c4004matic

My E 43 on 20 inchs rims is no Comfort king but it is far from harsh, on my 19in winters its definity comfortable. The 20s are only harsh on sharp broken pavement. As far as air vs springs, my GLS 550 has one of the most comfortable rides in the market bar none, truely "wafts" down the highway, thus, it has nothing to do with the air springs.

Haag

May I ask what your findings are after a few weeks on your winter tires?

Haag

Today the technician of the importer MB-Benelux has assessed my car in connection with my complaint and he has come to the conclusion that something is indeed wrong. The workshop supervisor all of a sudden has the same opinion and now there will be further consultation with the factory in Germany. I am glad that my complaint now is being recognized. I'm curious how it goes further and of course I will keep the forum up to date.

Slugsy

Haag

So the next phase starts. My car is going back to the dealer again this week. I will now get new, different brand tires from the importer (although the car is brand new and there is nothing technically wrong with my current tires) and apparently they are going to check some other things (don't know what exactly yet) and the air suspension gets calibrated (?) again. I will keep you informed!

parkwood

hi

sorry had not seen your request. I am still happy with the run flats and am actually not paying much attention to them. The car is smoother than my airmatic c estate, it does throw up some nasty road noise on certain surfaces despite having the acoustic pack but can be incredibly smooth and quiet on other surfaces. Overall in the round i surprisingly find the run flats a shade quieter but in essence i think it boils down to different surfaces affect the summer and winter tyres differently.

was glad of the winters saturday we had 8 hrs of freezing rain the car coped very well when i finally ventured out only loosing grip once on an incline into a car park. We could not get out of the car so drove out and she managed it without fuss.

Haag

Thanks for your reaction and good to hear that you are happy with your tires. I guess you don't have troubles any more with vibrations as a result of tiny imperfections in the road as you described earlier?

jhpmbusa

That is extremely nice of them to swap out the tires. Whether they go back as warranty to the company or gets tossed away.

parkwood

I decided to pay a bit more intention after your request. Having been using the winters since mid nov i am losing memory of the effects of the summers. The car ride and road noise is very sensitive to different road surfaces but i find it generally quite luxurious though not perfect ie it does not deliver the same smooth ride and noise whatever the road surface but can any car really?
As time has passed the fact i am running run flats is less and less in my mind maybe the day i swap them back i may feel a difference for a few kms so the 2 types on my car and wheels are pretty close.
one other comment the car very rarely crashes over sharp edge potholes (though we have few here) as suggested in many reviews you hear a noise but not bad or uncomfortable.

Haag

I have new tires now (Michelin) and it makes no difference at all. The workshop manager thinks its better now, but that's the same man that felt nothing to begin with. Now I have a service appointment where the sensors will be checked. But after that they don't know what else they can do. Unfortunately the word "product-characteristic" has already fallen....

jhpmbusa

did you get a chance to drive a similarly optioned e class that doesn't present this issue at least? If so, you at least have a case where you can have them buy back your vehicle and you can start fresh. If you want to go down that road at least.

I dropped mine off over the weekend and they have replaced the front brakes and disc as they recognized it does add to the vibration.... unfortunately 20 mins later they called and said i need a new front bumper and headlight as one of the drivers bashed it into a GL truck...!!!

2012 merc amg

Ya, I'd see if you can drive a non air suspension Luxury package car. I have the E450 Wagon Luxury and it rides not too far off my old S550. I had a 2018 E63 AMG before and I know those cars are a lot tighter than the E450 but it was like that car was on steel rods, I just could not take it anymore, no lights or faults, it just seemed thats the way it was. I'd never get something like that again. I almost think it was not normal, maybe it's possible for something to be wrong with the air suspension like too much pressure or something and not show any codes or lights, thats what I'm thinking?

Haag

No unfortunately not, isn't available. And if they take position that nothing is wrong with the car a buy back will not be without a huge financial loss.

No way! That's terrible man.

Yes that's possible, and they have been checking my suspension for malfunctions. But there is one issue that can have a big influence on how air suspension behaves and that is the software. MB constantly produces updates and I know from a German forum that there were people that had an update for their air suspension in 2017 that massively softened their suspension. Unfortunately the dealer can only install the latest version of the software....

Haag

Just a short update: the sensors are working fine. The workshop manager does not know what to do anymore. By the way, the importer has not forwarded my complaint to the factory yet. I insisted that they do that now.

nycebo

Candidly, I've never really understood the air suspension. Just one more potential problem for very marginal gains. My car without it drives beautifully.

If you can't get it resolved, maybe they'll take it back as a lemon if you trade to another car...and don't get that option next time!

c4004matic

The GLS 550 air suspension is the second best feature after the engine.Its dishes up the best ride in SUVdom while also providing a decently sporty mode which is amazing for what is basicly a tank. I would not have bought it with out it. The active roll system is further worrh every penny.

mercedes.fan

You do know that wagons have air suspension in the rear for load levelling

superangrypenguin

On the 213 the air suspension is hardly a marginal gain.

I would never, ever buy the 213 without air suspension. It's night and day.

Steel springs and the like will never come close to an air ride.

Haag

Time for an update (again). We are now coming near to a conclusion.
The consultation between importer and factory has led to the following.

The MB factory has no knowledge of other similar complaints. If all components have been checked for proper operation and the latest software is installed, nothing else can be done. The rest then is "product-characteristic".

Furthermore the factory was able to explain why I noticed a difference in air suspension between the vehicles I testdrove (E350d) and my own car (E200). The suspension itself is the same in these cars but the control unit and the software is different. The way the air suspension behaves is adjusted differently due to the weight difference of the engine blocks. The weight difference in this case is more than 200 kg.

In other words, the test drives in the E350d were useless with regard to experiencing the behavior of the air suspension as I was in the proces of buying an E200. Depending on the weight of the engine block the ride differs significantly. And apparently the air suspension is less smooth and not working at its best with the relatively light engine block of my E200, despite the specific adjustment in software. My complaint can be traced back to these differences.

The lessons here are that one should testdrive with exactly the right configuration and furthermore Air Body Control seems to work best with heavier engine blocks. The salesmen at the dealer, the workshop manager and even the technician of the importer did not know this....

jhpmbusa

makes sense now. i guess the last step if possible is to find a e200 with ABC! probably not easy tho... maybe the dealership can help you locate any nearby??

mercedes.fan

But a e300 with abc is probably easier. The same engine so wont be a weight difference.

Haag

It is very difficult to find cars with air suspension in my country. It was a miracle that I could testdrive a E350d when I was buying the E200. I found out myself that an other dealer had a used car in stock with ABC.

I think that every W213 with the M274 engine drives like my E200 considering what the factory has told the importer. And unfortunately that drive is different (less comfortable) than the drive in an E350d.

Egonvdv

@Haag Goedemiddag,

sorry, I only noticed this thread now:

I too have a E200CDI and ABC & when I read your comments it made me realise that I have similar behaviour.

I've had the car for 1.5 years now and since beginning have not been impressed with ABC.

this whole "super smooth ride" thing definitely does not apply and I find there's little to no difference from my previous w212 without abc.

even changing from comfort to sport seems the same.

I feel all bumps to some degree, even on the motorway.

when driving on paved roads the car sort of starts to bounce (it FEELS like the tires come loose from the road),
and it even seems to slide slightly to the outside in curves.

I sort of accepted all of this behaviour but now not sure if it's normal?

The one thing I don't have is the vibration in the steering wheel.

nycebo

This. When I had my Cayenne Turbo with the air suspension, it just drove me crazy. It never felt as planted in comfort (you described the float and bounce perfectly) and then when I put it into sport, it still bounced but was now hard as a rock.

After that experience, I vowed never to go back to ABC, particularly since it's not even worth the cost. I challenge ALL BELIEVERS to go and drive the same model of their car without ABC and truly notice the difference. Wait, you will notice the difference...the non-ABC cars are more planted while still being pliant. Of course, there is the modest benefit of raising the car 2 inches for snow drifts. But that's a heck of a dubious benefit.

Egonvdv

They updated the ABC system yesterday and the change this has made is absolutely…………. ZERO

gutted.