I need to switch out the wheels for a Summer set in a month or so.

However I am reading posts about people damaging their airmatic suspension by doing so.

I am getting conflicting messages with some saying to set airmatic to max height prior to lifting, when lowering jack don’t lower completely without starting vehicle for 2 mins and then lower completely and remove jack, Lower vehicle very slowly not too fast and to leave door and hood open while doing the job so the car doesn’t compensate on the other sides.

Anyone here got any tips?

You do not need to do anything. I've done countless lifts of one corner at a time. There will be no damage. Once car sinks all the way down (take a picture to remind yourself how good it looked fully lowered), just start the car (but do not drive it) and within a couple of minutes it will level itself to the default mode.

+1

first time i hear of potential issues with airmatic due to jacking the vehicle up. I've been lifting to change out tires without following any special process and no issues so far.

I remember some older Lincoln’s and Navigators could have suspension damage if you didn’t “turn off” the air suspension before jacking it up. But I’ve never heard of that with Airmatic. I jack my ML up all the time and it’s fine.

Ok thank you all that replied.

To make the tire swap job go by quicker should I set it to “Raise vehicle” so there is less jacking up to do?

you wont jack any less by doing this. the tires will still be on the ground but the vehicle will lift higher which means you will have to jack more just to reach the jack points on the car, then jack the same amount to lift the tires off the ground. I'd say this is more dangerous because now your vehicle will be higher when jacked up enough to swap the rims.

I've found it best to leave the car off/parked for a bit, then just jack it up normally and swap the tires. Why i say off or parked for a bit before starting the swap, I've noticed if i recently pulled into the driveway to swap the tires, sometimes as im jacking the car or as it is up and im swapping the tires, the airmatic will lower the car a bit while it is parked. I think after turning everything off the airmatic at some point will release a bit to let the car "sit" lower while parked. It scared me the first time it happened because i thought something went wrong.

I noticed that the airmatic adjusts after a minute or so of sitting. I think it happens when I keep opening and closing the door.

Anyone know exactly what triggers this? I don’t want the suspension to adjust while one tire is in the air and i need to open/close the door.

You can pull out the fuse for the airmatic. Im lazy and I just leave the drivers door open so it won’t adjust. Maybe there’s another way but I also noticed it auto adjusts the height every time I open and close the drivers door. You can also set the alarm and lock the doors, and that way it shouldn’t adjust until you open and close a door again.

No need to do anything. I have been swapping my ex-ML350 wheels 2x a year for 7 years and it did not break anything. I lift the vehicle like any other non-bagged vehicle. Jack it up fast, change the wheels and drop it quick and move to the next.