corgiman

After a few months with the car I can definitely say that I am somewhat disappointed with Airmatic DC - not in terms of handling or ride but wheel control. It seems to me that the car bottoms easily over large undulations if there is any sort of sharp input. Maybe it's because the car rides lower and there is not the suspension travel to absorb these inputs.

For the guys who have lowered their cars - doesn't this make the problem worse?

Anyway it's no match for ABC which had absolute control over almost everything short of open gutter plates.

I live in Houston which has reall, really crappy streets BTW.

rusnakmb

What I did is to set in Sport II mode, which give you better handling.

tendons

t here is a bit of difference, but it seldom is impressive in handling. One of the great dissapointments of the e55 in addition to the steering was not putting the abc suspension in their" performance car".

CynCarvin32

Airmatic works well in the S-Class where the car is not deisgned to be thrown around. When you try and control the 4200 lb E55 with Airmatic, things get a bit hectic.

An S55 or SL55 is 100% glued to the grown while the E55 feels lost at times. The CL/S/SL and dive into corners in a manner that the E55 can not.

The E55 is the lightest of the lage 55's but it also is the most prone to float and it has the least grip. If the S55 can pull .92 on the skid pad the E55 should at least equal that figure. But the E55 only manages .84 and that is less than a Cayanne Turbo or 4.8is X5! Oh well

rusnakmb

If MB puts full airmatic system on E55, which means all the W211 will have the same airmatic system.

So far nothing has spoken from MB.

Well.... same feeling as I had when I comparing the S and E's tranny. The S feels better than E....

corgiman

I guess my biggest complaint the way I drive is not ride/handling but wheel control. I notice thew car does better with short sharp inputs if it is raised - more wheel travel??

And I fail to notice much difference between comfort and sport modes except extra ride harshness.

CynCarvin32

I have an SL55 with ABC and an E55 with AirMatic DC. The SL rides very smoothly (but has limited rear suspension travel at times.... bottoms out to easily at speed). The SL does however feel like a sporty car. It turns in well and has the ability to tighten its line when needed.

The E55 rides far worse than the SL and in sport II its down right stiff. Trouble is that when you push the car 4200 lbs of mass over stresses the Sport II setting and there is not enough body control. In addition I have noticed that the E55 bounces up and down a great deal in Sport II but the SL never bounces.

If the E55 had ABC I honestly think it would be the best performance around. If the SL can do it and E could do it for it weighs less.

But as far as ride goes you are correct, AirMatic does not ride very well at all in Sport II and floats too much in the other modes.

SLK55_AMG

ofcourse ABC is another story... i can easily drive fast with confidence at turns...

Dr Chill

I wonder how hard it would be to ditch the airmatic system in favor of coilovers.

corgiman

impossible

VelocitE55

Anything is possible, its just a question of whether your crazy enough to spend that much to do it.