When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Hi everyone. Was wondering if anyone could give me any input on whether or not getting air suspension is worth it over stock suspension/lowering springs.
I currently have H&R springs on my W212 to remove some of the wheel gap, as I have S Class wheels on my car. Without the springs it looks absolutely horrendous. Being almost 40 years old, gone are the days of sports modding my cars. now im looking only for comfort really. That being said, the lowering springs are quite harsh when driving on bumpy roads. Especially in Connecticut where the roads are really bad in some areas. My question is: would it be worth getting air suspension and then ordering lowering links to remove some of the gap? I understand that with the lowering links I can actually lower the car as much as I want, so I don't have to be as slammed to the ground as I currently am. I can just lower it half an inch or so.
I wouldn’t. The only air suspension worth having is factory MB. All the aftermarket stuff is junk in comparison. The question is whether you’re willing to get the car retrofitted with the OE air suspension properly. It’s really expensive and a lot of work, so it’s understandable if you’re not willing to do it.
If you can sacrifice the looks, you can switch back to stock springs. And I would highly recommend you pair them with Koni Special Active shocks. These shocks are amazingly smooth over bad roads. They also firm up pretty well during cornering, so your handling isn’t as boaty as stock.
While you can use the Special Actives with lowering springs, it’s not recommended at all. The shocks firm up when contacting the bump stops, and the lowering springs reduce your available shock travel, engaging the bump stops sooner. You can trim your bump stops to restore some travel, but you must be careful to ensure you have adequate material remaining so that you don’t bottom out and damage your suspension.
Some other things you can do to improve comfort is to downgrade your sway bars and get taller side walled tires.
I wouldn’t. The only air suspension worth having is factory MB. All the aftermarket stuff is junk in comparison. The question is whether you’re willing to get the car retrofitted with the OE air suspension properly. It’s really expensive and a lot of work, so it’s understandable if you’re not willing to do it.
If you can sacrifice the looks, you can switch back to stock springs. And I would highly recommend you pair them with Koni Special Active shocks. These shocks are amazingly smooth over bad roads. They also firm up pretty well during cornering, so your handling isn’t as boaty as stock.
While you can use the Special Actives with lowering springs, it’s not recommended at all. The shocks firm up when contacting the bump stops, and the lowering springs reduce your available shock travel, engaging the bump stops sooner. You can trim your bump stops to restore some travel, but you must be careful to ensure you have adequate material remaining so that you don’t bottom out and damage your suspension.
Some other things you can do to improve comfort is to downgrade your sway bars and get taller side walled tires.
Thank you for that. I agree OEM MB Air suspension is a little expensive for what it is. I will try the Koni Special Active shocks and see if they help out. If not, i'll more than likely go back to stock wheels and height. I don't want to because I really love the look of the S Class wheels on a W212 (Staggered setup).
Yeah your car does look really cool in that photo.
will you be performing the shock swap yourself? Do you have the luxury of driving another car while yours is being worked on?
Thank you sir! I do, i have a few other other cars to use. I would be doing the work myself. I just looked up the price and for the front and rear Koni shocks it comes out to $850. Which is peanuts compared to the $5000+ for the airmatic system.
That is excellent, I’m happy to hear that. If you plan to use your lowering springs with the Konis, then it would be worthwhile to optimize the bump stops for more comfort.
Right now, as your car currently sits, I’d want you to take some measurements (front and rear) from the center of the wheel (hub) to the fender directly above. Record these measurements because it’s your reference point for this spring.
When you have the shocks and springs off, I want you to reinstall a used shock (without dust boot, springs and bump stops) and use a floor jack to compress the shock by lifting at the control arm. Compress it until you achieve the measurements you recorded. This simulates your car when it’s on the ground wearing those springs.
Then look at the shock and take a measurement of the amount of shock shaft travel remaining. Your bump stop needs to be shorter than this length, or else it’ll be making contact at ride height.
Depending on the stiffness of the bump stop used, you can trim it more or less to delay when it gets activated. The stiffer the bump stop, the more sudden and noticeable they are when they begin to compress (and vice versa). On the flip side, the softer bump stop will easily reach its incompressible height and possibly shorten the lifespan of the shock, or make tire and fender contact. Trimming a bump stop will increase its spring rate, btw.
Dont bother checking their other bump stops that aren’t in the COT series, they’re all tailored towards the racing crowd. The COT stuff works with OEM street rates.
I assume your 212 is a MacPherson strut up front, so you’ll need the 22mm inner diameter RE stop there. I don’t know what your rear shock’s shaft diameter is, but I assume the other stops will fit.
Here is a link to the load and travel graphs of their COT bump stops
https:/www.resuspension.com/media/wysiwyg/tech_info/bump_stops/graphs/OEM/OEM_ALL.pdf
The method I typed above is really only a quick and dirty way. The proper way involves getting corner weights and motion ratios of the spring and shock. Then you can calculate your approximate height and load requirements of your bump stops.
That is excellent, I’m happy to hear that. If you plan to use your lowering springs with the Konis, then it would be worthwhile to optimize the bump stops for more comfort.
Right now, as your car currently sits, I’d want you to take some measurements (front and rear) from the center of the wheel (hub) to the fender directly above. Record these measurements because it’s your reference point for this spring.
When you have the shocks and springs off, I want you to reinstall a used shock (without dust boot, springs and bump stops) and use a floor jack to compress the shock by lifting at the control arm. Compress it until you achieve the measurements you recorded. This simulates your car when it’s on the ground wearing those springs.
Then look at the shock and take a measurement of the amount of shock shaft travel remaining. Your bump stop needs to be shorter than this length, or else it’ll be making contact at ride height.
Depending on the stiffness of the bump stop used, you can trim it more or less to delay when it gets activated. The stiffer the bump stop, the more sudden and noticeable they are when they begin to compress (and vice versa). On the flip side, the softer bump stop will easily reach its incompressible height and possibly shorten the lifespan of the shock, or make tire and fender contact. Trimming a bump stop will increase its spring rate, btw.
Dont bother checking their other bump stops that aren’t in the COT series, they’re all tailored towards the racing crowd. The COT stuff works with OEM street rates.
I assume your 212 is a MacPherson strut up front, so you’ll need the 22mm inner diameter RE stop there. I don’t know what your rear shock’s shaft diameter is, but I assume the other stops will fit.
Here is a link to the load and travel graphs of their COT bump stops
https:/www.resuspension.com/media/wysiwyg/tech_info/bump_stops/graphs/OEM/OEM_ALL.pdf
The method I typed above is really only a quick and dirty way. The proper way involves getting corner weights and motion ratios of the spring and shock. Then you can calculate your approximate height and load requirements of your bump stops.
You are the man. Thank you so much for that info. I've just placed the order. I will follow your instructions. Can't wait to see if it makes a difference, which im sure it will.
No problem. Feel free to ask any questions you may have.
I tend to forget some things… such as this: ideally you’d want to have the front and rear bump stops make contact at the same time, so that one end doesn’t become wildly stiff and change the handling characteristic.
Bump stop tuning has long been misunderstood, and it still kind of is, but my eyes have been opened to the possibilities with this stuff.
On my other car, I have the Koni Special Actives with stock springs. I’ve tuned the bump stops to engage after 0.75” of wheel travel. Even with a monoball rear suspension and 35 aspect ratio 18” tires, the car handles extremely well and its behavior is very predictable. The car is strictly a street car and the roads are atrocious: lots of rippled surfaces, broken pavement, potholes, expansion joints, etc. Yet the comfort is better than when it was on Bilsteins and rubber bushings.
No problem. Feel free to ask any questions you may have.
I tend to forget some things… such as this: ideally you’d want to have the front and rear bump stops make contact at the same time, so that one end doesn’t become wildly stiff and change the handling characteristic.
Bump stop tuning has long been misunderstood, and it still kind of is, but my eyes have been opened to the possibilities with this stuff.
On my other car, I have the Koni Special Actives with stock springs. I’ve tuned the bump stops to engage after 0.75” of wheel travel. Even with a monoball rear suspension and 35 aspect ratio 18” tires, the car handles extremely well and its behavior is very predictable. The car is strictly a street car and the roads are atrocious: lots of rippled surfaces, broken pavement, potholes, expansion joints, etc. Yet the comfort is better than when it was on Bilsteins and rubber bushings.
I didn't think there was so much science and configuration to bump stops until now 🤣 I used to just replace them if they were cracked or broken and call it a day. Guess i'll have to research it more for my self as well to get the perfect outcome. I appreciate you helping out, i'll def reach out if I get stuck or need any questions answered.
Also just checked if they make shocks for my W213 4Matic. Unfortunately they don't It's actually very hard to find W213 4Matic lowering springs or aftermarket shocks for that car specifically. I was hoping Koni would at least have something for options.
I just checked Koni’s site and it seems like they only make the Special Active for the rear of an AWD W213. I don’t know if you’re willing to experiment with different shocks front to rear, something like Bilstein B4 (their softest offering) in the front and Koni SA in the rear. The handling might be unpredictable at the limit, and I’ve never tried something like this — although I have certainly considered it!
I just checked Koni’s site and it seems like they only make the Special Active for the rear of an AWD W213. I don’t know if you’re willing to experiment with different shocks front to rear, something like Bilstein B4 (their softest offering) in the front and Koni SA in the rear. The handling might be unpredictable at the limit, and I’ve never tried something like this — although I have certainly considered it!
Here in Germany I really like to take the car above 100+ MPH on the autobahn. If I was living back in the US I would definitely give it a go, but I wouldn't want to mess with that here in Europe as i like the car to be as stable as possible.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention… if you trim the bump stop, do so at the chunky end. The narrow part of the bump stop (aka the nose) is what gives the bump stop its progressive spring rate and you’ll want to keep that for comfort, as well as not upsetting the chassis/tire during engagement.
I appreciate your opinion. I agree as well. I was just wondering if it would make the ride any better being lowered.
No problem . Well, if you mean better riding by handling , it should help it but I doubt it would be worth all the troubles going thru that . I have driven various Avantgarde , Luxury , AMG packages (not real E63 AMG though ) but the best riding ever is Luxury comfort wise but handling wise probably AMG thanks to stiffer suspension settings to me . However, stance wise definitely AMG ones , I like lower stance but there's a trade off : bottoming out more than usual
No problem . Well, if you mean better riding by handling , it should help it but I doubt it would be worth all the troubles going thru that . I have driven various Avantgarde , Luxury , AMG packages (not real E63 AMG though ) but the best riding ever is Luxury comfort wise but handling wise probably AMG thanks to stiffer suspension settings to me . However, stance wise definitely AMG ones , I like lower stance but there's a trade off : bottoming out more than usual
my 2020 s class W222 has air suspension and it’s wonderful. But it’s not lowered, so that’s why I was asking if anyone would recommend it vs the steel suspension being lowered. I agree about the handling part.
I’ve ordered some shocks that another user recommended in this thread. I’ll see how they stack up to the Bilstein ones I have currently.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
It's actually very hard to find W213 4Matic lowering springs or aftermarket shocks for that car specifically. I was hoping Koni would at least have something for options.
. Well, if you mean better riding by handling , it should help it but I doubt it would be worth all the troubles going thru that . I have driven various Avantgarde , Luxury , AMG packages (not real E63 AMG though ) but the best riding ever is Luxury comfort wise but handling wise probably AMG thanks to stiffer suspension settings to me . However, stance wise definitely AMG ones , I like lower stance but there's a trade off : bottoming out more than usual 
