akipal

Hello everyone,
I wonder if anyone with air suspension experienced what i did on video.


It is much louder than what it appears on video in real world.
This happens only with car raised manually.
Speed bump isn't that big or sharp at all and speed was only 18-20 mph when it happens.
First time I took it to dealer and they told me the machine say no error and everything is normal.
They test drove and could not replicate same problem.
I took this video and send to service rep. then took him to my neighbor on my car and showed him what happens.
He was very surprised and I left car for them to look again.
Now technician told me I am not supposed to drive car raised on the road.
It is only for entering or exiting driveway for clearance.
Also they are telling me not to go over the speed bump over 15mph especially with car raised up.
He told me that owner's manual should state that.
I only see on manual that car will be lowered over 50mph.
Senior technician told me that every S-Class will do same thing and they are designed to behave like that so everything looks very normal.
But I can not believe that MB states this as normal and there is no fix they can do.

Wolfman

Don’t think is an issue either.
The very concept of raising the car is that you extend the air struts to near max. Now when you run over the speed bump, the body will swing upwards and likely to the limit of the strut.
That would be the noise. More important is that driving the car over a speed bump raised isn’t smart to begin with.

The raised position is not a position that is meant to be driven in under normal circumstances.
It reduces the ride quality and suspension performance of the car overall. Hence it is speed limited.
The purpose of raising the car is solely to deal with difficult driving conditions, such as rough unpaved dirt roads in the country and steep inclines on driveways and some intersections, etc.

seamus2154

I agree. Its not a design feature for normal driving. Wolfman explained it well that the strut is extended but it also has more pressure in it to do that, hence the harsh ride. I have only used that feature to get on my lift easily. Why would you want to drive with it raised? I think the W222 is a bit higher normally than the prior W221 was.

akipal

Thank you for the replies
my car scrap easily to driveway or to most parking lot
I leave car raised for my wife

my concern is that only right side is problem and after one pop I tried to go over same spot at 40mph
speed bump is very decent and smooth
i almost don’t feel while going over

Nice Ride

I agree with what actually occurs when the car is in the raised position, however I disagree with " Use only when going in/out of your drive
way" I always drive with my car in the raised position. It will automatically lower when entering highway speeds. When I'm off the highway, I raise it back up again. After shutting off the car, after about 10 Min, the car will release pressure and lower. Once the car is restarted, it will raise up again. I never have ANY clunking / knocking sounds. Tires wear evenly, car tracks straight. Go to another dealer... My 2 Cents...

Wolfman

If you drive the car in raised position as a personal preference, that might be right for you but that doesn’t make it a normal driving position.

What I stated was the designed purpose of the feature for the last 20 years or so.
It is strictly designed for providing greater ground clearance when needed.

It does reduce suspension performance and would make the car less stable at speed, hence it is deactivated at speed.
In addition the car is designed to lower at speed beyond its non-raised levels (how much and when is based on the dynamic select setting). MBC will also work a bit different.

Back in in the old days, Airmatic had 2 height settings which the higher setting turning off at lower speed.

Nice Ride

I agree with what you said. Have you seen the streets in NY and PA.... Also, I thought the primary reason on the Highway was for fuel consumption. But yes, for me its a personal preference due to the Sewer caps in the center of the road raised up with the road surface not even etc. But I never experienced any clunks. Now not sure how fast OP goes when he hits them.... From the video, that's a tad fast for me. Objects in the vehicle should not jump/bounce up to that degree In raised or lower position. He should slow down a bit more, hence why they put those puppies there.... I don't have MBC on mine, I'm sure if I did, I would still slow down a bit more. I only have 2 settings on the S-Class. Some speed bumps are pretty smooth over 2' in depth and shallow, others are 6" and raised pretty high.

akipal

Thank you for feedback guys.
When this happens on video car was at 20mph. and I am getting clunking noise from 17-18mph. I am not saying I have problem going over speed bump at 50mph.
It was 17-20mph.
Funny thing is after I hear popping noise then go back to same speed bump car just go over very smoothly with out any problem.
I even tried 30mph and 40mph. I couldn't even notice there was speed bump, almost
And I believe this is how this car should be
However after driving car more than 30 min or so ( I don't know what exactly is the condition to make this problem)
It makes sound again

I took it to dealer but at first they told me they couldn't replicate the problem on the road.
so I took one guy to my neighborhood for test drive and demonstrate what happens
they admitted the loud sound but they told me that is normal for all S Class
so I shouldn't drive car raised especially over speed bump
If i want to raise car over speed bump do it below 10 mph

I can not believe this is what MB dealer saying after what they heard from the car

Wolfman

Just because you don't like the answer doesn't mean it is wrong

There is a really quick test to see if your car works as designed. Lower it to normal ride level, drive over the same speed bumps at the same speed or the fastest you can drive without damaging the car. If your suspension makes the same loud noises at normal level, then have MB fix the suspension. If not, then there is a message not to drive over speed bumps at speed in raised position.

Nice Ride

So take another S for a test drive over the same bump.... If its occurs then, its normal. If not, take a ride to another dealer.

MBS63AMG

If the roads and conditions are as bad as you guys are suggesting, I'm beginning to think that an SUV might be the next choice of vehicle. With 70,000 miles on my S class odometer, I don't think I've raised and lowered my car but 10 times, and that is because of very deep troughed driveway entrances. I raise the car to keep from tearing up my front spoiler. One particular driveway entrance that comes to mind is so offset from the main road that I not only have to raise the car, but I have to enter the driveway sideways. I think federal laws should be in place that these types of irregular surfaces (usually involving businesses) be illegal.
I've almost been in an accident because I had to choose whether to tear up my spoiler and get the hell out of the way, or go slow and risk getting T-boned, and these decisions come upon you QUICKLY. It really is a safety hazard that businesses or state highway departments should be forced to correct or face severe penalties.

Wolfman

You just described the purpose for the raised setting.
It’s not meant to be driven this way on a regular basis.

But some of the roads in the US are near third world levels, so I can see the need.

aypues

Interesting feature on the new LS500 is air suspension with rapid height function for easier entering and exiting. It doesn’t ride as smooth as the S Class though, even in comfort mode. They firmed it up unfortunately.

MBS63AMG

Thank God I live in Alabama.

akipal

So after long conversation back and forth, my dealer decided to replace driver's side air suspension for customer satisfaction.
After I got the car back last night and this morning, I drove car over same speed bumper.
It just drove over very smoothly. Now it feels like what has to be like.
Thank you for you guys feedbacks.

MBNUT1

Great glad you persevered and got Mercedes to make your car drive properly. Good for you.

2014CL600

Did you fix your issue or sell the car? I ask because I couldn’t discern if that noise was from something in the dash or something outside. Where do you hear the noise? In the front suspension or rear, left or right side? I’d isolate the noise and replace the strut on that side, if you can determine it’s location. My 40k mile CLS was making the worst racket and I just couldn’t handle it so, Mercedes said it was the right front strut. I bought the strut from an online dealer,( at a highly discounted rate) and had it changed out for 100.00. That stopped half the noise, so I bought the other side and that stopped all if the noise.

On my S550 4MC, I can isolate that the noise is coming from the LH rear strut, I’ve just ordered one from another online Mercedes dealer for about 800.00 and I’ll have it installed. Nothing is affecting the systems working ability but for 800.00, it’s worth replacing it to make the car tomb quiet again. As for driving it raised, it’s up to you. I drown out all of the white noise in the room and do what I want. Hope this helps.

joelawyerz

Just my two cents worth. I drive the car with it raised to avoid parking stops and especially rebar that is not properly flush with the top of the parking stop. I have now slightly pulled off the front lower air dam and had to have a shop/mechanic change the body fastener on the left side.

emilner

Why are you driving over parking stops? They aren't wheel chocks, you are supposed to stop before them...

superpop

On my 2015 S550 the front drivers side strut would make a clunking noise when going over traffic calming humps at a particular speed. I replaced it with a reman unit for around 400 bucks. Never did it again but when I purchased the reman unit they told me that this is a common failure point on these struts. There is an internal bump stop that fails and clunks when you compress the strut to a certain point.

cfmistry

I don't drive over them myself, but in his defense the car is so long that if you do not you usually stick out 1-1.5ft from the parking space and risk being hit by a car driving past.

The big issue with parking over the stops, even with the suspension raised, is that air suspension can fail and your whole front will be trashed. Those of us who have suffered an MB air suspension failure know how catastrophic they can be. I've had 3 in my W211 AMG.

joelawyerz

Wondering where you got that idea? Nothing in my post mentioned anything about running over them. Whatever you call them or I call them, everybody else figured out what I was describing. The front air dam is lower than a lot of parking stops and it's difficult to gauge where the very front of the nose is in relationship to (whatever it is that you would like to call them) Either way,raising the car prevents the problem from happening. Hope that helps in your understanding my post.

as.thompson

After having to replace two lower front bumpers on my wife's SL500 I make sure that her SL always is raised to the max.