Air Spring? - Cardone / Arnott / Bilstein suggestions?
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 42
Likes: 4
From: Midland, TX
2011 GL350
Air Spring? - Cardone / Arnott / Bilstein suggestions?
Hi,
Which one of these air springs would you guys recommend? While taking trailer on a camping trip both of my rear springs blew up (driver side first, then passenger I'd say 20 minutes later). Anyways - long story short is looking to replace them and was hoping for some recommendations and feedback from your experience - both Arnott and Cardone slightly cheaper than Bilstein and all with lifetime warranty (apparently)
Thanks
Which one of these air springs would you guys recommend? While taking trailer on a camping trip both of my rear springs blew up (driver side first, then passenger I'd say 20 minutes later). Anyways - long story short is looking to replace them and was hoping for some recommendations and feedback from your experience - both Arnott and Cardone slightly cheaper than Bilstein and all with lifetime warranty (apparently)
Thanks
Member
Joined: Apr 2014
Posts: 177
Likes: 45
From: Florida
X166 GL550
Arnott has lifetime warranty. Bilstein has been the original equipment for Mercedes for years. You can buy any of them thru FCP euro and get life time replacement. I installed the rear springs about 7 years ago (115K) and still working OK.
Junior Member
Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 32
Likes: 3
2008 GL550 (X164)
from all what I have heard everybody recommends Arnott.
Recently, I had to install some no-name brand from aerous.com because I couldn't get Arnott delivered in time....
At least they gave 2years of warranty. So I will see how that goes.
Recently, I had to install some no-name brand from aerous.com because I couldn't get Arnott delivered in time....
At least they gave 2years of warranty. So I will see how that goes.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 8,882
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From: In my garage
E55, GLS450, GL63, GLE350
I've had a no name on the front I purchased for around $100 bucks and it has also done great. Was in a similar circumstance where I was waiting for it to be swapped and I needed one right away. Haven't bothered putting the warrantied one back on to see how long this one lasts.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 2,755
Likes: 628
From: Emmett, ID, USA
2007 GL450
I've had a no name on the front I purchased for around $100 bucks and it has also done great. Was in a similar circumstance where I was waiting for it to be swapped and I needed one right away. Haven't bothered putting the warrantied one back on to see how long this one lasts.
The mainstream units probably will all be about the same in quality, although possibly Arnott is a little more aggressive about getting quality suppliers. I haven't found Arnott to last particularly longer than the OEM. However, I'm only up to 170k miles.
The design is terribly stressful on the bags. They have a very short radius bend at the bottom - and are then squeezed into a smaller overall diameter as they roll up inside. It's basically like running a tire badly underinflated. Air springs on trucks are a simple balloon. I would imagine that truckers do not have the patience for failures on their air springs, so I have to assume they have better reliability than the passenger car design.
Because of the nature of the design, I doubt we will ever find an air spring that lasts significantly longer. The difference is in post-installation support, and for that it's Arnott, hands down, every time.
