E_Five_Five

Driving down the parkway yesterday my airmatic decided to fail. Car is slammed, wheels are tucked under the fender. Called AAA and the guy wouldn't tow me because the car is too low to put on the bed.

Anyone know what I can do to get my car on a flat bed? It's 50 miles from my house right now, parked on a side street and I'm starting to worry.

Also I purchased the Chrysler Max Care warranty about a month and a half ago. I haven't received any paperwork other than the auto generated contract when you purchase. Do I need a signed contract before I take it to the dealer?

Also anyone deal with Chrysler and airmatic failure? I'm hoping it's covered, car is not lowered.

jkintegra

I have had lowered cars all my life and unfortunately have had to be towed many many times.

These tow truck drivers are lazy half the time.

You should request just a regular tow truck.

They should have arms that reach under both front tires and lift from the bottom of the tire.

Yo may have jack up the car a tad to get the arms underneath the front bumper of the vehicle, may not have to.

Then just have them place your rear wheels on a tow dolly.

Every reg tow truck has them, the drivers don't like to pull them out and use them.



I learned this after I got used to requested flat beds for years, and one night in a crunch there was none available when AAA came out to me.

The guy said not a problem, there is a better way to tow lowered cars and it is not with a flat bed,

He was right, b/c even with the flatbeds, for years I would have to use 4x8's to drive the car up those flat beds anyways.



Your car is still completely off the road and should make it safely wherever you are going.

Gondon

The whole car or just the front wheels?

Check my thread in W220 section

REALA2R

I had an 2002 S Class do the same thing to me. I had the Palm Springs Mercedes Benz damage one of my wheel wells by driving it up a driveway without raising the suspension just because they were too lazy to do the proper procedure when a Mercedes vehicle has Airmatic failure. I told this frustrating story to a Mercedes mechanic I have become friends with, and he pulled out special rubber block shims Mercedes Benz makes just for this very occurrence! So, to answer a couple questions for you to ease your situation, yes, as long as there has been at least 30 days since you paid for your chrysler maximum care plan, it's valid and you can submit a claim. Secondly, I would go to the Mercedes Benz dealership you will have the car serviced at and ask them to borrow the rubber block shims, or better yet...see if they're willing to drive out and place the shims in between the airmatic struts with you and the tow company! Sell the value of your current and future service business with that Service Manager. The Chrysler Maximum Care is pretty damn close to a CPO warranty. I just had a claim of $8500--and all the issues were somewhat small that added up. If you need the number for Chrysler Maximum Care, just PM me and I'll be glad to help--good luck.

E_Five_Five

thanks i'll check it out

It's just the front wheels, passenger side is lower than driver's side, but they're both sitting really low...rear is fine

tscales

Best of luck. Mine had a leak and it completely failed just as I pulled it into mechanics stall at the dealer!

Gondon

Front Struts, I'm not sure if there is a Repair kit for them like the W220.

Seeing as how u have full warranty just let the dealership put in new struts.

tscales

The replaced both of my front struts. Come in pairs.

princemarko

Would love to see a 3rd party come up with a conversion kit for the airmatics to regular suspension. I hate air suspension.

ima55r2

Strutmasters lists a conversion kit for the S-class. They might have one for the E or will make one if they get enough interest.

220S

fwiw, Arnott has come up with steel suspension for Range Rovers and maybe will someday for W211s, too. Air suspension is great for the smooth ride and on the fly adjustments, imho. And the later versions are much less failure prone. If Arnott can give a lifetime warranty on their air struts, then you know that they can be made to be fail safe.

Gondon

They did

930chas

Agreed 100%!! I fukin hate air suspension!!

kurtwz

Hey guys, eerie the similarities I have to this guy. I have an 05 E55 that just last week had the front right air strut fail on me. I barely limped home with that sucker (or should I say blower?) sounding like a balloon when you slowly let air out by pulling the neck apart—you know the squeaky sound. As if it wasn’t embarrassing enough that the thing sits cockeyed like a ghetto cruzer it sounds funny driving by. Anyway, I get home and have it towed to the dealer. They said $2,000 FOR THE REPAIR!! This was the first repair I’ve needed since owning the car. That was a nice kick in the ***! Anyway, I’ve been researching. Here’s what I found:

Quote:

Originally Posted by ima55r2

Strutmasters lists a conversion kit for the S-class. They might have one for the E or will make one if they get enough interest.

I just called them. You’re correct that they offer it for the S, but not the E. The guy on the phone said they’re having problems finding reliable distributors, so they haven’t pursued it for the E. Doesn’t make sense to me, though. Why would the distributors be different?

Quote:

Originally Posted by 220S

fwiw, Arnott has come up with steel suspension for Range Rovers and maybe will someday for W211s, too. Air suspension is great for the smooth ride and on the fly adjustments, imho. And the later versions are much less failure prone. If Arnott can give a lifetime warranty on their air struts, then you know that they can be made to be fail safe.

Arnott currently offers this for the W211 AMG here: http://www.arnottindustries.com/part_MERCEDES-BENZ_Air_Suspension_Parts_yid18_pid134.html. It’s $399 + $100 core (prepaid label included). They’re covered by a lifetime warranty. If you enter the code 74V4-W7D, you'll get 10% off your order. PLUS, it's 10% off the pre-core price of $499, so after you take the core off, it comes out to $350!! I think the manufacturer miscalculated and only wanted an effective discount of 10%, but it comes out to 12.5%!

If you must go new OEM, the cheapest I found is DirectMercedesParts.com for $847.50 shipped. Again this is new OEM. Much cheaper than dealer at $1,258.26 + tax.

Cheapest place for install in St. Louis area is Eurotrix. Jon there seems like a cool cat. I haven't used his services, though.

I've done some research on Arnott tonight and all forum research turned up either neutral (people not knowing what to think) or positive feedback, so I'll give them a try. Everybody says that the lifetime warranty is a big selling point for them. I agree that it's compelling, but consider that a warranty is only as good as the company that offers it. In Arnott's case, I have seen evidence they do back up their product. On an Audi forum the owner of the company replied to a post where an owner's strut failed when he was on vacation. He sent him new parts right away and the guy was happy after that. PLUS this happened on the Fourth of July! That's pretty remarkable that the owner was working to protect the name on the holiday--of course he's probably a car guy like all the rest of us, so what else would he be doing in his time off, right?

Also, what to you guys think about leaving the original strut on the left side and swapping to an Arnott on the right? I know MB recommends replacing in pairs, but that’s just tarded. They’re just trying to make a cool $4K in one swoop, IMO.

RonnieRenaldi

Great info kurtwz!

220S

fyi, what you and Gondon misunderstood is that I was talking about a steel suspension, not Airmatic replacements. Most folks here know about their air component offerings. What I wanted to know was whether they would ever build a non-pneumatic system for our cars. They have designed one for some Range Rovers and older Audi A6s. And no codes come up either. I'm guessing it's possible for the W211s providing there's a viable market for them.

kurtwz

Ah I see now. Didn't score too high on the reading part of the SATs. Reading is overrated anyway!! So is rpoofreading!!

930chas

That is good stuff! Thanks for the laugh.

mikekuriger

lowrida

amg_4_life

airmatic failure would be my worst nightmare . . . if I didn't have a warranty that is!

nJuDunno

Just took my E350 to the dealership today for airmatic failure. Front sits really low and scrapes the wheel well. Car makes constant hissing sound while driving. Just bought the Chrysler Max Care plan last month, its been right around 30 days now so I'm glad I bought that thing just in time.

If you don't have your plan provisions you can go here and put your information in the left hand side and see your coverage details.

http://www.servicecontracts.chrysler.com/

Yuille36

If you hear a hissing sound, that indicates that you have a hole or tear in the air strut bellows. There by causing your air pump to constantly run, trying to inflate the strut. Ultimately causing your air pump to burn up. You need to address this issue asap.

dpavid

Just happened to me today. Airmatic failure on front left overnight in garage. Ordered today. Thanks kurtwz. On a side note, is the air bladder one of these?

http://www.arnottairsuspension.com/p...s.asp?catId=13

pearlpower

I wish Arnott would come out with rears.

Gondon

Hold on

Isn't this the site?

http://www.arnottindustries.com/