S-Class (W220) 1999-2006: S 320 CDI, S 320, S430, S 500, S 600

07 s550 raise, lower button question..

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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 01:37 PM
  #1  
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07 s550 raise, lower button question..

I need some insight here.

In the past I would hit the airmatic suspension raise button, it seemed to only stay in the raised position for 10 minutes or so.

I was thinking that it was eithier time sensative or speed sensative then it would shut off.

Now for the last 3 days the light has stayed on and the car is lifted. It doesnt shut off regaurldess if the car is parked for the night or not, its always in the lifted position.

Is there a way to keep the car in the lifted position? Is there a feature I didnt know about?

Steve
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Old Sep 20, 2008 | 09:45 AM
  #2  
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2004 S500 & 2011 Mini JCW
Mine stays lifted when the dash light is engaged all the time. I have not tried it when driving hiway speeds, only use it for curbs and washing cleaning the wheel wells.
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Old Sep 20, 2008 | 02:51 PM
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2005 S500 4Matic
Ummh, it is probably NOT a good idea, to drive with a raised car at highway sppeds. Although, it should lower at certain speeds, regardless of the dashboard setting, if the car does not lower, due to a bad airmatic or what-have-you, it may incur additional damage.
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Old Sep 20, 2008 | 03:56 PM
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Originally Posted by Dino I
Ummh, it is probably NOT a good idea, to drive with a raised car at highway sppeds. Although, it should lower at certain speeds, regardless of the dashboard setting, if the car does not lower, due to a bad airmatic or what-have-you, it may incur additional damage.
What "damage" are you thinking of? The idea of lowering at highway speed is to reduce drag for fuel savings. Perhaps at speeds over 120 MPH there may be slight handling consequences to the body being raised 1/2", but I doubt anyone is going to feel a difference in control. In general, you raise it to deal with road imperfections and lower it for fuel economy. The car assumes that at highway speed you're on a highway, and so can lower it a bit more for decreased drag because the road surface is good.
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Old Sep 21, 2008 | 09:19 PM
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2005 S500 4Matic
Just thinking...

When it is raised, there is a higher pressure in the system. If you hit something hard, the shock to be absorbed (especially at high speeds) is short, but very high. If the system is already (slightly) damaged, it may not be able to handle that and the pressure uses the easiest exit, which may not be the one it should use by design.

At all possible or complete nonsense?
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Old Sep 21, 2008 | 10:37 PM
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Originally Posted by Dino I
When it is raised, there is a higher pressure in the system.
You lose me here.

The leveling function does not affect pressure or any other suspension parameters. Shock on worn components would be theoretically sensitive to stiffer Airmatic settings but not height. In any case, the suspension is certainly engineered to deal with any forces that you can generate with any combination of settings.
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Old Sep 22, 2008 | 07:44 AM
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It's pretty hard to raise at speeds above 70mph. The system automaticlly cancels itself. I know mine does. At that speed you hit the raise button, it says airmatic raising but it doesn't raise until you slow down or stop. Not sure about yours but that what mine does.
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Old Sep 22, 2008 | 02:06 PM
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Originally Posted by whoover
You lose me here.

The leveling function does not affect pressure or any other suspension parameters. Shock on worn components would be theoretically sensitive to stiffer Airmatic settings but not height. In any case, the suspension is certainly engineered to deal with any forces that you can generate with any combination of settings.
I stay corrected.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by kenstudios
It's pretty hard to raise at speeds above 70mph. The system automaticlly cancels itself. I know mine does. At that speed you hit the raise button, it says airmatic raising but it doesn't raise until you slow down or stop. Not sure about yours but that what mine does.
Applies to mine as well (in fact, that led me to my original statement...)
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Old Sep 25, 2008 | 01:05 AM
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well I know the GL's I've driven with Airmatic ride horrible when in the "raised" mode. Haven't really driven my CLS on the raised mode.
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