams specific to the w211 AirMatic valve body, pump and air springs it would be most helpful. As well as the size of fuses I should use for the switchboard, and the air pump

 

What about the height sensors attached to the front upper wishbone? There is probably something similar in the rear also. But if you are doing manual control of the height, then maybe you won't need these.

 

Why? Was your suspension too reliable and decide to spice things up? Hookers and blow might be a safer way to spend your money.

 

I forget where I got this pdf describing the Airmatic system. But perhaps it may be of use to you.

 

I looked at those when I was taking apart the car but it seems like it would be easier to adapt a 3rd party level sensor

reason being that my current suspension (stock) is too soft for my wheel setup and sometimes the car bottoms out. What I was going to do was get some coil overs and throw them in, but instead of spending 1400CAD on some BC’s decided to give this a try. If I can get the dampers to adjust that would be perfect for what I want. The reliability of the system is better than you would think, I’m using all new clamps and double checking all hoses. Already have checked all the bags, they hold air, no leaks. So far here is the costs of all this so we can compare:
-4*ADS shocks & 4*air springs $65ea
-AirMatic pump $100
-valve body -$30
-rear lower control arms -$35ea
-air lines (they let me take them for free)
all prices are in Canadian, and one strut assembly as well as one rear spring are Arnott replacements so probably have low kms

thank you very much, didn’t think they had things like this, very informative!

 

Another question I had was about the rear air springs. For the ones I pulled off, they did not have a resivoir or below attached to them. What is the purpose of that?

 

Original ones had an air reservoir. But the aftermarket ones, such as Arnott, did away with it. When the original rear air springs went bad, lots of people installed Arnotts and just left the reservoir in place, without any physical connection to the Arnott. To remove the reservoir is a major job and it is easier to just leave them in.

 

yes have seen some videos on it. Are the rear springs dual bagged like the front ones?

 

If you think your coil springs are too soft, you're in for a surprise with airbags.

 

Just read the document provided above by f1fan, I’m hoping that using this system the right way will get me what I want. And the adjustability will be very helpful as some roads around me aren’t the best. Also this will definitely kill some wheel gap and make the whole car come together

 

The standard front coil overs are height adjustable.

 

Please try to stick to the topic of helping me get this system in the car. The stock suspension I have is not adjustable in any way and Compared to the BC Racing coil overs a lot of w211 owners are leaning towards, I saved about 1000CAD and I should be able to adjust height and damping on the fly in the car when this is all done

things I’m still figuring out
-pinout of the wiring on the valve body
-info on the rear bags, if there is one or 2 air chambers. One of them is stock the other is Arnott replacement, both don’t have the bellows and they were not in the car
-fuse/relay recommendations for the main pump power

im reading some conflicting things about the Airmatic pump, some documents say that the pump not only pressurizes the system but it also runs to depressurize the bags. Does anyone have some more info on the specific pump we have?

and is there any way to clean the air filter of the pump? Or should I look into getting a new one?

Thanks

 

Yes it is adjustable. The rear is also adjustable by changing out the spring pads. Its really quite easy with basic tools.

 

Super easy to replace. Mercedes Part #: A2203200069. I used Mann Part#: WK32/6

 

okay thank you, by chance do you know how this system depressurizes? From my understanding there is a valve that makes the pump run backwards? Or does it just have a simple release valve?

 

 

Looks like the text I typed yesterday didn’t post with the attachments. Very sad. Have been doing some research and here is some overall notes I’ve made. My next step is to wire it all up in my garage and confirm the air lines have no leaks and start putting those in!

Valve body
-unlike the w220 valve body, our w211/w219 unit only has one valve that actuates the rest is open. It’s the charge air tank valve. This makes things a little simpler, will have just one switch for this on the board
-there is also a pressure sensor attached to this (B7 sensor in diagrams) I was wondering how this sensor worked? It’s standard thread so I could try to find aftermarket, but what I was thinking is I could try to use an electronic oil pressure gauge to read this sensor, maybe it will work?

pump
-some misleading info made me think the pump has a reverse mode to push the air out of the system but it looks like there is just a release valve that’s in the pump body, hopefully I can wire the pump to a simple on/off/on switch for a up and a down on the switchboard
-pump requires a 40 amp fuse so I’m probably thinking to run 8ga CCA audio wire from the battery (I have a lot of spare car audio wire) through a 60 amp fuse then down to the front centre console/ashtray area (where I will have the switchboard) then split that to the pump with a 40 amp and the rest of the switches with like a 15 or 20 amp fuse.

air springs
-the training manual shows how the springs operate, they have two bags per spring and have one main valve and one internal. For me, I’ll have to run 2 switches per corner to activate each valve when needed, total of 8 switches, I wanted to make it 4 but not sure if I want to have it like that, If I have to revise this later, it won’t be much of an issue
-I wrote the wiring out on the attachments from my last post, looks like one ground and two signal wires for each bag

active damping system
-the training manual shows that there is 2 valves in this system that gives the car 4 possible settings, I’ll try to pair left and right to clean up the switchboard, so I’ll have one switch for both y1 and one switch for both y2 valves, and same for rear, 4 more switches total but this system will help the suspension drive like I want
-from my understanding the 4 settings are used in this manner (correct me if I’m wrong)
>stage 1 comfort setting: both y1 and y2 engaged, probably won’t use this much unless I’m in a more rough road, and the vehicle is raised
> stage 2 firm compression: y1 engaged, y2 not, this is probably a good mode for city driving, especially if the car is low at the time. Will keep the suspension from compressing too much while I’m turning (e.g. going into a parking lot or if the wheel is turned while going over a speed bump, or just a bump in the road) but will let it decompress quickly in case there is any pot holes
>stage 3 firm rebound: y2 engaged, y1 not, this looks like a good mode for highway driving. Could help soften bumps in the road and keep the car planted
>stage 4 firm rebound and compression: y1 and y2 not engaged, I wonder how stiff this setting will actually be

have attached some images in my last post showing what i think the wiring should be, if this is not correct, let me know.
A couple things I need help with:
-the pressure sensor in the valve body, is there any way to retrofit this to work? It has 3 wires coming out of it
-what is the default position of the internal valves in the air springs? Is it open or closed? I’m assuming it’s closed? How does this internal valve work or does the air source split into 2 for these valves? That would make more sense but that’s not how the diagram shows it