Speedy55

Hi Guys,
I had a blow out of my front drivers side airbag this past Tuesday. I replaced only the one front unit with an arnott strut and all seemed perfectly fine. Actually better then ever, the car felt more solid and stable than usual on the highway.
This however was short lived, today I noticed the car was very soft in the front end. It was behaving more like a 1985 buick century then a AMG Mercedes on the highway. Noticed the same thing while going over speed bumps, the cars front end dives down and almost has a bounce to it.
I tried bouncing the rear and it is ROCK solid, I mean I can't even get it to squat a 1/2" with my body weight. The front however is like a Cadillac Eldorado. I took all the inner fender linings out to examine the wiring going to the front strut and all seems to be in tact. I disconnected both batteries just to see if something needed resetting but the problem persists.
BTW the pump is almost new and raises and lowers the car without any problems.
Any tips would be appreciated as Im at wits end with this car.
Thanks

hachiroku

both fronts feel that way? or does only one of the front struts? what you explain normally is an indication that the strut itself is blown.

Speedy55

Both the struts feel this way. As I mentioned initially the car felt amazing (taught) after the shock replacement. Now it feels like the front end doesn't have a shocks. Feels like it's only rolling around without any shock absorbers.
In comparison the rear feels very stiff.
I thought disconnecting both batteries would fix this but it didn't help.
i think I'm going to have to take it to some expert this time..:

moehler

I would check the sway bar bushings and links. My car felt the same way when my bushings were shot. Had to replace the sway bay to solve it.

Manuyc

for the money you could have gotten set of coilovers. i went that rout last weekend. i installed the BC set myself job was not that bad. the rears were a little pain. however the car rides like a real sports car imo.

Speedy55

Thanks for the advice. I just dropped my car off at the shop and I'll see what they say. From what I can tell there must be something electronically wrong with it. Probably needs to be reset or adjusted with STAR.
I just can't comprehend how it went from riding perfectly to being this sloppy.

bbirdwell

In your first post you wrote you only replaced that one air spring with an Arnott. Does that mean you have one Arnott and one MB OEM air spring? If yes, that's part of the problem there. If no, then I would say, "calibrate the suspension sensors".

It's always a good idea to calibrate the ride height sensors after air spring or sensor replacement. Easy to do and takes about an hour. And you don't have to use a Romess. It would be nice to have one but an inclinometer app on your cell phone will suffice.

Speedy55

Figured it out!
Turns out the Replacement Arnott strut was faulty. Diagnostics said some selanoid within the strut was shot causing it to bounce.
Put a fresh unit in under warranty, all is well with the world again.

cmpcpro

Glad to hear it worked out!