s300felix

I'm having the same problem (analyzed and confirmed by MB) and I would opt for Bilstein air springs. For me it must be ADS compatible, as I have "Sport" button in the cabin panel.
Is the ADS compatible model 44-109462 or is there another one?

PillDrive

I replaced my front Arnotts with Bilsteins in November of last year and have had no issues so far. Ride Quality is better then the Arnotts and feels just like OEM.
I got my Bilsteins from Rockauto for $1450 for the PAIR......less then ONE OEM so its a great deal as well.

I am trying to get the Rear ones as well but it seems Rockauto never has both in stock so i will keep looking.

Good Luck.

s300felix

Got a pair of Bilsteins. In Europe they can go up to 1500 euro per strut, but i found them for around 800 (per strut).
Does anyone knows if it is necessary to release the air from the strut with an OBD2 tool before removal?
If yes, will Icarsoft MB V3.0 be able to do this, or maybe just connecting a battery to pins on the old strut?

kevm14

Considering that the car is in the air with suspension at full droop, and you have to disconnect the air lines anyway, I would say no.

Senecat

Just crack the fitting and let the air escape slowly once the car is in the air then disconnect the line. Nothing special required. I would suggest however, after you are finished with the replacement, not loading the suspension fully without first starting the vehicle and allowing the system to rebuild pressure.

MBCO

I replaced my front passenger side with MB OEM parts at my trusted Indy for $1880 for the part plus labor. I asked about Arnott and he said they quit putting them on cars 3 years ago due to customer complaints and warranty issues. One of the owners was driving his Sclass with Arnotts and blew one while driving to Las Vegas. That was it at their shop.

s300felix

Thanks, in the end there was no need to release any air from it.
It was quite difficult to reconnect to the upper arm bail joint, but because only one side of the car was raised and balance rod applied force on lower suspension pushing it down. With the other side raised, it got easier and I was (barely) able to do it.
Only one new strut is installed for now, but the car behaves the same; in fact the old ONE has the label "Thyssenkrupp-Bilstein".

Unfortunately, new strut didn't fix the problem of the right side of the car being lower by ~1cm (in almost all conditions) and thus still leaning slightly to the right while driving. Mercedes diagnosed this as the strut issue and charged equivalent of $200 for the diagnosis alone - in the end they were wrong! And the OEM strut replacement + installation work would've costed $2500 with them...

Does anyone have a suggestion what to try to replace next? Valve block? For that I'd probably try with the Arnott one.

JohnLane

Time to plug it in and ask it what it thinks of ride height. This is adjustable.

Get with BenzNinja for help. Money well spent.

s300felix

I have (cheap) AUTEL module that can read live info from suspension sensors. Height readings I get are consistently higher on the left, consistent with the difference I see with the laser meter.

lkchris

Actually, I'd question what Arnott actually does.

The struts are units that combine hydraulic shock absorber and air spring. It would require quite the factory to produce shock absorbers. Not so much to add rubberized fabric to make an air spring.

Are Arnott struts rebuilds? I can see replacing the rubberized fabric with new. What does it take to rebuild a hydraulic shock?

No question, I've seen Chinese struts where the BIlstein price is $1000 and the Chinese price is $125. Is this what Arnott sells?

The conspiracy theory that Bilstein are money grubbing capitalists and the Chinese are benevolent sellers of equal quality at "fair" prices doesn't compute in my world.

JohnLane

Peter can (via XENTRY) set ride height. But you need the right kit. Contact BenzNinja. The right tools are always worth it. Than you have the tools for the future.