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.

Chachd72

Senecat - Did you get the Bilsteins? How are they compared to the Arnotts?

Arrie

Sorry late in this.

Car level has nothing to do with the air spring other than the spring sets the level based on the value from the level sensor. If level is 1 cm low then it means that level sensor needs to be calibrated. It does not matter who makes the air spring for this as long as the spring is strong enough to lift the car with the air pressure the system can produce, which is what all springs can do.

If MB said the problem is with the air spring for one corner of the car being 1 cm low you should take the diagnosis bill (that hopefully states what they said) back to them and ask for refund and threaten to take them to the small claims court if they don't agree. They clearly tried to get you to have very expensive job done by them and at that time they would have corrected the level via xentry/das.

Senecat

I'm still running the Arnotts. No issues so far with the replacement driver side. I haven't put but a couple hundred miles on it since then, however.

BOTUS

SIDE TO SIDE IS CONTROLLED VIA THE TWO FRONT LEVEL SENSORS

check ALL THREE are in good condition, as in the pathetic bracketry is straight and in good condition and all three link rods wobble freely on both ends of their ball joints and
once these are correct go over a few large speed bumps and get the car to move on the air compressor... raise up and down three times on perfectly fat ground - drive on a smooth road and brake violently going back and forward - then drive 100 yards on flat straight ground park on perfectly fat ground then take a look...

not likely but some moron may have adjusted ride height in deep level diagnostics - the correct way is after raising and lowering twice - fit 4 angle sensors on the struts then write the angle readings to the car

most third party garages have no idea and try to bodge it - usually making ZERO change as the procedure is designed not to be tampered with by idiots - and although it says it saved it - it seldom ever does