This has been discussed some before, but this car is getting older and older offerings are drying up while some new stuff may now be available.

I'm ready to swap my E55 over to coilovers and I'm looking for suggestions, informed opinions, and honest reviews.

The idea was to restore the car to as close as I could to what it was like when new...but, unfortunately even when new, the suspension always left a lot to be desired. In many reviews, that's listed as one of the "cons". This car is a weekend car for around town with occasional "spirited driving" on curvy roads in the hills and mountains. This is where the car really lets me down. The floaty/boaty feel when going over humps or curves at high speeds is what I expect from a Lexus LS or S-Class, but not this. I want it to feel firm and planted. I think it's just air suspension in general that feels this way. Stock spring sport suspensions on other cars I've owned/driven feel a lot better in that regard.

In the past, I've used H&R, TEIN, and D2 coilovers.

Thoughts? Any DIYs out there for removal, installation, programming, and button replacement?

 

I found this. Not sure if this represents best practices. Any feedback will be appreciated:

 

I have BC coils and love em! They did take away the “luxury” part of the ride and added some “sportiness” to it. I’m other words, you feel more of the road and it’s imperfections. If that’s not what you want and like that floaty, boat, feeling then keep the air ride. I’d like to try KDW next or a coilover that’s a step up from what I have next

 

Thanks for the feedback.

What would you be looking to get from the KW coilovers that you don't have with the BC?

How much effort does/would it take to adjust them? Are we talking, just remove the fender liners or would it be more involved than that?

 

Right, KW. I don’t know where I got kdw ??

Just cuz they offer more adjustability. The BC only allow rebound. That and to upgrade to a more than “entry level” coilover when the time comes. I just got the BCs Christmas of 2020

The front is easy to adjust. The knobs are visible when you pop the hood. The rear needs some of the trunk carpet to come out of the way. They can be adjusted in minutes, including moving the carpet out of the way. It’ll take longer figuring out what settings you like over adjusting front and rear!

 

Sorry. I should have been more specific. I mean if you want to fine-tune the ride height.

Regarding adjusting dampening:
Yeah, I imagine that adjusting dampening would involve getting to the tops. Some manufacturers (like BC) have a sort of extension device where you can "remotely" turn the dampening dial. You'd route this from the top of the rear shock to some more accessible area in the trunk or deck lid:





TEIN even has an electronic controller where you can tune the dampening (sorta like people control Air Ride). This way you can adjust dampening on the fly similar to the OEM ADS dampening control we have now...but more granular.



I had TEIN coilovers on my 2017 WRX (tuned) and adjusting the dampening was a lot more responsive than what we get in our W211s. I could go from a "stock plush feel" to "track car riding on rails" by adjusting the dampening on all 4 corners from full soft to full hard, with maybe 16 steps in-between. It was very, very dramatic...and awesome.

I think what limits our cars from feeling the dramatic shift is that, no matter how stiff we make the dampeners, the air bladders are still mushy.

 

I have my BC for 5 years with 15 clicks front and back. The ride is OK not as good as air suspension but if you have Pano-roof, you will get the creek sound in un-even pavement.
I still feel my stock suspension in CLS55 handle better than my E55 with BC coilover.

 

CLS was designed to handle better than the E class

 

I haven’t had to adjust my rear. I would imagine just put her on jacks and adjust from there. The place that put mine on got it pretty close the first time.

 

I was in the same boat (pun intended) as you were and have gone with H&R Monotube coilovers on my E55. It was either H&R or KW V2 and i went with H&R after consulting with the guy who builds tracktools for the Nordschleife here in our area. The H&R were a bit cheaper and he said for someone who intends to drive their car a bit faster around corners and casually have fun in it, the H&R would be enough, since you won't really need the settings, the KW offer. I'm super happy with these coilovers. You can adjust the height on them and nothing else, but i feel no need to change anything, since they just work. The car feels a lot more direct in corners, the ride is noticably harder and you feel the road under your ***. Going fast (300kph/ 180mph) the car feels super stable and planted. A friend who dailies a ND Miata was surprised how well the car handled for being a 2T ship.

I installed the coilovers myself with the help of a friend and it's def doable. First off i emptied the strut and airbag pressure of the airmatic stuff with STAR.
The front is pretty straight forward, you unbolt the 3 screws on the top and the bolt on the control arm and pull the airstrut out, after disonnecting the air line and cables. In the pic i had removed the upper control arm, in order to replace the bushings with PU bushings, but you can leave it in, if you're just taking out the strut i think.

Before installing the new coilover, you need to put it together. These are the parts that need to come together.

All put together looks like this:



Installed on the car:
You can adjust the height by turning the adjuster under the spring up or down



The rear is a bit more tricky. You need the non-airmatic control arm, since the spring seat is different on airmatic. Partnumber is: A211 350 18 06 (2 needed). Officially you need to lower the subframe to get the airbags out, cause they have an external air reservoir. You can however cut open the clamp of the reservoir hose and remove the hose from the reservoir and get them and the bags out, without lowering the subframe. In order to remove the lower control arms, you need to loosen the exhaustand let it hang as seen here:


In order to remove the rear shocks, you need to remove the sidepanels in th trunk, for which you have to remove the trim in the middle of the trunk first. That trim is held by plastic clips, which you need to pull out You can see the instructions for the shocks here:
On H&R and KW the height adjuster for the rear sits on top of the rear shock. This is the trickiest part! Once the adjuster is installed, you can't adjust it, because you simply can't reach it with the tools. So in order to change the height, you need to remove them again, which means, you have to unbolt the lower control arm again, incl. the exhaust. I tried getting a spring compressor in there, but i coudln't fit it in there, so i just unbolted the control arm again. So ideally, you'll leave the exhaust loose until you have your correct ride height.





In order to get the Xenon light adjustment to work, you need to repin one front level sensor and the rear level sensor from the airmatic ecu plug into the LWR Ecu. I did it on mine and have it noted somewhere which wire goes where, but i'd have to look for it. Furthermore you'll need to recode the LWR ECU from airmatic to static suspension and remove the airmatic code from the instrument cluster coding.
Finishing touch would be, to get the button beneath the shifter without the airmatic button which is plug and play


If i had to do it all over again, would i do it? Yes, this is the best mod for this car out there in my opinion, because the car is just so much more fun in corners with proper suspension. This mod works really well together with bigger brakes too

 

Thanks so much, everyone. @Uncle Benz , especially with the detailed pics. Nice work with the trim, too. I've seen others do the swap, but the leave the buttons on the console.

It sucks that the rear has to almost be completely disassembled for resizing the ride height. But, I guess it's worth it once you get it set. Whenever I have coilovers, I find myself adjusting dampening much, much more often than height.

 

D2 GT offers the ability to choose a spring rate.

Any suggestions on a rate for my car?

 

The only different is the steering rack. 2006 E55 has upgrade one same as CLS and my E55 is 2006

 

OK. I'm getting closer to buying a kit. Possibly today.

Any thoughts on Bilstein B16 PSS9?

 

The car is stated to be 4” longer, 2” wider, and 1” lower than an E. It also did .88 on the skid pad vs the Es .83. I don’t believe it’s quite 30%, but MB also states it’s that much stiffer than the E. So a little more than a steering rack…

 

UPDATE:
I just picked up the OEM parts to convert from Airmatic to coil spring suspension. Rear control arms (with covers) and all kinds of nuts, bolts, and small parts.

I've also ordered a set of D2 GT coilovers to go overkill with it all 😂. These are D2's answer to the KW V3. The price was really good and they have a service center in North Carolina where I can send them for rebuilding (or reconfiguration) if needed.


A few of the features from their literature/website:
It's gonna be a few weeks until they arrive.

Now I have to decide if I'm going to pull out the Airmatic pump, lines, sensors, etc... from the car or simply disconnect them for possible reuse later.

 

Rip it out, you won't miss the crap matic with those coilovers 😜

 

This thread is making me want to go coilovers, I don't really care for comfort rides as most of my driving/commuting is local driving, 10-15 miles here and there.

How much more rough is the ride with coilovers in comparison to air suspension? OP - sorry for the thread hijack, but you are making me want coilovers now!!

 

Here are the parts. I got the updated console button with the deleted rise and EDC buttons from eBay.




I'm sure that I could have gotten this stuff from eBay or a local junk yard. But, the savings wasn't worth the effort. And whatever I don't use here, I can return.

Yeah, every car that I've driven with a basic OEM "sport" suspension handles better than the Airmatic. It's really bad at highway speeds.

I imagine that the performance engineers at AMG didn't want the air suspension, but the MB luxury nerds overruled them and threw every option at the top of the line E-Class. I think* my car has every option available in 2003, except maybe Designo. Also, I think that big engine bragging rights and straight line performance dominated the conversations and headlines back then.

*I don't have turning headlights or navigation. But, those may not have been available in 2003.

 

I think you made a great decision and have convinced me to do the same. I simply can't stand the floaty boat feel of these cars; to me, once that is addressed, it's the perfect daily (I am on my third E55 with this one). Thank you for the input.

 

Hello I have the same problem. I'm looking for opinions guys who have coilovers in e55. I think about bc, d2 or kw any reviews?

 

Personally, I love the OEM air ride and hate to see it removed. I do understand why people switch to coilovers.

That said, just because all coilovers look pretty much the same doesn't mean they are all built with the same quality and internal valving. I know that BC is the common choice, and it appears most people have had a good experience with them. If you are willing to spend a bit more for German built and engineered parts, the KW V2 is a solid option. Depending on the amount you want to lower the car, there are two options. One allows for 1.2"-2.3" and the other .08"-1.6". Damping curves are designed on their "shaker" rig specifically for the car. They also carry a lifetime warranty where other companies offer as little as a 1 year warranty. KW does have a US office with a service center in Central California, if that is a concern. Just my $.02

 

I have airmatic in my second civil w211 i like it a lot but in e55 its little bit soft for me I need better reaction to steering move. I think I will choose KW

 

With the car in "Sport 2" you feel the car is too soft?

 

little bit, for example many years ago i have e320 cdi without airmatic I change oem suspension for bilstein b8 with eibach springs after that I feel like buy new car without 1/3 weight. Very big improvement on the corners, better feeling with the car. I need this in e55. My car have 150000 miles I think air shocks not work like new and requires replace them. (sorry for my english)