Pmurray633

I know I can raise my car under a certain speed and that the car will drop itself a very small amount at highway speeds. But I was curious, does having the suspension in sport or comfort have any change with the ride height driving around town? Thanks!

Mike5215

Yes. Sport rides about and inch lower than Comfort, and I believe that irrespective of the setting, the lowest the car will ever go is Sport height, even at highway speeds, and the highest it will go is when the "lift" mode is selected.

aznevoviii

i think sport button just stiffen up the suspension, and not lowering the car.
you can make it higher by pressing button on top of the sport button,
your dash should say "raising vehicle..."

correct me if I'm wrong Mike.

Nuru

Apparently you can also adjust the riding height lower if you have a buddy who is a tech and and is willing to use his DAS/Xentry workstation to adjust the settings.

Mnchvgs79

According to the manual the "sport" setting does indeed lower the car.

Mike5215

Yeah, changing the amount of air in the struts is the only mechanism it has to stiffen the suspension. More air= softer ride and higher ride height, less lowers and stiffens. I believe if you're set on Sport and reach 80mph nothing happens, but if you're on Comfort at 80 it temporarily lowers to Sport's ride height to improve aerodynamics and high speed handling.

If you're in the "Lift" mode and exceed 80 it will tell you it's dumping out of the raised position. In other modes you wouldn't get notification.

Pmurray633

Thanks all! I figured that maybe I will do a science experiment and measure each wheel this weekend.

WHPH28

I was able to just confirm that after turning the car off many times and getting back in and starting it back up....it stays in S unless I manually change it to C and then it still stay there until I change it back.

I'm interested in the height difference as well.

Pmurray633

I believe most, if not all MB vehicles will stay in comfort or sport depending on the mode they were in when turned off (except if all power is removed from the vehicle). I just wish my car would stay in sport mode instead of efficiency.

aznevoviii

Not in my wife's CLA45 AMG.

Even you leave the car in sports and turn it off,

The car will automatically turn on with comfort and eco mode.

Mike5215

It was introduced as a nod to fuel economy standards. Sport mode allows the transmission to start from 1st gear and holds upshifts longer. That's the extent of its effect on the 221. In Comfort it starts from 2nd gear and upshifts sooner to reduce engine revs and save fuel. You can have the default mode switched by reprogramming.

Pmurray633

I sure do love some sport mode, even when driving normal to hear the exhaust note get a little higher between shifts.

Mike5215

Yeah, I was digging it so much I decided I wanted to hear more of it, so I did an aftermarket axle-back exhaust. Totally different S Class experience. Idle just rumbles, it roars when you open it up, and it will burble a little on downshifts, especially if you're aggressive on the paddles.

Magnus Rostadmo

Well, that`s a fairly rough conclusion ---- when riding higher not necessarily softer--- `cause it depends on the valving choosed with that setting......

Touringman

Mike, can you confirm if that applies to the S600's as well? Having a different (5 speed) trans from the 550's I am not sure if the default setting change is done on the TCM or the ECM. FWIW...W221 S600's have no ECO mode.
Thanks!

Kiiiiiiiiiiiiim

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