frankjr8

Have a quick question,
I am curious is it safe or OK to keep the cars suspension Lifted UP while parked over night, or is it better to set it back to reg drive height ? Does it cause premature wear by keeping it raised up while parked, or for long period of time?
Thanks for any responses ahead of time,
Frank

Bigg Willi

Short term, as in I forgot over night is no issue.

frankjr8

Thanks, just curious what good practice is? and is there anything to do, to help from premature wear?

JohnLane

Enjoy the car. If it makes you giggle to park it on tip-toes feel free to do so. There is nothing to be harmed in suspension or airbags by doing so. My bride prefers it when I raise the car up for easier ingress/egress.

frankjr8

Thanks so much!
appreciate your input

Nice Ride

Will lower on its own after a period of time. It will also lower when above 60MPH or close to it.

JohnLane

Park it on tip toes and it stays there until next time driven and speed threshold is met.

frankjr8

Thanks Im new to the S class

Jay04SL

Does anyone notice their S lowers slightly when turning off the engine? Determining if this is normal or if I have a leak. I've been noticing this on mine. It lowers ~.5-1 inch, butnever drops more than that, even if it sits for days.

Also, since owning the car, the pump always kicks on for a brief moment when starting, assuming to build the necessary pressure, which is probably normal.

S_W222

I posted about this a few years ago for the W222, and here is a copy of my notes/response at that time (specifically during cold/winter months):

I've been taking measurements (distance between the lower edge of the rim to the fender) over past 2 days:

Baseline: 27.25 inches (2 days "48 hours" measurement )
Distance between the lower edge of the rim to the fender):

• Baseline: 27.25 inches (day 1 morning)
• after 12 hours: 26.75 inches (day 1 night )
• after 24 hours: 26.75 inches (day 2 morning)
• after 36 hours: 26.75 inches (day 2 night).
• After 48 hours: 26.75 inches (day 3 morning)

Experiment is done. This confirms the air contraction theory for the W222 AIRMATIC system, during first 12 hrs only before it stabilizes, with around 0.5 inches due to air contraction. This happens when ambient temperature of air inside suspension drops to 30-40F or lower, yielding a lower air density and thus a smaller air volume in the suspension which causes the car to set lower.
**For the record, these measurements were taken at temperature of 32-35F. I expect the contraction to increase by another 30% based on air density at 15F or lower, meaning another 0.25 inch for a total of 0.75 inches at colder temperatures such as 20F or lower.
Based on this, 0.75 inches of height difference is within design parameters, however, for those who experience more than 1-inch of height difference overnight, i would encourage them to test for any potential air leak especially during summer or when temperature is not that low.

If you experience a height drop that's outside the normal numbers/parameters above, It's likely that there is a leak somewhere.

tx170754

Where do you keep the car ?
Mine is in my climate controlled garage' I'm not driving it sometimes for a couple of weeks, absolutely no drops !

MBNUT1

I would assume that if you had a leak it would keep dropping.

Jay04SL

It's a mix between outside and a garage (not climate controlled). I've noticed this more in the summer. Will see what happens this winter. Again, it could sit for days and it does not drop by more than the initial lowering that occurs when turning off the car. The consistency of its behavior has me at ease that there's a concerning issue. Will continue to observe it.

Do you guys notice your airmatic pumps turning on with every startup? Mine runs the same exact duration on each startup. Again, I assume to build normal pressure.

JohnLane

Both of my two-elemon cars (airmatic) would run the air compressor upon a cold start. Always for same duration. When airmatic issues happened with them there was no missing the problem.... right front corner hissing and being all the way down. Rear corner that dropped overnight. Got to replace air struts and rear air bags in that car. System worked well otherwise.

Jay04SL

Thanks. That's what I was thinking as well, especially living w. an SL w ABC fluid based suspension, where any malfunction would not be missed.

My car definitely bleeds off a touch when I shut it down. You can hear and see the suspension (seems to only be the front), drop slightly until whatever valve is open, closes. Then it sits at the same level until next startup, so it's certainly not a leak at the corners.