stephens

Good news for W211 E55 owners. The car CAN be lowered through the ECU. This is a factory adjustment performed by an authorised dealer (MB owned actually) so it does not effect warranty. There is no need for aftermarket modules etc and best of all, it is completely adjustable.
Anyone who would like specific details should email me.

Before:



After:

t-bone

nice.....

did they charge you anything?

stephens

Nah
I organised to turn up on Sat after 12.00 when the workshop closes, so it was done as a favour.

JamE55

How much drop was it from the stock?

Schiznick

Looks Great, please let me know the details....

spreacher@silere.com

stephens

I didn't actually do before and after measurements, however when I now raise the suspension (with it still in Sport II) the raised height doesn't seem much higher than what it was before, so the drop would be around 20mm, given the raised height is an increase of 25mm. (did that just make sense??).
It has not effected any of the Airmatic functionality in any way.
To return the car to stock ride height the car must be taken back to the dealer to reset the sensors.
Interestingly AMG do provide this as a service at the factory where it is referred to as "Ride Height Optimisation". I am sure that they too do this as a complimentary service for there customers...........

Finnish C32

Stephens do you got my mail about lowering?

tendons

other than looking cooler, does it change the handling any?

stephens

Sorry guys.
Since there appear to only be a few E55 owners on the board I thought it would be easiest to email the instructions, but given that I received around 20 email requests, I will post it here where I should have put them all along.

The car should firstly be driven on to the wheel alignment jig. This is to ensure that it is on a completely flat surface and plugged into the service computer.
Once plugged in, move to Airmatic adjustments.
In this menu option you can raise/lower each of the front wheels individually as well as the rear.
This also shows you the voltage reading of each of the three sensors, along with the tolerance range for each. The idea is to then adjust each to the appropriate reading for the ride height you wish to obtain. (higher voltage = lower) The biggest limitation is the rear as mine is set at the threshhold value of 3.0V, sensor is different, but the tolerance values are on the screen for you to see anyway.

The trick is to get the car to save the values, as once you go to save the changes to 'active" the system asks for a secondary set of inclinometer values. From memory we used 4,-1.3 (I'll double check this at the office today), but had to try three or four different values near the listed range limits to get the system to accept the ride height changes.

This change does not affect the functionality of the suspension in any way, you can still raise and lower the car from the console for example. I have had no rubbing problems which was my biggest concern and believe me, I've done plenty of testing!!

The car now turns in quicker and feels "smaller" on the road. This has also helped reduce lean through faster turns and has not negatively impacted the cars ride.

m258

would this also work on other mb models with airmatic suspension? i.e. w215 CL models and w220 S class models?

stephens

I'll ask and get back to you.

Crankin

Stephens, were you able to find out if this adjstment can also be made to S class?
Thanks

stephens

Yes!

EPower

I posted this on the E500 board today...

MB of Laguna Nigel won't do it!
Tried to get the service department at MB Laguna Nigel (where I bought it) to lower it per Stephens instructions and they (Service Dept. Mgr) refused to do it. At first they said it could not be done, except by an aftermarket tuner, and then I gave them a printout of Stephens instructions to prove it could. Bottom line, it is not that they could not do it, it was just that they did not want to do it. HORRIBLE customer service in my opinion! I was only asking to perform an adjustment that was within factory warranteed specs, and they refused. I will try to get another MB dealer here in S. California to do it later this week.
If anyone has had any luck with another dealer in S. Cal. doing this, pls post the dealer name.

stephens

Sounds like an opportunity for a forward thinking service department to attract customers through good old fashioned service!

Rennteam

DC doesn't approve doing it. Dealers could loose a lot doing this.
I talked to somebody at AMG about the lowering and the description you provided is correct BUT it involves much more than you think.
The guy at AMG told me that not only you loose the warranty, it involves also liability issues if something happens.
If things were THAT simple, any dealer would be allowed to do it.
I made an appointment for lowering my E55 (it is actually called "height optimization") at AMG directly and they told me it could take up to 6 hours to do the job right. I'll be there to watch it, so this is no BS.
We had similar discussions about 996 Turbo tuning on Porsche boards for the past few years and I can assure you: there is no such thing as simple tuning. If you want to do the job right, it involves much more than adjusting a few things here and there.

But as it happened the past few years: nobody would listen to me.

stephens, I really enjoy reading your experiments but you have to know that you're not only playing with your warranty but with your life too. But I guess you heard that before, right?

Crankin

The Euro spec cars come from the factory about 1/2" lower than US (S class), so why would the lowering create warranty problems..or be dangerous??

EPower

Rennteam...a question for you. Why do you refer to stephens lowering as an "experiment", with negative connotations I might add, but then say you are going to do the same thing yourself? Just because AMG is doing it and you call it height optimization and it could take six hours doe not make it any less safe or reduce your liability. The fact is that it can be done, within factory specs. Sure, as in anything, it should be done with great care and by someone who is trained, but what makes you think that stephens, or any of the rest of us, used a less qualified tech/shop than you will be using at "AMG"...I have done basically the same thing to my BMW 540 wagon (rear suspension), and it dramatically improved the ride and look of the car. I am glad stephens found this out. I know I will find someone with the appropriate skill, equipment and customer service skills to make this airmatic adjustment.

stephens

How can an adjustment by MB within factory tolerances void warranty? If this is true, this is an MB issue with themselves, not a customer issue. Any change by a MB factory technician, using MB equipment, within factory tolerances is legal and OK, at least in Australia. Maybe things are different where you are, but certainly not here.

Ride height "optimisation" involves nothing more than changing the sensor settings within their factory tolerances. The car has already been tested and certified by the factory to work within these tolerances.

I can assure you that my new vehicle warranty is as good as yours.

How are AMG charging you for the ride height "optimisation"? Are you being charged by the hour, or a flat charge?

Lastly, your comment that I am risking my life with these mods is laughable. Sorry Rennteam, I do not mean to offend, but you seem to have a problem differentiating between opinions and facts.

Rennteam

First at all, I'm 38 years old, I did professional rallye racing for 2 years on a Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16V (national group N) and I had access to a lot of inside information from Porsche during my Porsche ownership.
I'm very well known to the Porsche community and we're talking real sportscars with huge power outputs (up to 800 HP) at extreme driving situations. While you do 300 kph on certain (possibly closed) roads, I did 340 and more on a daily basis in my backyard. Just a little introduction but I guess this doesn't help either.

We in Germany are very restrictive about modifications because we drive very very fast and not only on closed circuits of for a minute or two on an open road.
Ever did a 20 km run almost non-stop at 340 kph at an outside temperature of almost 36°C? This is hell for the tires, the cooling system of the car and many other parts.
In such situations, you can't play around with settings, you have to be sure...otherwise you're D.E.A.D. That simple.
My best friends call my E55 a "Taxi", maybe you now understand about what "car league" I'm speaking. We're no kids playing red light to red light runs, we do serious stuff which involves a lot of safety concerns.

Regarding the height optimization done by AMG: they do it by certain rules, at certain specs and involving certain adjustment procedures. They don't do exactly what your dealer did, otherwise any dealer would be allowed to do it.

We had the same discussions on various car forums and I always heard that "freedom of doing what you want to your car" but this is no freedom of speech. What you and others are doing is driving a technological piece of equipment outside it's designed specs. I know you're in the IT business, so what would happen if you run a Pentium IV 2.66 processor at 4.0 Ghz without further improvements like cooling, etc? You tell me.

Anyway: I don't want to offend anybody but it IS fact that playing around with your car is dangerous. I learned a lot about car technology in my rallye years and even later on. And I learned one thing for sure: NEVER mess around with the feet of your car, the tires. I could start discussing why I use 2.8 bar on my front tires and 3.1 bar on my rear tires but you wouldn't care either. So why bother?!

Everybody should do what he wants with his car, as I said before: it is your life, your future and your money.
I couldn't care less (have enough to care for in my vicinity ).

JAYCL600

Whomever elected you the German tuning junkie....rallye know it all, was not on this board....as we say "Get off the soap box, before you get bumped off"

stephens

"Anyway: I don't want to offend anybody but it IS fact that playing around with your car is dangerous. I learned a lot about car technology in my rallye years and even later on. And I learned one thing for sure: NEVER mess around with the feet of your car, the tires. I could start discussing why I use 2.8 bar on my front tires and 3.1 bar on my rear tires but you wouldn't care either. So why bother?! "
Rennteam, the reason you do this is because this is what it says on the tyre placard in the door jam.
For extended highspeed eg Autobahn running this will result in cooler running. This WILL NOT optimise handling OR SAFETY of the car. The correct way to determine pressures is to use a temperature guage on the inside, middle and outside of the tyre. The optimal pressure is depend on ambient conditions, the track and your driving style. How do I know this? because I have an IR temperature gun for exactly this reason...
I have both my car and motorcycle racing licenses. I have spent over 20 days on a worldclass race track this year alone. I also do all the maintenance and development of my motor bikes, one of which is a GP bike.
Tyre pressure, suspension settings, ride height, suspension design, high and low speed compression and rebound settings
are part of my daily life as is engine tuning.
You do not have to be AMG to understand how to modify a vehicle for performance and to assume your own level of naivety on others is insulting.
I am probably more experienced and better qualified to setup the suspension on your car than the AMG tech who you will inevitably pay through the nose for, but unfortunately I do not have the DAS computer to do so.

Rennteam

So may I ask a stupid question? Why did you buy a E55 and not a sports car?

Tyre place card in my door jam?
Interesting, you're right, there is one. :p

If you really believe what you said (especially the "more experienced and better qualified than the AMG tech..."), you don't deserve better and I should shut up.
I had similar discussions with "more experienced and better qualified" people on Porsche boards and some of them don't have a car anymore. At least not the same one. Well, hopefully you'll be as lucky as they were...

I have very often a similar "problem" in my job: I studied 5 years, did several years of specialization, I have 10 years of practical job experience and I still have customers who try this and that and are convinced they do better (and especially cheaper!). This is how I'm able to finance 3 AMG cars, I love the naivety of people who think they can do everything by trying this and that. Life is so simple, right?
If I'm insulting you with my naivety, I'm sorry.
It is very naive of me to think that the manufacturer of the car knows best but hey, maybe you're right...everything is about marketing and making customers look foolish and pay more.
I don't know how the clocks are running on the 5th continent but over here in Germany they run different.

stephens

Rennteam
Sorry about my previous post, you seem to bring the best out in me!:o

The reason I bought an E55 not a sportscar, was that when I ordered it two years ago, I had no idea it was going to be so soft compared to my other car. Interestingly my MB tech also made the comment this week that my old car has noticebly better road feel than the new car.

I understand your point, but a lot of the guys on Rennlist, for example, aren't that smart when it comes to tuning. Your example of the Porsche is a good one. The car comes from the factory with adjustable spring plates, which can be used to change the ride height quite simply. An idiot can do stupid things with these adjustments. This does not mean, however, that no one should ever adjust them.

My comment about the AMG tech, while probably baseless was based on my first hand knowledge of the typical expertise of MB techs generally. They know exactly what the MB specs are and how to plug the diagnostic equip in, but don't really understand much more. Perhaps the AMG ones are special, but somehow I don't think so. Sure there will be some smart guys there in R&D for example, but they won't be using their top expertise to "optimise" your car. IMO it is in their interests, because they make $$$$ out of it in Germany, to make it sound a lot more complex and technical than it really is.

On your last comment IT IS foolish of you to "buy the company line". They only know what is best for them and their bottom line.
Because of US bumper impact regs all MB's sit an extra 1/2" higher there. Now MB will tell you that it must not be changed etc etc, however in the software settings for all the airmatic cars there is a ROW (rest of world) setting, that brings the car down to Euro ride height. Is this dangerous? Going to kill you?? I don't think so. Your point is valid only in the extreme.

Crankin

stephens, can you please explain how to locate the ROW setting in das, as my tech was apparently unable to do so when we tried several months ago? I would like to try again.
Thanks