Another conversion to Coil Suspension review
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Joined: Dec 2015
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2000 S430L, BMW 530i
Another conversion to Coil Suspension review
Hello all
I thought I would give a rundown on my experience withconverting my S430 from Airmatic to coil suspension (Arnott branded). Sorry it’s so long!
A little background;Two years ago we took a family holiday and midway there the Airmaticpump decided to let go and at some point the car fell dramatically at the rear,not all the way mind you but enough to make us uncomfortable.We drove on like this.We paid a fair whack to have the pumpreplaced as I didn’t want to drive home again like that.Cue the beginning of this year and onemorning the car had dropped right over at one rear corner.It would raise up once a door was opened butif left for two days it would be right down again, as low as it could go.After much reading I decided a dead strut wasto blame so I ordered a unit from Maxspeedingrods.I fitted the unit, with some difficulty,they’re pretty heavy and you need to line up the three nuts inside the backwindow whilst balancing other bits below.Couldn’t have done it without another set of eyes.
A fortnight later and, with my wife driving on a long tripat night, a loud noise started and the ride was not right. So cue a rescue mission to swap her car withmy car whilst I got to drive a car home late at night that sounded like thedriveshaft was going to part company!Ihad the strut out many times before I could confirm it was the new strut thathad caused the drama.The strut hadparted company internally!Great.
After much arguing I managed to get most of my money backfrom them. So I then went ahead andbought a better quality Arnott Airmatic strut.I fitted this (I was pretty quick at this now) and all was great for afortnight or so.Then it started to godown.I tested everything I could and cameto the conclusion it was likely to be the valve block.I was getting fed up with Airmatic by thenand my wife was losing confidence in the car too.So I bit the bullet, and the credit card, andbought a set of Arnott Coil Suspension.
Install
The coil suspension install was ok, and I won’t go into thesteps as they are well covered. But, Idid find the units quite heavy to manhandle and line up.The rears were ok, but the front wasdifficult.Holding the suspensionknuckle down far enough to allow the strut to slide in and then onto themounting point, was hard!I ended up usinga long lever (a crow-bar) and lots of muscle.
Then, when I torqued down the lower control arms I didn’tpre-load them enough and two months later I ended up doing the rubberbushes. My fault entirely and newreplacements just added to the overall expense.
I installed the Arnott control box and came up with thetrifecta of warning lights – defective display, ABS, ESP. I assumed I had don’t something so I retracedmy steps many times. This took a week ofdiagnosis, which meant we drove the car with virtually no power assistance forthe steering.My OBD2 meter was not goodenough to diagnose the issue so I bought the iCarsoft unit.Thishelped me confirm that I had a bad connection on my front wheel sensor.The connector appears easy to bend/breakwhere it mounts on the body and this is what happened to me.Fixing this sorted my steering assistanceproblem and removed all errors except for the message of Defective Display,which I’ve been unable to remove.
The care sits a little higher than it did with the oldAirmatic setup, despite me trying to pre-load the suspension correctly (thesecond time around). At first it felt alittle firmer but now, after 10,000kms it is difficult to remember if it wasany different to what it is nice.Ithink it rides nicely and is still a lovely place to be on a long trip.It’s definitely higher, I think more so atthe front, but this doesn’t worry me.Mycar is the long wheelbase version, and has 270,000 kms on it.
Would I do it again? Not sure, but I’m not sorry I have done it either.Doing so removes the fancy features like theability to raise and lower the suspension, and the way it lowers itself above acertain speed.The advantages are that Iwill never come out to a car sitting on its bump stops again.I shouldn’t need to replace other Airmaticparts again (well, the boot lock perhaps?) and, I have new suspension strutsall round.
Apologies for the long report. Hope this is of interest to anyone at theAirmatic crossroads.I do all of my workand am the first to admit that sometimes I don’t get it right, and this canlead to other expenses (like the control arm drama).But I couldn’t afford to run a car like thisif I didn’t work on it.
Cheers
James
I thought I would give a rundown on my experience withconverting my S430 from Airmatic to coil suspension (Arnott branded). Sorry it’s so long!
A little background;Two years ago we took a family holiday and midway there the Airmaticpump decided to let go and at some point the car fell dramatically at the rear,not all the way mind you but enough to make us uncomfortable.We drove on like this.We paid a fair whack to have the pumpreplaced as I didn’t want to drive home again like that.Cue the beginning of this year and onemorning the car had dropped right over at one rear corner.It would raise up once a door was opened butif left for two days it would be right down again, as low as it could go.After much reading I decided a dead strut wasto blame so I ordered a unit from Maxspeedingrods.I fitted the unit, with some difficulty,they’re pretty heavy and you need to line up the three nuts inside the backwindow whilst balancing other bits below.Couldn’t have done it without another set of eyes.
A fortnight later and, with my wife driving on a long tripat night, a loud noise started and the ride was not right. So cue a rescue mission to swap her car withmy car whilst I got to drive a car home late at night that sounded like thedriveshaft was going to part company!Ihad the strut out many times before I could confirm it was the new strut thathad caused the drama.The strut hadparted company internally!Great.
After much arguing I managed to get most of my money backfrom them. So I then went ahead andbought a better quality Arnott Airmatic strut.I fitted this (I was pretty quick at this now) and all was great for afortnight or so.Then it started to godown.I tested everything I could and cameto the conclusion it was likely to be the valve block.I was getting fed up with Airmatic by thenand my wife was losing confidence in the car too.So I bit the bullet, and the credit card, andbought a set of Arnott Coil Suspension.
Install
The coil suspension install was ok, and I won’t go into thesteps as they are well covered. But, Idid find the units quite heavy to manhandle and line up.The rears were ok, but the front wasdifficult.Holding the suspensionknuckle down far enough to allow the strut to slide in and then onto themounting point, was hard!I ended up usinga long lever (a crow-bar) and lots of muscle.
Then, when I torqued down the lower control arms I didn’tpre-load them enough and two months later I ended up doing the rubberbushes. My fault entirely and newreplacements just added to the overall expense.
I installed the Arnott control box and came up with thetrifecta of warning lights – defective display, ABS, ESP. I assumed I had don’t something so I retracedmy steps many times. This took a week ofdiagnosis, which meant we drove the car with virtually no power assistance forthe steering.My OBD2 meter was not goodenough to diagnose the issue so I bought the iCarsoft unit.Thishelped me confirm that I had a bad connection on my front wheel sensor.The connector appears easy to bend/breakwhere it mounts on the body and this is what happened to me.Fixing this sorted my steering assistanceproblem and removed all errors except for the message of Defective Display,which I’ve been unable to remove.
The care sits a little higher than it did with the oldAirmatic setup, despite me trying to pre-load the suspension correctly (thesecond time around). At first it felt alittle firmer but now, after 10,000kms it is difficult to remember if it wasany different to what it is nice.Ithink it rides nicely and is still a lovely place to be on a long trip.It’s definitely higher, I think more so atthe front, but this doesn’t worry me.Mycar is the long wheelbase version, and has 270,000 kms on it.
Would I do it again? Not sure, but I’m not sorry I have done it either.Doing so removes the fancy features like theability to raise and lower the suspension, and the way it lowers itself above acertain speed.The advantages are that Iwill never come out to a car sitting on its bump stops again.I shouldn’t need to replace other Airmaticparts again (well, the boot lock perhaps?) and, I have new suspension strutsall round.
Apologies for the long report. Hope this is of interest to anyone at theAirmatic crossroads.I do all of my workand am the first to admit that sometimes I don’t get it right, and this canlead to other expenses (like the control arm drama).But I couldn’t afford to run a car like thisif I didn’t work on it.
Cheers
James
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Joined: Aug 2016
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w220 s320 CDI Facelift 2003 - Customised
Hi !
In my eyes u did well. Ive suffered the same problems with the car and the same dilemma. Airstruts 2nd hand costs even here in Europe (NL about 900 euros a piece).
I drive the w220 320 CDI wich is facelifted, in USA they started from 2004 model year. As a teacher i drive daily about 200 km . This airmatic struts made me also sick. Valve body, 6 different airlines troughout the car, air tank, air compressor, airfilter for the compressor....
in one word its the biggest headache i had with a benz car, and this is my 4th.
I payed 630 euros and ordered the coil conversion from aliexpress. they came from China. The car sits a bit higher and is majestic to look. The coils wil let u driver comfortably. These coils are cloned from Arnott, but a third in price !
Noticed no difference, except for no headaches !
Cheers, good job.
In my eyes u did well. Ive suffered the same problems with the car and the same dilemma. Airstruts 2nd hand costs even here in Europe (NL about 900 euros a piece).
I drive the w220 320 CDI wich is facelifted, in USA they started from 2004 model year. As a teacher i drive daily about 200 km . This airmatic struts made me also sick. Valve body, 6 different airlines troughout the car, air tank, air compressor, airfilter for the compressor....
in one word its the biggest headache i had with a benz car, and this is my 4th.
I payed 630 euros and ordered the coil conversion from aliexpress. they came from China. The car sits a bit higher and is majestic to look. The coils wil let u driver comfortably. These coils are cloned from Arnott, but a third in price !
Noticed no difference, except for no headaches !
Cheers, good job.
