1 BAD BURB

My 63 used to get driven daily at which point the rear end would not sag over time. Now, the car is in storage for winter and given every 3-4 days, the rear end is saggin like a ****. The fenders are literally level with the rim edge.

I have a appt with dealer for beginning April but they basically told me they will not replace the airbag unless it is beyond normal air loss. What kinda bs is that???

My car is stock for now but I was planning on lowring via star as soon as I pull out of storage.
Aj

AKnight55

Im pretty sure its actually normal that it lowers after a week or so of sitting and not being started.. Mine does the same thing after a week or so.. After starting it, it will go right back to its normal height.. Thus meaning that the airbags are still holding air.. If it were to not go back up, then you may have an issue..

Faast

I thought i had a front strut replaced but after checking with the dealer, it has never been replaced.

So i have un mod '06 E55 with 42K that's on a stock VIRGIN suspension

Can one of the moderators switch my vote from Yes to No problem,please...

Thanks

GT-ER

Getting closer to 50/50 ( it's 43/67 right now )...YIKES!

Shadow5501

Can I vote twice if I've had two struts replaced?

Seriously, I seem to have the worst luck here. MY '06 CPO car was purchased in fall of 2009 w/34K miles. Now at 41K miles. Had a 2 day leak in driver's rear strut. Not urgent, but had it replaced under CPO when convenient. Six months later the replaced strut failed while car was parked overnight in the garage. Would not pump up. The car rode hard, really hard. Suprisingly there were no error messages displayed. Again replaced by CPO.

So I'm averaging ~4K miles per airmatic repair. Can anyone beat that?

220S

And you'd think that nobody who's an enthusiast and drives spiritedly (properly) would run a car over 75k let alone 100k on the same struts

I've always redone the suspension on all my present and former BMWs and Porsches way before 75k. Conventional systems wear out and you get total crap performance, let alone cause stress on all the components.

Nstar

The poll should've been increased to distinguish between cars at stock height and those that have been lowered. I don't think "failures" on modified cars are the fault of MB.

220S

See here:

Also people should post their mileage.

redlineAMG

I'm lowered on some ghetto as$ washers

Faast

Don't be crying when you experience the airmatic failure

I Like Soup

I'm not lowered and I had my left front airmatic go out at 36,101 miles. If either of mine goes out again, I'll be going with a non-airmatic solution.

redlineAMG

My ghetto washer job was performed with surgical precision and is destined not to fail, been a year. Hit potholes so bad that my front wheels became this shape -"D" and I just checked my ghettoness and it is holding up ghettotastically wonderful. I can appreciate the friendly warning since many have tried this mod and then, FAIL+ PWNED

1 BAD BURB

So has the washer mod has had failures for other members?

grantwoodtx

I had the wife's 2004 E500 front left go out April last year and my 2004 E55 had the front left go out in September last year. Her E500 is completely stock and not lowered; she drives in comfort mode all the time. I wasn't lowered but did drive on SportII all the time. Only commonality was front left went out. Both were replaced with Arnott airmatic remanufactured struts. So far 0 issues.

stevebez

Washer mod should not cause airmatic failure... 1-2" of front end drop is well within the range of motion for the system. If anything the shocks may be operating outside of normal travel ranges, and they could go before the AM does IMHO.

My car sometimes is left for weeks not being driven ... '06 with 15500 miles , and there is no drop / sag whatsoever over time.

Forrest Gump 9

To the OP, what are you trying to accomplish with this poll? Airmatic is a wear item, of course it will fail, it's just a matter of when.

220S

This is true.

And another thing to probably consider is environment. There are a lot of rubber parts in an Airmatic system.

I think the real issue here is that the cost of replacement is so high. If they were $250 bolt on struts nobody would really care so much. They would just be another relatively affordable wear item on an expensive and technically elaborate performance sedan.

Yacht Master

Just a heads up, it is my understanding that Arnott dose not rebuild/reseal the electro-hydraulic strut (the oil filled shock absorber) that is the core of the AirMatic strut. They only change out the rubber bellows (pneumatic-air side). So I think it is possible to get a rebuilt strut that has more miles on it than the core you sent in.
Just saying.....

grantwoodtx

Arnott does however give you lifetime warranty.

220S

I've been told that too.

And there's this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlw6Op7GT0M

OK55

The two fronts failed on my 06 E55 around 16k miles. Hit a huge pothole (crater?) a couple of months back (circa 20k miles) and my right rear has failed. I suspect each car's airmatic mean time between failures will depend on the state of the roads it traverses - potholes, bumps et al.
Brgds

mikey33

Is that not why the Chrysler warranty exists?

GT-ER

And this is good enough for me.

Faast

It's not the cost of the parts as much as it's the labor especially for the rear

GT-ER

I do my own labor so its not a big issue for me. I'd also probably go with coilovers anyways if they were ever to fail.