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Despite the numerous friendly suggestions that the Strutmaster Coil-cover kits is bad, or just Coil overs in general are bad advices I got, I went against the crowdsource opinion and TOFTT. Yes, I know there is no sway bar.
As it turns out, the kit is much better than I thought. I've had it for three weeks now and has driven quite a bit every day on it.
Technically, I didn't need to convert at all. I had a broken right front plunger sensor broken with a car that only has 39,000 miles, 2003 SL55. I could have easily just replaced it with an Arnott and call it a day. I was more ambitious and more curious than that. I was ready for the shop to put the original ABC back if I hated the ride of the Strutmasters.
Luckily, I did not. In fact, I actually enjoy the new ride more than the stock ABCs.
Let me explain. I enjoy comfortable rides a lot. I guess you can call the nice sedans like Buick Lacross, Lexus ES350, Toyota Avalon like rides floating/bouncy/soft. The ABC had that, but it wasn't quite the softness I preferred. I suspect that the car was already quite comfortable and the ABC's was a technology that MB just had to offer to differentiate itself from the competitors. Maybe it gave the passengers the feeling of counter lean, or roll and maybe some people prefer that. I certainly don't really care. What I care about is how soft the suspension would be when I hit over rough roads and how much of that is transferred to my body. I can honestly say that the ABC transferred more than the coil overs I got.
I did the following:
1) Call Strutmaster and they took the order over the phone.
2) They shipped them to me. (One of the strut was damaged during shipping so they immediately sent me another one. I have an extra one that works fine but just need one screw to be bent into the right position by about 25 degrees. Rear suspension).
3) Find a shop that can do it. (One shop said they will do the same amount of hours as though it was changing all 4 ABC struts. I think it was 11.5 hours total.)
4) The shop also did alignment for me which was a bonus.
5) Got the four ABC strut cores and sold it back to Arnott for $300 a Strut for rebuilding.
6) Waited a few days for the car to lower from the weight of the car. Now it is sitting just fine, a few weeks the same level already. In the initial days, I could hear one or two loud pops of the spring compressing while driving.
7) The shop didn't know how to code out the red ABC alert because they didn't have the DAS system. I bought a DAS system from one of the members here and he was real honest and now I have coded the ABC out thanks to GEO3's guide. Please see attached PDF. (Strutmaster gives you a bypass module that you need to do wiring splicing. Absolutely worthless and don't do it.)
BACK - It is 27.5" from ground to fender lip.
FRONT - It is 26.5" from ground to fender lip.
Final note: I bought the SL55 not because I want to race. It is a Grand Tourer and I expect the best of rides out there with power when I need it. The handling isn't what people suggest as "you will feel the weight of the car". I'm sorry, but I sure don't feel the extra weight about the coil over conversion. I really think ABC is overrated and I sure don't as hell think that keeping a system that is basically an expensive immature technology out of warranty is a something I want to do since I plan to keep my car for a long time. The coil over handling is close, very close to ABCs. I've tested highway and hill roads. Very similar and I have nothing to complain about. Body roll is a bit more, but that gives you a better sense of not pushing the car to the limit sooner than you should. So yes, I would recommend the Coil over to anyone. I really don't know if the more expensive kits are worth the premium of 2X the costs. If you are still using a decade old AMG to race, than this coil over is not for you. I think for the rest of us, I think it is very worthwhile. Contact me if you need any specific information. I will try to keep this thread going from my future reviews after I have used it more with time.
I did the same thing about 1 1/2 yrs ago and haven't been happier I had my indy also do the code for the ABC this now makes the car a pleasure to drive again no more red light flashing for all the people w/ low mileage thinking doing all the service makes it last longer good luck the rubber becomes rotten for one thing and then everything starts to fail. If you love working on the car and dumping money into the system rather then driving it go for it....
I did the same thing about 1 1/2 yrs ago and haven't been happier I had my indy also do the code for the ABC this now makes the car a pleasure to drive again no more red light flashing for all the people w/ low mileage thinking doing all the service makes it last longer good luck the rubber becomes rotten for one thing and then everything starts to fail. If you love working on the car and dumping money into the system rather then driving it go for it....
I agree whole heartedly. No matter how low milage the car is, the age of the components like rubber and stuff will fail even if it is sat idle. The ABC tech simply isn't meant to last. Coilovers were meant to be used on the R230 so it isn't some blasphemy to convert it to them. The reluctancy of some people thinking OEM is always best seems to be more of an ignorance rather than a logical ideology at this point in my opinion.
Anyway, don't hate me, I am just offering my opinion. Here is something for those that might be interested in how to do it yourself.
06 SL65AMG, 13 Tesla Model S 60kwh, 02 Jaguar S-Type 3.0, 12 S550 4 Matic, 07 E320 Bluetec, 06 LX470
Yes it will work on an SL600/65 but as BlownV8 said no front sway bar as of yet. There is a forum member going to get there car fitted with a sway bar for vvk to test out but its been 9 months so far on my car no issue.
Btw that pdf is word for word from my thread when I first did it.
RMT provided me the information over the phone while I made the walkthrough with camera pics on my phone. Ross at RMT mentioned only works on R230 but the struttmaster abc delete module has been confirmed to work on S/CL. I forgot who the CL600 user was that made that thread.
I agree whole heartedly. No matter how low milage the car is, the age of the components like rubber and stuff will fail even if it is sat idle. The ABC tech simply isn't meant to last. Coilovers were meant to be used on the R230 so it isn't some blasphemy to convert it to them. The reluctancy of some people thinking OEM is always best seems to be more of an ignorance rather than a logical ideology at this point in my opinion.
Anyway, don't hate me, I am just offering my opinion. Here is something for those that might be interested in how to do it yourself.
J
I undertand the shock absorbers are easy to replace. However, I think you totally forgot to install the sway bars... Which is a deadly mistake, correct?
06-07-2017, 06:41 PM
