Typically with Mercedes on the sport suspension, it's lowered about an inch so you have less travel for the suspension. For those, it's different springs and struts. Could be a broken spring or a blown strut.

 

I guess dependent on how big a bump. I’ve hit bumps in Florida and it’s fine. Bumps in Jersey or New York different story.

 

This, my man, this. I think Florida and Texas drivers should just sit this thread out.

 

Just to to be clear and also to further confuse lol my wagon if I’m not mistaken is an E400 amg package With variable dampening but non airmatic. I also concur that what we are experiencing are the bump stops being hit. Doesn’t feel like springs but shocks however I could be wrong. However I’m further perplexed as it seems the only commonalities , if I follow, that we have at this point are that they are both wagons and neither have the airmatic.

 

Vehicle is equipped with Agility Control front strut. No visual problems (shim, buffer, etc.) see if shop foreman or lead tech will approve replacing front struts. See attachment for details.

 

Ya, if it's really bothersome replacing the struts under warrantee might be an option. With me, my car is mostly in Florida so not too much of issue but when I have driven up north it has been a problem. Maybes you wonder if they had some defective struts as other cars don't seem to have this issue at all like my E450 Cabriolet. That car never bottomed out once in 20K miles and a lot of the driving was up north in RI and MASS and through NY and NJ on those crappy roads.

 

I'm experiencing this same exact problem (bottoming out at speed when there is a dip in the road). It is mildly terrifying and makes me want to sell the car everytime it happens. Unfortunately, I love the car in every other respect. Has anyone figured out a solution to this issue? I'm pushing on the dealership to take the front struts out and inspect / replace them, but are refusing to because they see nothing visually wrong and the alignment is within spec. Any help would be really appreciated!!

 

Request lead tech or shop foreman road test the vehicle with you.

 

My 2020 E450 wagon (AMG style) has bottomed out twice since I've owned it and twice it was going over a bridge, the joints caused the bottoming out while doing about 75mph. It is the only place I've experienced it but if it happens there I'm sure given the right setup, it will happen elsewhere. It is not great for such a nice car to do it but love the car in every other aspect.

 

I'm in Austin TX and my 2020 E450 wagon has bottomed out a few times going over the same particular bridge. I wish it were not true

 

I've gone on test drives with two shop foreman - Oakland Mercedes and Walnut Creek Mercedes - and they say nothing is wrong. The first shop looked at in April and said nothing visually wrong but did a complimentary alignment for good measure. Two months later, the car has bottomed out 3 more times and is out of alignment again, as confirmed by the second shop. However, neither foreman would admit to there being a problem, despite a test drive where I hit my head on the headliner. After showing him the dip in the road from the other lane and then coming back at that dip at 40 mph, we both hit our heads. Only after feeling the way the car performed, he said I was going too fast and that the dip was very big. I call bs on this because I took the loaner, a C300, over it at 48 mph and it was bumpy but the suspension did not bottom out and things felt reasonably in control. FYI - My 2008 Prius with 120k miles and original suspension feels better than my E450 wagon on that same section of road.

I've initiated the process with CAC to see if they will buy the car back, which is really not the result I want. I would like the issue resolved because the car is awesome in every other respect. However, this is a fatal flaw in my opinion. While I wait for this 4-6 week process to play out, I'm going to get a 3rd and 4th opinion from independent Mercedes repair shops to see if (1) I can find evidence of the car bottomming out, and (2) if there is an after-market solution that addresses this issue.

Any one on here have any luck with CAC or with a fix for this issue?

 

The only solution I ever found with this problem is to not drive the car on bumpy roads and if I absolutely had to keep the speeds down low under the speed limit for sure. I'm hoping once I do get rid of the run flat tires it will help out with this issue.

 

I think you already have your answer:In the shop foreman opinion there is nothing wrong with your car, so I would not expect any further remedial action on Mercedes part.

I am not agreeing with the shop foreman, just pointing out that yes he noticed exactly what you described, but in the final analysis, at least in his opinion the car is fine.

 

Yeah - I don't think that's an acceptable answer for an $80k car to behave like this at 16k miles. Not driving on bumpy roads is pretty much impossible in the Bay Area where the roads have imperfections that most economy cars can handle with ease, but my Merc can't. This has happened over a dozen times, often on roads I haven't been on before. It's sometimes imperceptible looking at the road that the car is going to bottom out on the dip. It's the unexpected behavior that I think makes the car unsafe. Personally, I think the car has a design flaw where the suspension doesn't provide enough dampening enough farther into its travel - i.e., the damping is mismatched to the vehicle weight. I'm going to look at aftermarket options while pursuing a lemon law claim in consumer-friendly California. Failing all that, I'm going to strongly consider taking the $20-30k hit on 6 months of ownership and replacing it with the (ugly) A6 allroad.

Any recommendations for aftermarket options would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

 

If you find an aftermarket solution I'd be very interested. I'm also in the Bay Area (taking my car to Mercedes Oakland next week for something else) and the transition from the 580 to the 980 has a slight bump which my BMW 335 and Audi S4 handled without issue - same with a 2019 Nissan Rogue and a 2019 VW Golf Sportwagen that had been lowered - but the Mercedes, like you said, can't deal. It bottoms out at 60 mph, the sunglass holder thing pops open, very jarring. From reading this thread it sounds like the car just basically doesn't have enough suspension travel or the springs/shocks are too soft. I can live with this but it's definitely annoying and if it's possible to get better springs or shocks I'd be down to do it.

 

I had an independent shop that works on Mercedes test drive and look at the car. Here's what he said: "Feels like the car is bottoming out on higher speed freeway transitions. Even at lower speeds over bumpy roads car rattles and bangs more than normal. Front end is very soft. When you hit a bump it feels. like you're on a boat. I put the car in the air and the front shocks are very small. Maybe they are worn or are not strong enough for the car. May need a shock upgrade." At 16k miles, this seems to early for a shock replacement. I'm going to have them look at other options to replace them and will share what I find here.

INTERESTINGLY, he noted a discrepancy between the the actual part number for the shocks on my vehicle and the part number for the shocks in the car's Part Guide. Can anyone on here help me figure out if this is a meaningful difference? He's looking into it, but I would appreciate any second opinions from the knowledgeable folks here.

Also, Vincent is the service manager at Oakland Mercedes. He is impossible to get ahold of on the phone, but when you drop it off you should stop by his office and share the complaint with him. I'd also be curious of his response when you ask him if he is aware of other customers who have complained about this. I'd bet good money he denies ever hearing of this problem. I would also request a test drive with a shop foreman just to get maximum visibility of the issue within the dealership. All that said, they are going to put it up on the rack and say everything is "operating as designed." Unfortunately, it may just simply be the case that the design is ****.

 

MBUSA ISPUSA does not catalog 2133203166. Here is a comparable VIN documenting 2133204130 ISPUSA shows this part # compatible across all 213 & 257 (CLS) models. First photo is 3166, second 4130 not seeing a visual difference.

 

I'm sorry to see this is becoming common, but I knew something was fundamentally wrong with the wagon right away.

I've since moved on from Mercedes, at least for now, but my experience with the E450 wagon was enough to rule out any W213 for me at any point, ever. If I had actually owned one, I would have been beyond livid. I have never bottomed out in the places it did driving anything else at any speed.

Mercedes needs to get it together. Something is seriously wrong with the front suspension on these.

 

Yes there is most definitely something wrong with the front suspension at least on the wagons. The strange thing as I've said before was I also owned a 2019 E450 Cabriolet 2 dr. and that car never bottomed out once over the same bumps the wagon would bottom out. I wonder what the differences are with that suspension and if perhaps the same parts could possibly be used on the wagon?

 

@2012 merc amg, did your convertible have air suspension?

Otherwise, I agree with you fully. My suspicion is that the wagon's springs are softer to allow for a more pliant and "comfortable" ride in contrast to the convertible's more sporty feel.

Either way, it always bothered me. With the new 2021 AT, the suspension feels modestly improved but it also comes standard with the air suspension. However, there is still the PTSD of an impending bottom out...

 

The Cabrio I had was the amg line so it was lower than my wagon which is the luxury line and higher. Yet the Cabrio rode as good as my S class and the Cabrio was not air suspension plus had the same Michelin’s primacy 3 tires as the wagon. I dunno I never really did find out way the Cabrio rode and didn’t bottom out like my wagon. The wagon actually feels overly stiff sorta like a amg. It’s a tough problem as the dealer is only gonna tell me there is nothing wrong with the wagon. I’m not sure if anyone like Monroe makes aftermarket struts for the wagon but it might be worth a try if they do.

 

Didn't have time to hunt down Vincent but I mentioned the suspension issue when I dropped my car off today. They're charging me a diagnostic fee just to look into it which is annoying but whatever, I'm sure I'll get the same response - everything operating as normal. Will see when they hopefully have the vehicle ready for tomorrow.

 

Ya that's the problem, no way no how is any dealer gonna agree with anyone on this issue. It's something we are gonna have to invest money ourselves and be innovative if we ever want it fixed. I'm thinking a really good aftermarket shock might just do the trick but I cant seem to find any listings of non OEM shocks, you replace it with a OEM shock and you'll still have the same issue. I'm thinking perhaps a Bilstien shock or something gas charged, I guess it would really be called a strut. Sounds like it wouldn't be cheap either. I don't see how people who live in NY or New England states even live with these cars, I can't. I just drive my car in Florida.

 

My last ditch effort is another test drive with a foreman at a third MB dealership on Monday. After that, I'm at a loss for what to do. I haven't been able to find any non-OEM front struts and also have an independent Mercedes mechanic looking with no luck. I'll update my post if a miracle happens and I stumble upon a solution.

One idea my mechanic had was to replace the front struts with OEM parts with the hope that it will ride better for the first 10K miles or so in order to buy time until aftermarket options start popping up. Anyone have any thoughts on whether it'll be any better with brand new struts?

 

In this market I would be looking at selling it and letting it be someone else's problem. I understand a dealer not being able to fix the issue - it seems to be design related - but instead of just saying "normal" they should be raising hell with Mercedes.