stephens

I'll try and talk the tech into letting me take pics of the adustment screens next week.

Crankin

Cool! That would be greatly appreciated by all interested.

Rennteam

Well, tell me what "extreme" means. The problem is that there are a lot of kids with money but no experience out there who might try to do what you're doing. Maybe you're capable to handle dangerous situations like it happened to me when the boost pressure instantly dropped at 325 kph on my speedo (996 Turbo, plain ECU upgrade only by that time) from 1.0 bar to 0.5 bar in an Autobahn curve, making me almost loose control of my car. But you, me and maybe a few other drivers are not the majority. So people have to know that they're doing something dangerous, something which isn't approved by the manufacturer not only because of marketing reasons but also because of safety and liability reasons.
After I bought my second Porsche and I got an information about possible chassis cracks(!) if lowering the car more than 10 mm, I thought the same as you do now: what a crap, I don't buy the Porsche story. Lucky me, I had serious problems with my car and had to bring it to the factory to check on it, including a 1 week stay at Weissach. So I met a lot of people, talked to a lot of experts and learned a lot of interesting things about car development which made me change my mind completely.
Yes, chassis (body) cracks happened and I've been shocked to see it with my own eyes. They happened only during extreme driving but hey, people lowering their cars also do track racing, right?!

Maybe I'd be happy if you'd just add to every technical mod you mention "do it on your own risk, it might be dangerous".

I talk to the AMG techs on my stay in Affalterbach and I hope to find an explenation why dealers shouldn't do the lowering job.
Maybe you're right and it is just about marketing but maybe there is more behind it (like I've been told before).

stephens

Rennteam
It is either safe to lower the car or it isn't. There are only three adjustments, left front, right front and rear ride height. It is either dangerous and AMG should not do it, or it is OK.

I look forward to a valid explanation, as relayed to you, as to why only they should do it. Granted you need a tech who understands Airmatic and ABC adjustments, but other than that I'm not buying the company line.

In any event, I think it is far better that a factory tech uses the factory system to modify the car, as opposed to buying an overpriced aftermarket plug-in of questionable quality which will undoubtably void your warranty in the event of problems.

Crankin

I think most people interested in lowering are not racers, and I think the main risk involved is that of scraping you bumpers when you park.
If its safe in Europe, its safe elsewhere.

motormouth

We should take a vote on who has the bigger dick...Rennteam or Stephens.....I vote for Stephens.

What is all the fuss about here. We are talking about a few mm in ride height. The same car seems to run perfectly well lower in Europe so I am rather confident that it will run just peachy at the lower height in the good ole US of A.

Its funny when people start telling others of how qualified and smart they are when it comes to cars they invariably pull up how they have had this Porsche or that one. Who gives a sh@! Try running my college 74 Chevrolet Vega at 70 MPH on the highway and I will show you what white knuckle driving is all about.

Since we Americans are such simpletons and do not have the highly developed skills of the Germans running at 340 KPM perhaps we don't appreciate the reasons our US height was set a tad bit higher by the Mercedes obergruppen fuhrers but I doubt it.

I think it looks a damn sight better lowered and I will seek to lower mine ASAFP. And I am sure I will be soooooooo much more dangerous driving a lower E55 at 75MPH on our highways too.

1115

Hey stephans thats is a mad modification you done to you benz! i c ur from melbourne, where abouts? and which dealer you get ur benz from?

stephens

I live in Glen Iris.

Crankin

Stephens, my S500 is at the dealer again and I asked about the ROW setting. He says he can't find it in the airmatic program, that the only place he sees ROW is in the ignition program. Would changing to ROW in ignition change other things that shouldn't be changed.
If you get a chance to get pics of the correct screens, that would be great.
Thanks again.

Blocktrader

I would bet that the reason AMG would rather do it themselves is that they want to make sure it is lowered equally and not too much. I could imagine if the car hit the bump stops in the rear, and not the front, at high speed. The lower limit of electrical adjustment may be too low, physically, on some cars, limiting useable travel before the car hits the stops. There is certainly no harm in bringing the car down to Euro height. I would want to know AMG's recommendation on the minimum amount of travel you should have before venturing too much lower though. Rennteam, it is wise to know about the unseen variables involved when tuning, and not just blindly follow every recommendation on the internet. I think you are taking it to the extreme though in this case.

Crankin

bump. Stephens, have you had a chance to photo the screens to lower? My cars at the dealer, sorry, not trying to be a bother. Thanks

stephens

Sorry not yet. I have arranged to do this next Sat.

EPower

Saw this done by davepl on the cl55 board. Seems to be an amazingly simple solution to lowering a car with airmatic suspension. Anyone tried this on an E?

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...threadid=42868

Looks real easy on the front, just replacing/extending a simple bracket.

The rear I can't figure out. Apparently this same bracket is replaced on the front and rear of the cl55, but I can not locate on the rear of the E. I think it is because the rear is different on the cl versus the E (the E has a shock AND airmatic on the rear...don't know if the cl has the same suspension set-up). Any E guys check this out yet?

stephens

From memeory this bracket is above the differential and is not easy to get to.

Dr Chill

They're not dicks. They're just fanatics like the rest of us. I appreciate all their contributions.

Regarding the ABC lowering brackets by TWS, I emailed them yesterday if they make these for the W211 and if they come in different sizes depending how much one wants to lower the vehicle. As soon as they reply, I will post their email.

Stephens, keep trying those low dollar mods so the rest of us (who think $4995 for a computer reprogramming and pulley for 45 hp is ridiculously expensive) will learn and benefit.

jl88

I'll answer for you..

They have 2 parts, but each part works for all airmatic/abc cars. There is no need for a unique bracket for each mercedes.

One part gives a modest drop. The other one gives what we affectionately call the "indo drop"

The Wheel Supply will install the parts and adjust the height for you, all for a very modest fee. Compare their fee to the Kleemann module ($2k), Lorinser module ($1k), or the n. cal shop that charges a total of $600-700.

Crankin

stephens, did you get a chance to take pics of screens for MB lowering? It seems that that would be a preferable method for warranty purposes.
Thanks again.

stephens

I have tentivley arranged for the Sat after next. We are going to test some parts on the Dyno at the same time.

CLK430_ew

see this
http://www.mbusalearning.com/w211ele.../sas/pg24.htm#
after u lower the car will the car lower 15mm again when u driving 68mph?

Cory @ Kleemann

The discussion between Renntem and Stephens is the most mature, intelligent and articulate conversation/debate I have read on this board in a very long time. Cudos to both of you for keeping it pleasant, while maintaining your opinions and views. Everyone on this board could learn a thing or two from the way these two gentlemen carry themselves through a conversation/debate. Just my .02!

ZHH

agreed!

stephens

On behalf of my self and Rennteam thankyou!!

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and should be respected, unless of course they are complete idiots.

My wife says I am obsessed with my car, which of course is completely correct. Since I am the only person that I know personally, these forums are the only way I have of sharing information and learning from other peoples experiences. I truly enjoy the priveleges the Internet affords us.
I only wish there were more people who liked to "experiment".

Dr Chill

Hey Stephens, I'm bringing my mom's E500 in tomorrow for servicing. What should I tell the service mgr ( who should be receptive being an AMG fan and pretty cool guy) to do to lower the car about 1 inch?

stephens

Sorry
I missed your post. I'll post some details when I'm at the office.

Dr Chill

Went to the dealer today, he said my car was built today and should arrive in 4-5 weeks. I saw a desert silver E55 today. The combination of that paint with the dark gray interior was hideous. I don't know how anyone could order this car in that color. It was the second one like it I've seen.

Anyway, the service tech who is the high tech guru for the AMG cars says he has raised(to fit 20" rims) or lowered several ABC and Airmatic cars and would be happy to do mine when it arrives. He said whenever they adjust the ECU settings the car automatically defaults to the ROW or European height settings but when taken off the machine goes back to the US settings. He pretty much confirmed everything you said in that the individual load settings have to be saved in order to keep the ride height at the desired level. Unfortunately he didn't have time after hours today to do my mom's car.