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W211 E63 in the Shop Again - Airmatic This Time & TCU
What's crackin fellow masochists!
Airmatic bit the dust out on my 2008 W211 E63. Front left completely blown and messed up the fender a bit. Front right not much better. One of the rears is good, the other has a slow leak. Dealer also says it needs a solenoid Compressor is fine. I put a picture of the quote with the other photos below.
MB stock replacements are crazy expensive, my indy quoted with Bilsteins. Any advantage to the Arnotts over the Bilsteins? I am in HK so Arnotts are hard to get here but their team is great and is connecting me with a distributor in SG and their HK "distributor" is only a reseller.
What do y'all think, go with the Bilsteins or keep chasing Arnott?
I had to pick up an Alphard for my wife as we recently had a kid and the benz was in the shop, so that's occupying my spot in my building. Only other spot available is 5000 HKD, roughly 640 USD a month.
To be quite honest i'm really digging the alphard, as a family car you can't beat 'em. Hell, it's even got a cooler in the center console.
Having a serious philosophical debate about whether to just scrap the w211 or fix and keep, or fix and resell. (resale values are **** here, maybe 10K USD with people claiming they are in "perfect" condition) Combined with this I think my last indy was stripping parts or doing bad work, last time I had the whole trans rebuild, and 2 "new" computers. Computers are already throwing codes. Also on that service, they supposedly replaced all the ride level sensors on the airmatic, so I wonder if they just took struts out of the junkyard and threw them in. Thinking to go to small claims over this BS.
Total repair this time around is 56,400 HKD/7,200 USD, 56,400 HKD, to put this in perspective I just picked up the Alphard for 45,000 HKD/5,700 USD.
The main mechanic from the last indy started a new shop so I took it over there, as his investor at the old place was into some shady ****. I put no blame on the main mechanic, he quite famous in the AMG/Ferrari/Lambo/M/RS/anything high performance scene over here.
Any and all feedback is appreciated, no need to be gentle with me
Here is a pic of the AMG getting her tow, service quote, and the new family hauler (Alphard 3.5L with FACTORY TRD bodykit, incredibly rare)
Last edited by wandering; 09-24-2022 at 10:40 PM.
Reason: Added currency conversion and purchase price of Alphard
Nope, I’m HK it has to be bone stock to pass annual MOT, some of the MOT places that are 5x normal cost will pass custom exhausts and tint, but not a coilover conversion :/
Theoretically, would they notice if you put in a stock steel suspension from a non airmatic W211? Car would look bone stock with that and nobody would know, it once was on airmatic. It's a nice car, would be a shame to see it go...
Bilstein's are new units. Arnott offers rebuilt from factory to keep ADS (factory controllable dampening) or with new non-adjustable shocks. I run Arnott rebuilds and they work great. Didn't cost much either. I say fix it.
Theoretically, would they notice if you put in a stock steel suspension from a non airmatic W211? Car would look bone stock with that and nobody would know, it once was on airmatic. It's a nice car, would be a shame to see it go...
Indy is checking if they could get it through with coilovers, tbd
Bilstein's are new units. Arnott offers rebuilt from factory to keep ADS (factory controllable dampening) or with new non-adjustable shocks. I run Arnott rebuilds and they work great. Didn't cost much either. I say fix it.
Gotcha, didn't realize that about the arnotts, I thought they manufactured the complete unit.
Well, your car may not have been bone stock if it had Bilstein air springs.
If it must be 100% OEM, you can do a bone stock OEM conversion as well. Use the parts for the W211 E500.
You can get an OEM conversion kit (using all OEM parts) from ECS tuning (or just use their parts list and get them locally): https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...2113501806kt1/ I used this kit to do my coilover conversion using D2 coilovers.
You can get OEM blank buttons for your center console (from dealer or eBay) to delete the air suspension and adaptive dampening buttons. Then get some shop to tell the car it doesn't have air suspension anymore and all of your warning lights will disappear.
So, you have options. If I were you, I'd go in this order:
Coilover conversion using OEM conversion kit and your favorite coilovers (H&R, KW, D2, BC, etc...)
If coilovers will fail inspection, use OEM conversion kit with aftermarket "sport" springs/shocks like H&R + Bilstein for E500/E55
If you must have 100% OEM MB, then use OEM conversion kit and E500 springs/shocks.
You can do all of the above for less than what you have been quoted. And even less if you get the conversion kit from the junkyard. Every non-air W211 has the parts.
But, the most simple route will be to simply get Arnott units on all 4 corners. As others have stated, those prices seem very high. But, HK may have very expensive parts and labor rates for car stuff.
Conversions do take a lot of time, but clean swaps with the same parts is pretty quick:
Well, your car may not have been bone stock if it had Bilstein air springs.
If it must be 100% OEM, you can do a bone stock OEM conversion as well. Use the parts for the W211 E500.
You can get an OEM conversion kit (using all OEM parts) from ECS tuning (or just use their parts list and get them locally): https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...2113501806kt1/ I used this kit to do my coilover conversion using D2 coilovers.
You can get OEM blank buttons for your center console (from dealer or eBay) to delete the air suspension and adaptive dampening buttons. Then get some shop to tell the car it doesn't have air suspension anymore and all of your warning lights will disappear.
So, you have options. If I were you, I'd go in this order:
Coilover conversion using OEM conversion kit and your favorite coilovers (H&R, KW, D2, BC, etc...)
If coilovers will fail inspection, use OEM conversion kit with aftermarket "sport" springs/shocks like H&R + Bilstein for E500/E55
If you must have 100% OEM MB, then use OEM conversion kit and E500 springs/shocks.
You can do all of the above for less than what you have been quoted. And even less if you get the conversion kit from the junkyard. Every non-air W211 has the parts.
Correct, however, at the "special" MOT, they can get any sort of airstrut through, it's just the coilovers that cause a problem
Well, your car may not have been bone stock if it had Bilstein air springs.
If it must be 100% OEM, you can do a bone stock OEM conversion as well. Use the parts for the W211 E500.
You can get an OEM conversion kit (using all OEM parts) from ECS tuning (or just use their parts list and get them locally): https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...2113501806kt1/ I used this kit to do my coilover conversion using D2 coilovers.
You can get OEM blank buttons for your center console (from dealer or eBay) to delete the air suspension and adaptive dampening buttons. Then get some shop to tell the car it doesn't have air suspension anymore and all of your warning lights will disappear.
So, you have options. If I were you, I'd go in this order:
Coilover conversion using OEM conversion kit and your favorite coilovers (H&R, KW, D2, BC, etc...)
If coilovers will fail inspection, use OEM conversion kit with aftermarket "sport" springs/shocks like H&R + Bilstein for E500/E55
If you must have 100% OEM MB, then use OEM conversion kit and E500 springs/shocks.
You can do all of the above for less than what you have been quoted. And even less if you get the conversion kit from the junkyard. Every non-air W211 has the parts.
also car has all stock suspension at the moment that has failed. It does not have bilsteins, that’s what’s the mechanic is proposing replacing the stock system with.
Think it might be the scrapyard for this old girl.
Well, your car may not have been bone stock if it had Bilstein air springs.
If it must be 100% OEM, you can do a bone stock OEM conversion as well. Use the parts for the W211 E500.
You can get an OEM conversion kit (using all OEM parts) from ECS tuning (or just use their parts list and get them locally): https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...2113501806kt1/ I used this kit to do my coilover conversion using D2 coilovers.
You can get OEM blank buttons for your center console (from dealer or eBay) to delete the air suspension and adaptive dampening buttons. Then get some shop to tell the car it doesn't have air suspension anymore and all of your warning lights will disappear.
So, you have options. If I were you, I'd go in this order:
Coilover conversion using OEM conversion kit and your favorite coilovers (H&R, KW, D2, BC, etc...)
If coilovers will fail inspection, use OEM conversion kit with aftermarket "sport" springs/shocks like H&R + Bilstein for E500/E55
If you must have 100% OEM MB, then use OEM conversion kit and E500 springs/shocks.
You can do all of the above for less than what you have been quoted. And even less if you get the conversion kit from the junkyard. Every non-air W211 has the parts.
also car has all stock suspension at the moment that has failed. It does not have bilsteins, that’s what’s the mechanic is proposing replacing the stock system with.
Think it might be the scrapyard for this old girl.
also car has all stock suspension at the moment that has failed. It does not have bilsteins, that’s what’s the mechanic is proposing replacing the stock system with.
Think it might be the scrapyard for this old girl.
One of my local MB dealerships will not accept any MBs over 10 years old unless they've been maintaining them before they became that old. Same for an Audi dealership that I used. I think this is common practice now, especially when they have enough business with newer cars as more people are repairing cars instead of buying new/used cars because prices are so high.
Maybe ask the inspection station before you do the install to coilovers? "Mr. Inspector, this car is so old MB does not make replacement parts and MB won't accept my car anyway. These safe coilovers are my only option for this vintage car!"
09-24-2022, 10:35 PM
W211 E63 in the Shop Again - Airmatic This Time & TCU
