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I recently purchase my 2006 E500 AMG 4matic with 156k miles…
it’s my first w211 and my first experience with airmatic…
I’m experiencing a few symptoms…
1- the car feels buoyant and floaty even in sport 2
2- the rear end is extremely stiff almost like there’s no give
3- there’s a dead body clunking sound coming from the trunk on even slight bumps and undulations
4-the front end feels jittery when I hit bigger bumps
5- if I park at an angle where the rear of the car is lower than the front (like a slanted driveway), after a day or two, sometimes the right rear lowers to the ground but sometimes it doesn’t… however, it does not do this on level ground. (pictured)
my mechanic checked the normal suspension stuff with a shake test of the wheels and the bushings and tie rod ends, etc seem ok.
Arnott air springs are good and not difficult to replace. You'll need STAR to deflate all and to inflate rear air springs in accordance with the workshop information system that the Mercedes technicians use. PM me and I'll send you the procedure for the rear air springs to prevent damage.
You can cut the connecting lines between the rear air springs and the air reservoirs in the rear and then you can unbolt the rear air reservoirs and pull them out from underneath. They are not quite as nice as the stock Bilsteins but I've been very happy with them nonetheless, especially at half the cost.
When you replace the stock air springs with the arnotts you will need to recalibrate your airmatic suspension. Not especially difficult but it will take approximately one to one and a half hours to recalibrate the air suspension using star.
I have 122,000 miles on my arnottt air springs and I've been very happy with them. I had a front air spring that started giving me an error message even though the air spring was working perfectly. Arnott sent me a free replacement and it took me approximately 1 hour to swap the new air spring in for the defective air spring and that occurred after approximately 70,000 miles of use.
Again, PM me and I'll send you the procedure for the rear air springs.
Be sure to check the bolts that attach the rear subframe to the body. They have been known to break and it will cause the clunk which you mention.
Arnott air springs are good and not difficult to replace. You'll need STAR to deflate all and to inflate rear air springs in accordance with the workshop information system that the Mercedes technicians use. PM me and I'll send you the procedure for the rear air springs to prevent damage.
You can cut the connecting lines between the rear air springs and the air reservoirs in the rear and then you can unbolt the rear air reservoirs and pull them out from underneath. They are not quite as nice as the stock Bilsteins but I've been very happy with them nonetheless, especially at half the cost.
When you replace the stock air springs with the arnotts you will need to recalibrate your airmatic suspension. Not especially difficult but it will take approximately one to one and a half hours to recalibrate the air suspension using star.
I have 122,000 miles on my arnottt air springs and I've been very happy with them. I had a front air spring that started giving me an error message even though the air spring was working perfectly. Arnott sent me a free replacement and it took me approximately 1 hour to swap the new air spring in for the defective air spring and that occurred after approximately 70,000 miles of use.
Again, PM me and I'll send you the procedure for the rear air springs.
Be sure to check the bolts that attach the rear subframe to the body. They have been known to break and it will cause the clunk which you mention.
Also replace the rear shocks while you are in there. I sprung for the rear Bilstein shocks at !50K miles, and couldn't be happier. Front struts and rear air springs are all Arnott
Arnott air springs are good and not difficult to replace. You'll need STAR to deflate all and to inflate rear air springs in accordance with the workshop information system that the Mercedes technicians use. PM me and I'll send you the procedure for the rear air springs to prevent damage.
You can cut the connecting lines between the rear air springs and the air reservoirs in the rear and then you can unbolt the rear air reservoirs and pull them out from underneath. They are not quite as nice as the stock Bilsteins but I've been very happy with them nonetheless, especially at half the cost.
When you replace the stock air springs with the arnotts you will need to recalibrate your airmatic suspension. Not especially difficult but it will take approximately one to one and a half hours to recalibrate the air suspension using star.
I have 122,000 miles on my arnottt air springs and I've been very happy with them. I had a front air spring that started giving me an error message even though the air spring was working perfectly. Arnott sent me a free replacement and it took me approximately 1 hour to swap the new air spring in for the defective air spring and that occurred after approximately 70,000 miles of use.
Again, PM me and I'll send you the procedure for the rear air springs.
Be sure to check the bolts that attach the rear subframe to the body. They have been known to break and it will cause the clunk which you mention.
Originally Posted by HardmanGT
Also replace the rear shocks while you are in there. I sprung for the rear Bilstein shocks at !50K miles, and couldn't be happier. Front struts and rear air springs are all Arnott
thank you!!
quick question… how about OEM rear air springs rebuilt by arnott so I can keep the reservoir?
First of all, understand that Airmatic rubber springs are limited life items … just like tires or wiper blades. They simply require periodic replacement. Maybe as much as 100k miles, maybe less. If you operate with a leaking spring for very long, you burn out the air pump (compressor). The life of these springs is very similar to life of hydraulic shock absorbers … meaning maybe you start again with an all new suspension. A leak in a spring is NOT a component failure … think of it as indication it’s time to replace all of them.
I was referring to the fact that arnott also rebuilds OEM airbags. I believe they offer OEM rebuilt rear bags… rebuilt by arnott
Replacing the OEM air springs with attached reservoirs requires dropping the rear subframe. I did not want to pay for that or drop it myself. So...I gave up comfort mode to save a chunk of change.
Your circus, your monkeys.
For the front air springs, next time I am considering the OEM air springs as the Arnotts lack the adaptive damping. I did not know that when I purchased and installed the front air springs.
Replacing the OEM air springs with attached reservoirs requires dropping the rear subframe. I did not want to pay for that or drop it myself. So...I gave up comfort mode to save a chunk of change.
Your circus, your monkeys.
For the front air springs, next time I am considering the OEM air springs as the Arnotts lack the adaptive damping. I did not know that when I purchased and installed the front air springs.
so do the rears forego comfort but keep sport 1 and sport 2? Or is it just firm all the time?
so do the rears forego comfort but keep sport 1 and sport 2? Or is it just firm all the time?
Stock air springs:
Comfort mode: rear air springs use the external reservoir. Front springs use both internal reservoirs. Sport 1 and 2: Rear springs use the internal reservoir. Front springs use only one internal reservoir.
Arnott air springs: rear springs only have the internal reservoir. Front springs only have one internal reservoir (but I am now questioning myself and will verify if this is correct). So, Sport 1 and 2 all the time.
Shock absorbers: Four dampening hydraulic modes are available. These modes affect both compression and rebound. (I'm searching my files for the table discussing this.)
Comfort mode: shock absorbers (ADS II) automatically adjust dampening based upon road conditions.
Sport 1: Shock absorbers automatically adjust dampening based upon road conditions. Tech data implies stage 2 dampening but does not explicitly state this.
Sport 2: tech data states shock absorbers will go into stage 3 or stage 4 dampening. (I have noted the ride is noticeably stiffer).
The front Arnotts do not have the ADS II computer controlled hydraulic dampening; instead they add some circuitry to the outside of the strut to fool the car's computers into thinking a stock OEM shock is in place. This circuitry is what failed on my car and to Arnott's credit, they first sent a new circuit module and, when that failed to correct the error message, they sent me a new assembly. Kudos to them for that. Nonetheless, next time when I need to replace the front air springs, I will seek out an OEM Blistein for the front even though it will cost significantly more. For the rear air springs, I never used comfort mode so it was a "don't care" for me except to save money on the replacements (not to mention no need to drop the rear subframe!).
Last edited by bbirdwell; Nov 6, 2022 at 05:59 PM.
Hello,
I just bought a 2006 E500 4matic wagon, all 4 corners were replaced with Arnott, I noticed regular shock absorbers in the rear next to air springs. The bellow on one side is torn which makes me think they didn’t replace the shock absorbers when the changed the air springs.
Where do you buy those conventional shock absorbers? I looked on Rockauto, but can’t tell what I need, a lot of parts fir RWD and they might be different.
thank you
When they changed the air springs on this car Arnott was used, both rear and front.
The shock absorber with torn bellow is a regular one, no wiring.
if there is no wiring then you can use any rear shock for a W211 without airmatic, regardless of RWD or 4matic. you can narrow your search by putting non-sport package. sport package shocks are slightly shorter in length.
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