Airmatic malfunction; car pulls to right; airmatic sensor replaced
Junior Member
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 38
Likes: 2
E63 AMG - W211 - 2007 - Flint Grey
I try to keep these titles "searchable" to add to the wealth of knowledge on this forum, so here goes:
Thanks to the excellent recommendation by guys like BerndV and others, got the Conti DWS's all around and the NVH is indeed so much better with very little compromised in dry/wet on performance. My fronts (stock tires) were basically bald and the rears were half way so I just replaced them all at once, I'm at 14,500 miles and had no major issues with wheels/tires or air-tragic (airmatic)
Before getting the continental tires, I initially brought the car in because it had a vibration over 50mph, in the steering, in the body of the car, and more pronounced when I would move the steering left or right such as in a lane change maneuver. The checked rims, no bends/cracks (I have the wheel tire protection), said the fronts needed replacement but that the rears which were fine (tires and rims) needed re-balancing. No issues at that time with my suspension that I knew of.
They recommended an alignment with the change of all four tires, as I chose the conti's, and this made sense. When I got the car back, the vibration still seemed to be there a bit, but much better. And the car definitely pulled gradually to the right. Now this was NOT the road crown, and NOT normal for benz's to pull to the right (I read this a lot from some people on the forum, and this is incorrect, a benz should drive straight as an arrow when correctly aligned). I definitely became annoyed having to recorrect the car frequently to get it to stay in lane, and did NOT have any alignment or pulling issues whatsoever with the stock tires up to that moment that they needed to be replaced.
So I put it comfort suspension (I always drive in S+) and got "airmatic malfunction" which I thought was odd but seemingly unrelated. The suspension felt fine and the cars height seemed symmetric and normal for the S+ that I always drive in, yet it wouldn't switch to S or C suspension setting. I restarted the car and didn't try any more airmatic switching as i didn't want to be stranded and brought it in again.
After three days, they found the problem to be an airmatic sensor that wasn't reading correctly, and they noted the pull to the right immediately. They checked the alignment specs and data and it all seemed to be done perfectly so they replaced the sensor and the car drove straight again, and I concur -- it's back to driving totally normal, straight, and no vibrations.
Just and FYI to anyone out there getting something similar. Not sure if an airmatic sensor got damaged during tire replacement, but it was ironic that the suspension malfunctioned and caused the pull to the right immediately after I had the tires replaced.
Cheers
Thanks to the excellent recommendation by guys like BerndV and others, got the Conti DWS's all around and the NVH is indeed so much better with very little compromised in dry/wet on performance. My fronts (stock tires) were basically bald and the rears were half way so I just replaced them all at once, I'm at 14,500 miles and had no major issues with wheels/tires or air-tragic (airmatic)
Before getting the continental tires, I initially brought the car in because it had a vibration over 50mph, in the steering, in the body of the car, and more pronounced when I would move the steering left or right such as in a lane change maneuver. The checked rims, no bends/cracks (I have the wheel tire protection), said the fronts needed replacement but that the rears which were fine (tires and rims) needed re-balancing. No issues at that time with my suspension that I knew of.
They recommended an alignment with the change of all four tires, as I chose the conti's, and this made sense. When I got the car back, the vibration still seemed to be there a bit, but much better. And the car definitely pulled gradually to the right. Now this was NOT the road crown, and NOT normal for benz's to pull to the right (I read this a lot from some people on the forum, and this is incorrect, a benz should drive straight as an arrow when correctly aligned). I definitely became annoyed having to recorrect the car frequently to get it to stay in lane, and did NOT have any alignment or pulling issues whatsoever with the stock tires up to that moment that they needed to be replaced.
So I put it comfort suspension (I always drive in S+) and got "airmatic malfunction" which I thought was odd but seemingly unrelated. The suspension felt fine and the cars height seemed symmetric and normal for the S+ that I always drive in, yet it wouldn't switch to S or C suspension setting. I restarted the car and didn't try any more airmatic switching as i didn't want to be stranded and brought it in again.
After three days, they found the problem to be an airmatic sensor that wasn't reading correctly, and they noted the pull to the right immediately. They checked the alignment specs and data and it all seemed to be done perfectly so they replaced the sensor and the car drove straight again, and I concur -- it's back to driving totally normal, straight, and no vibrations.
Just and FYI to anyone out there getting something similar. Not sure if an airmatic sensor got damaged during tire replacement, but it was ironic that the suspension malfunctioned and caused the pull to the right immediately after I had the tires replaced.
Cheers
Junior Member
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 24
Likes: 4
2014 E63S and 2016 GLC300 (wife's)
Interesting.. I got rear brake pads replaced yesterday on my 2014 E63S and I noticed a slight pull yesterday when I was driving home then I ended up getting the same 'Malfunction' light you got on my way to work this morning.. Hopefully its just a sensor!
Member
Joined: Jul 2019
Posts: 220
Likes: 54
'09 C63 AMG
My car pulls slightly to the right also. It's intermittent. Sometimes I have to hold significant pressure on the wheel to go straight. Other times I can let go of the wheel completely for a quarter mile and it will stay in the lane (perfectly dead-flat surface). When the pull is happening, it happens on roads that are crowned, roads that are not crowned, and roads that are crowned the other way. The alignment is well-within spec all around, and I've swapped both front and rear tires from side to side to no effect.
I was starting to suspect a rear airmatic issue. I have no failure messages. The car is lowered with adjustable height sensor links in the rear. I'm going to start measuring the rear ride height on each side when the problem occurs, and see if the right side is sitting lower when it's pulling. Hopefully fixing mine is just a matter of tweaking the sensor arm adjustment a little.
I was starting to suspect a rear airmatic issue. I have no failure messages. The car is lowered with adjustable height sensor links in the rear. I'm going to start measuring the rear ride height on each side when the problem occurs, and see if the right side is sitting lower when it's pulling. Hopefully fixing mine is just a matter of tweaking the sensor arm adjustment a little.
Newbie
Joined: Mar 2022
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
W212
My car pulls slightly to the right also. It's intermittent. Sometimes I have to hold significant pressure on the wheel to go straight. Other times I can let go of the wheel completely for a quarter mile and it will stay in the lane (perfectly dead-flat surface). When the pull is happening, it happens on roads that are crowned, roads that are not crowned, and roads that are crowned the other way. The alignment is well-within spec all around, and I've swapped both front and rear tires from side to side to no effect.
I was starting to suspect a rear airmatic issue. I have no failure messages. The car is lowered with adjustable height sensor links in the rear. I'm going to start measuring the rear ride height on each side when the problem occurs, and see if the right side is sitting lower when it's pulling. Hopefully fixing mine is just a matter of tweaking the sensor arm adjustment a little.
I was starting to suspect a rear airmatic issue. I have no failure messages. The car is lowered with adjustable height sensor links in the rear. I'm going to start measuring the rear ride height on each side when the problem occurs, and see if the right side is sitting lower when it's pulling. Hopefully fixing mine is just a matter of tweaking the sensor arm adjustment a little.
Has @AMGSIXTHREE or anyone with this issue been able to locate the source of the problem?
Thank you for help, it is appreciated.
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2022
Posts: 376
Likes: 122
E63 AMG
I try to keep these titles "searchable" to add to the wealth of knowledge on this forum, so here goes:
Thanks to the excellent recommendation by guys like BerndV and others, got the Conti DWS's all around and the NVH is indeed so much better with very little compromised in dry/wet on performance. My fronts (stock tires) were basically bald and the rears were half way so I just replaced them all at once, I'm at 14,500 miles and had no major issues with wheels/tires or air-tragic (airmatic)
Before getting the continental tires, I initially brought the car in because it had a vibration over 50mph, in the steering, in the body of the car, and more pronounced when I would move the steering left or right such as in a lane change maneuver. The checked rims, no bends/cracks (I have the wheel tire protection), said the fronts needed replacement but that the rears which were fine (tires and rims) needed re-balancing. No issues at that time with my suspension that I knew of.
They recommended an alignment with the change of all four tires, as I chose the conti's, and this made sense. When I got the car back, the vibration still seemed to be there a bit, but much better. And the car definitely pulled gradually to the right. Now this was NOT the road crown, and NOT normal for benz's to pull to the right (I read this a lot from some people on the forum, and this is incorrect, a benz should drive straight as an arrow when correctly aligned). I definitely became annoyed having to recorrect the car frequently to get it to stay in lane, and did NOT have any alignment or pulling issues whatsoever with the stock tires up to that moment that they needed to be replaced.
So I put it comfort suspension (I always drive in S+) and got "airmatic malfunction" which I thought was odd but seemingly unrelated. The suspension felt fine and the cars height seemed symmetric and normal for the S+ that I always drive in, yet it wouldn't switch to S or C suspension setting. I restarted the car and didn't try any more airmatic switching as i didn't want to be stranded and brought it in again.
After three days, they found the problem to be an airmatic sensor that wasn't reading correctly, and they noted the pull to the right immediately. They checked the alignment specs and data and it all seemed to be done perfectly so they replaced the sensor and the car drove straight again, and I concur -- it's back to driving totally normal, straight, and no vibrations.
Just and FYI to anyone out there getting something similar. Not sure if an airmatic sensor got damaged during tire replacement, but it was ironic that the suspension malfunctioned and caused the pull to the right immediately after I had the tires replaced.
Cheers
Thanks to the excellent recommendation by guys like BerndV and others, got the Conti DWS's all around and the NVH is indeed so much better with very little compromised in dry/wet on performance. My fronts (stock tires) were basically bald and the rears were half way so I just replaced them all at once, I'm at 14,500 miles and had no major issues with wheels/tires or air-tragic (airmatic)
Before getting the continental tires, I initially brought the car in because it had a vibration over 50mph, in the steering, in the body of the car, and more pronounced when I would move the steering left or right such as in a lane change maneuver. The checked rims, no bends/cracks (I have the wheel tire protection), said the fronts needed replacement but that the rears which were fine (tires and rims) needed re-balancing. No issues at that time with my suspension that I knew of.
They recommended an alignment with the change of all four tires, as I chose the conti's, and this made sense. When I got the car back, the vibration still seemed to be there a bit, but much better. And the car definitely pulled gradually to the right. Now this was NOT the road crown, and NOT normal for benz's to pull to the right (I read this a lot from some people on the forum, and this is incorrect, a benz should drive straight as an arrow when correctly aligned). I definitely became annoyed having to recorrect the car frequently to get it to stay in lane, and did NOT have any alignment or pulling issues whatsoever with the stock tires up to that moment that they needed to be replaced.
So I put it comfort suspension (I always drive in S+) and got "airmatic malfunction" which I thought was odd but seemingly unrelated. The suspension felt fine and the cars height seemed symmetric and normal for the S+ that I always drive in, yet it wouldn't switch to S or C suspension setting. I restarted the car and didn't try any more airmatic switching as i didn't want to be stranded and brought it in again.
After three days, they found the problem to be an airmatic sensor that wasn't reading correctly, and they noted the pull to the right immediately. They checked the alignment specs and data and it all seemed to be done perfectly so they replaced the sensor and the car drove straight again, and I concur -- it's back to driving totally normal, straight, and no vibrations.
Just and FYI to anyone out there getting something similar. Not sure if an airmatic sensor got damaged during tire replacement, but it was ironic that the suspension malfunctioned and caused the pull to the right immediately after I had the tires replaced.
Cheers
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2022
Posts: 376
Likes: 122
E63 AMG
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2022
Posts: 376
Likes: 122
E63 AMG
So would that be a sensor on the left or rear?
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Thread Starter
Out Of Control!!
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 13,799
Likes: 3,229
2014 E63S; AMS 100 octane ECU dyno tune; EDOK TCU tune; BB intakes; sprintbooster
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2022
Posts: 376
Likes: 122
E63 AMG
Man I bet that’s my issue. Good thing it’s inexpensive and easy to replace. The vehicle did sustain some minor damage to the rear quarter and wheel. The fact that the issue is intermittent and my steering pulls right tells me that. Otherwise the vehicle drives straight and like today, the light didn’t come on.
