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This is on a cls55 but i wrote here since airmatic is the same and here is more activity.
Anyhow, just 3 days after i bought my new to me cls55 one of the front struts broke, burned the compressor and killed my airmatic system. So i did not have any real chance of driving it.
Now that's sorted with a brand new mb oem system and I've been able to do some driving.
I been noticing it's far too easy to hit the bumpstops in the front?
Say i'm driving down a hill on a b road at semi fast speed and at the end the road is a bit uneven, when i drive over that part of the road it's like the front slams on the bumpstops.
This happen a few times when just driving over uneven b roads at semi fast speed. With uneven road i don't mean potholes or anything like that, more like normal elevation on a country tarmac road. If that description makes any sense?
Is this considered normal?
The driving where done in sport II, 18 oem wheels, not lowerd. No sign of damage or any other failure. The car feels great and stiff in all other conditions.
Second, is there a way to stiff up airmatic even more than sport II offers, say with star?
Might need to recalibrate the suspension. The front control arms should be between 3.1* and 4.1*. FWIW, on my W211, with the front at its lowest factory spec level (3.1*), my fender rolls were at 26 1/4" to 26 1/2" from the ground. I've posted on it multiple times. If you think it needs a recalibration, search on "W211 suspension calibration bbirdwell". I've actually found what I posted scraped from here and displayed on other sites.
Sport 2 is the stiffest suspension setting. With OEM air springs, the front chamber volume used is the smaller chamber; in Sport 1 and comfort both chambers are used.
The suspension should allready be calibrated, i didn't do the work myself since it was under warranty. Work done by mb specialist. The ride height looks normal.
I will check out your trend, to me something feels wrong. It shouldn't hit the bumpstops or it could be me which have no reasonable understanding of how fast you could go on uneven roads, but that feels unlikely.
Have you experinced the problem i'm trying to describe?
You changed the front struts and you changed the compressor. The front suspension is no longer calibrated as everything that is involved with calibration with the exception of the sensors has been re placed. The mechanic changes the parts. He doesn't calibrate as that takes more time, money, equipment, and knowledge.Take 15 minutes and verify the control arm inclination angles.
Use an inclination app on your cell phone and ensure your garage floor is *absolutely* level. Otherwise, take it to the dealer and pay them a couple of hours labor.
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Thanks, that is probably the case. Soon after i wrote my last post here one of the new airsprings in the rear started to leak and dropped the rear so the tec is going to have a look at it today. I can't lift it myself since it's too low so i'm not sure what happend but it might contribute too the problem i had before?
Other than adjusting ride height, what does the calibration do? What i'm after is, if the ride height i the same/correct after the leak is fixed. Should i still re calibrate?
Also, one of the times the front suspension slammed im pretty sure the right front tire hit the rolled lip inside the fender since it's scraped. Which is odd since it was just normal driving conditions.
Just found out that my new rear air spring is bad. It looks like a C instead of sitting straight. I'm getting it replaced under warranty. Anyone know how this happened or experinced something similar?
Got new 2x compressors, front struts and rear airsprings. The rear struts are oem with only 37k miles on them.
The W220 site I used for reference before I recalibrated my suspension. As of today my malware blocker is indicating there is a Trojan on that site so I'm skipping it today.
I've posted the attachment before but it is buried in the STAR DIY section; after I replaced all four air springs my car was sitting lower on all four corners than prior to replacement. I spent an hour ensuring a level surface and then another hour to calibrate.
Last edited by bbirdwell; Sep 15, 2019 at 02:21 PM.
Thanks. Once the tec have replaced the bad airspring i will have a go at this if my problem persists.
Have to get star anyway, dealer is only an option if i fail with my own work since they charges around 200 usd per hour. So far no worked carried out other than warranty.
I have to read up on this but just so i get the basics. I would set up like i would do a string alignment on a flat surface. Adjust front toe to -0.5. Check inclination at front control arm and on rear axel with app. The numbers i get i then put in to star during calibration? Done? No problems occurred after your calibration?
When checking inclination, should the car rest on the ground at normal comfort ride height?
Raise and lower the car a couple of times prior to measuring the inclination angles. Measure inclination angles at the normal (not raised) ride height.
Raise or lower the car until you reach the proper inclination angle. Verify the sensors' voltage reading is within the allowable range at that inclination angle (e.g. rear sensor should read between 2.2 and 3.0 volts), go to next screen, enter the measured angle (actually all four angles at once so do both fronts and the rear before going to final screen), click on program/confirm.
FWIW, I perform all of my alignments myself; takes a bit longer than the shop but the tech there could never get my steering wheel straight. Calibrating the suspension should bring you into the recommended camber range and that should not change until the bushings begin to wear. After that, the toe is the only setting easily adjustable.
If you don't want to mess with the string alignment, just calibrate the suspension then take the car to a shop for the toe.
For camber, a piece of square aluminum tubing approximately 1" (25mm) square. Cut it just long enough to reach across edge-to-edge on the wheel (not tire). Hold tubing vertically against wheel, then hold your cell phone inclinometer against the tubing to measure the camber. I've compared my cell phone's free inclinometer app against my expensive electronic camber gauge and there is no difference that I can tell (except my electronic camber gauge doesn't download advertisements! )
How do you get to the parts to take the measure with the car? Or do you lift the wheels with a jack?
Which app did you use?
Yes. That is the exact video I used. I could reach the front control arms and rear axles with the car on the ground in my garage. It was awkward but not impossible.
The one on my phone is "Clinometer" by plaincode. Self-calibrates and accurate to 0.1 degree. Explore the settings menu before using. When calibrating the phone, the app will tell you if you are using the wrong face.
While waiting on parts for my car which still have not arrived i keep having concerns about what happen to my car.
The car is a low mileage cls55. First front right strut went which also blew the compressor. Thus i got replaced two front struts, compressor and rear airsprings. Had the car for two days the one of the new airsprings blew. All parts are oem.
Anyone have any ideas on why the rear airspring blew other than calibration? Wrong install or just bad part? The car gives no codes, it wont just lift the bad side. The spring looks bent.
While waiting on parts for my car which still have not arrived i keep having concerns about what happen to my car.
The car is a low mileage cls55. First front right strut went which also blew the compressor. Thus i got replaced two front struts, compressor and rear airsprings. Had the car for two days the one of the new airsprings blew. All parts are oem.
Anyone have any ideas on why the rear airspring blew other than calibration? Wrong install or just bad part? The car gives no codes, it wont just lift the bad side. The spring looks bent.
I'm currently replacing both front struts, rear bags, rear shocks, and valve block. Adam at Eurocharged ATX highly recommended replacing the valve block in addition to everything else because it could be another point of failure and potentially cause a bag to burst. The part wasn't all that expensive and since I was doing everything anyways might as well do it right.
I didn't install it myself and only get oem since it's under warranty so i'm not paying.
Looking at epc i find A2113280089 distributier and A2113200158 valve block. I think i might replace both. How do i replace them without making a mess? I don't have star so i cant drain system.
When the new bag bursted the car where in sleep mode in the garage. It's like the bag suddenly overfilled.
After some more thinking i'm not sure about the valveblock and distributier either since my car do not sag on any corner other than the broken one. Been sitting for close to two weeks. How does the operation of valve block and distributier work? Can they cause a overfill situation or similar?
Finally the rear right spring where replaced under warranty but now the right rear sits slightly higher than rear left. The mechanic had star with him and all voltage values where in spec. No codes. What to do? Check level sensor in rear or take it to mb for calibration?
The levels according to icarsoft mbII are front left -20mm, front right -16mm, rear -16mm.
Looking form behind of the car, rear right sits higher which is where the just mounted airspring sits.
I took the car for a short, very careful drive and the car feels normal i think. At least during these conditions. Should i diagnose something on my own or just take it to mb for calibration since i dont have star?
The rear air springs inflate together, not individually as in the front. Possibly the car did not have full weight on the wheels when the parts were torqued down? I followed the WIS instructions to the letter and still had the right rear 1/4" (6mm) higher than the left side. I haven't bothered to measure it since.
You can always drive it onto a lift with the tracks for the tires (rather than lifting at the jack points), loosen the air spring bolts, bounce the car a few times (or raise/lower), then re-torque the bolts.
Do you have the difference in the rear even after calibration? They tightened everything in the air. I asked them why the didn't do it under load and they said it didn't matter. I tought why argue, i can just redo that part later.
Since i have no lift access, how about lift the car, loosen up the bolts, put it on the ground, lift and lower a couple of times, lift, put axels under load with jack and re torqe?
I hate this warranty stuff resulting in diffrent people being involved in my car and that i dont have star.
Your idea would work but there is not a lot of room under there. If you have some concrete pads that can stack to about 4" (100mm) in height, you can try lifting the car, slide the pads/blocks/whatever under the tires, then lower the car onto the pads. At least you'll have a little bit of room to swing a torque wrench.
Last edited by bbirdwell; Oct 2, 2019 at 03:30 PM.
Good. Thanks. I will try blockbulding tomorrow. Right now I'm really worried about driving the car since i don't want another blown bag like before. Bbirdwell, based on the info i been giving you. Do so see any bag blowing risk with the car?
The bag filled what looked to be fine while being in air and also once slowly lowered to the ground. Even tough they had das they filled it with only the car.
I will also check my level sensors tomorrow. Front right sit a few mm higher. Could it be that front right affects rear right?
When I replaced the rear main control arm bushing I didn't bother lowering the car before torquing the bolts, I haven't had a failure in my old rear bag from doing so, I do not think it is necessary for you to do this, but it certainly wouldn't do any harm!
I have measured my ride height a lot. I find that an uneven surface will drive you batty chasing 1-2cm of variation, at the end of the day I am not convinced it matters in the slightest beyond triggering our OCD. Test the car, robustly. If it breaks it breaks if it doesn't you good to go but again this is a personal choice I'd hate for you to go have some fun and pop it on my advice :P
As you can see below these units appear to be individually self managing with valves to control their volume and level. I really think you had rotten luck with a dead on arrival airbag(again, just my remote opinion :P)
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