marcos

My rear drivers side strut always sits higher than the rest and gives the car a weird stance. There seems to be about a 2" difference between the 2 rear ones so it's booked in to the dealers again. Last time they changed the rear air-strut because it was apparently leaking so sitting higher as it was always trying to adjust itself. The new one is the same, just looks silly.

My question is this, could it be that they just didn't realign the suspension properly, or do I have a more serious problem

SAguirre

Unfortunately I cannot shed light on your question, but I am posting because the person that can answer your question might also answer mine.

I think that the concept of the Airmatic system is great! But I do question its durability. Since I tend to keep cars until they at least hit 150,000 miles (more in most cases), I do not want to change Airmatic parts every 50k miles. See the below TSB

P-B-32.25/19 DEC04; Replacement Procedure of Shock Absorbers and Suspension Struts
• Airmatic, ABC, and ADS suspension struts and conventional shock absorbers It is recommended that these components be replaced in pairs only after the vehicle has reached a mileage of at least 50,000 miles.

Is the Airmatic system refined: YES, it is durable and reliable? Who knows? I know that there are S class owners out there that have the system. How long has it lasted for you guys?

Who has a CDI with Airmatic? Is it available? I am just curious about these things and I would enjoy any answers or points of view on this subject. I would like to get it on my next W211, but I am not sold on it.

Steve

marcos

One of my freinds has it on his S-Class and he has gone well over 150,000mls with no problems whatsoever. I have however heard horror stories but I think generally it's fairly reliable, except mine of course.

glojo

Hi Steve,
I was simply going to say that airmatic is indeed an option for European CDI's, but the slightly bad news is that Marcos has it, and he is the one with the problem.

Regards,
John

Brav

Marcos- I have had the same problem. more apparent sometimes than others. I lowered my car so warranty might be out of the question, but I used MB parts. This is a known problem, but they wont admit it. Driver side sits lower I beleive

ATS

Yes, I too am worried about its reliability. I have mentioned it other threads before but the only reason I bought the extended warranty (which covers these parts) is because of the airmatic.. Imagine the cost of replacing all of those parts.. Geez.

One question I have, if the one tire is lower, is your steering wheel off center?

CALBenzo

I find that mine is constantly readjusting the height. Occasionally one side is higher than the other, and then the system readjusts to level out. I may use my height button more than others to get over low spots (since my care is lowered) so I don't know whether that helps the readjustments or not.

MB SF

When the ride height was changing on my car I thought I was imaginig it. After 1 day of monitoring it I found that it does change. It is a lot less noticeable when your car is stock because there is so much wheel gap. Once it is lowered it is really obvious that it is constantly changing.

marcos

Yep, the steering wheel is slightly off centre now you mention it.

Went to the dealers and the bloody thing sat there as flat as a pankake, totally level, just perfect. Drove back to work and parked up and it sat at a funny angle again Typical.

Rang the dealers and as its in for a service soon they are going to have a look again.

jdm2ths

just passing thru and i saw you guys talking about tide hight... my 211 sits higher on the right rear also.. i was wondering if anyof you guys found the problem..... thanks for your help....

jon

cdiken

I thought only 1981 Cadillac Seville's listed to port brand new.

This is why I will never get air suspension. The only air suspension I operate is powered by Pratt and Whitney.

KB

glojo

Hi jon,
Nice to see I'm not the only one with big fingers and little keys.

Tide height (or high tide) this morning in Torquay was 5-35am

Take care,

John

A very nice sunny morning in Torquay

ATS

I haven't driven my car for over a month and my driver side rear is ridiculous. The wheel is so far into the car it looks like I am in a music video. The rear right is fine, about a 3 inch difference and the car is supposed to self level.

Anyone get any parts replaced re: this.. It makes me sick when I back out of the garage in the morning.. It looks awful!

As for the steering, this is the pull to the right problem, the left rear down would make the car pull to the right (or make you steer to the left to counteract) I believe..

On an important side note, my dealer called me and said they would give me something for my 1 year review score card (for them to fill out that is), I told them I wanted my car working and they said (in not so many words) that if I gave them the scorecard to fill out they would fix my problem.. Can you believe that.

alewifebp

Ats, that is why I hate this current system of rating dealers. It encourages this behaviour which negates the whole idea behind the scorecards. Then MB thinks that all their dealers are awesome.

But, back to the thread. I remember some threads in the past about a person with an E that would drive straight, but when parked, one side was always higher than the other. If I remember correctly, after going to the dealer over and over again attempting to fix the problem, it was finally fixed.

Brian_I.

Before I lowered my car this weekend I measured the height of the car on both sides and the driver's rear side measured 26-5/8" while the passenger rear measured 27-5/8". After lowering the difference came down to about 1/2".

jefrose55

I had the same problem with my 04 e55...noticed the front wheels lower than rear...with the wheel wells covering the top of tires...car would rock up and down when sitting at traffic lights...worse in cold weather....when i took the car in for service had them check out the problem...front air suspension had leak...front struts were cracked as they are not designed to take the full weight of the car... repaired under warranty last january with no problems since. Now sits with equal height.

04 e55 tectite
04 range rover
93 500e

SAguirre

I was just at the dealer today and I noticed at least 3 Es and 1 S class that were not sitting level. Some looked very bad. I hate to generalize, but I really don't think that the system is either perfected or proven durable YET.

Now, when I see these MBs sitting strangely I think of all those Lincolns (Mark VII, and Continentals I think) driving all crocked down the streets. You would think that Mercedes would have designed a system that would not do the same thing. I know that there is no comparison in the ride quality of the two cars, but come on. This has to be a problem since I just noticed so 4 cars that were sitting with their suspensions deflated in some way or another and quite a few people here seem to be having problems with their system too.

I would love to have the system (if it were durable); I hear it makes the car handle much better, when it works. I am not trying to slam the system, but I have already had enough little things go wrong with electronics that at this point I would hate to have to worry about a mechanical thing like suspension too.

Steve

zergcerebrates

Wow, I never realized so many people are having problems with their air suspension. After lowering my car I noticed I had the same problem. For some reasons sometimes its perfectly fine, at times the front passenger side is lower than the right and sometimes the left rear is lower than the right side. Worse yet both the front right and the rear left is lower than the other two sides its like my car is bend or something. I dont know hows thats possible but I measured it. Even at the lowest suspension setting sometimes it will still lower itself around an inch more and thats when the problems arise. I thought my car is like this because I modified it but now I'm starting to think its a defect regarding to air suspensions. ARRGH! Its so frustrating.

Do you guys know if the air suspension automatcially pumps more air on one side if the car is tilted because of passenger load? I also observed one thing when I sat in the car the suspensions are fine(had a friend measured it) but when I get out of the car the right side is lower so would it be because the system pumps in more air on the driver side so it'll balance the car, and perhaps release the air later?