dwooderson

Arnott's website lists two types of R Class:

W251 Chassis with Rear Only Air Suspension
W251 Chassis with Four Corners Air Suspension

I'm curious, do most R350s have steel coils in front, or air in front?

Besides a visual inspection of the spring (obvious), is there a definitive way to know whether a car has steel springs or air springs by options (airmatic button on the dash or not), or by VIN? Or by....?

josworth

There will be a button on the dash in the bank where the hazard switch is located.




The standard suspension is just a self leveling rear.

Easily changed to full coil spring....

dwooderson

Thank you, this is a relief. I just sold our 2007 R350 last weekend, and the buyers were aware that the air springs are a potential maintenance point for older Mercedes. I told him that the air springs had been replaced, which I was 99% certain of. I knew for an absolute fact the rears were replaced with Arnotts in 2012. I thought the fronts were done too, but I've replaced 4 air springs on our 2008 GL320 (actually, 5, one failed under warranty), so could I be confusing the cars?

So today, while talking to my service adviser about another car, my conscience was bothering me, so I asked him to check on the R350 front springs. He went over a long list of services they've performed in the past several years (brakes, brake fluid flush, coolant flush, new tires, 4 wheel alignment, new battery, new spark plugs, oil, filters, rear door latch, rear air springs, etc. etc.), but front air springs were not on the list. Yikes!

Then I started to wonder why they haven't failed at 115k miles, and wondered if it might have traditional steel coil springs... Bingo! We didn't have those airmatic controls on the dash. The car had traditional springs.

Whew! My conscience is clear again. The suspension isn't at risk.

BTW, I feel like I have them a great deal on a fantastic car. It's been very reliable, and has been a pleasure to own. We almost hated to see it go.