hello everyone, i am new to this forum. just bought an 04 e500 and would like to mod it a bit and make it different from all other grandpa cars out there. i would like to lower the car with possibly coil overs, but my concern is the OE suspension, since it has the stock air suspension. i wouldnt want to have any error codes on the dash..... so i was wondering if anyone on here has modified their suspension without any problems. any info would be awesome. thanks

 

Let me get this straight. You want to remove all airmatic components and replace them with a traditional coilover suspension?

Why?

If you're just looking to lower the car, there are a few options. Search the W211 sub forum.

 

Well, that's the reason I posted my question Because I don't know of any other ways on how to get this type of car lowered. Of course I would like to avoid removing the entire suspension and downgrade but I've seen people mentioning springs. But I Did a bit more research on the forums Last night and saw people talking about links. know anything about them? What have you done to your suspension?

 

3 ways to lower an airmatic car:

1. Lowering links - They move the ride height sensor, tricking the car into thinking it's sitting higher than it really is. The airmatic systems compensates by lowering the car. Problem here is, since the airmatic system thinks it's riding at oem height, damping is not adjusted accordingly. Cost - 275.00

2. SDS lowering at dealer or a STAR equipped independent shop. - Car is lowered using the SDS computer, on an alignment rack. Lowering this way is better than #1 because the car knows what height it's riding at and adjusts damping accordingly. It's also performed on an alignment rack so the negative camber associated with lowering a car is minimized. Downside is, the lowering is only about 1" or so. Cost - $250.00, IF you can find a dealer to do it. Most of them deny that it can be done.

3. Electronic lowering module. This is the best of both worlds. If you choose a module like the RENNtech ELM. Ride height is fully adjustable and you can lower the car on the fly. Computer knows about the lowering, so damping is adjusted accordingly. You can get very low, or go back to stock height with the turn of a knob. Downside is cost. They're close to $1500.00 new, but routinely show up in the classified's on this site for $600-900.00, depending on what version of ELM.

I've used all 3 methods between all of my cars. Currently, my E500 and SL600 are lowered via SDS.

If you search my posts, you can find pictures of my E500 lowered with the RENNtech ELM.


There is actually a 4th way to lower an airmatic car, but I declined to list it for safety reasons. The total cost is about $1.00, yes ONE DOLLAR, but I won't endorse this method. If you're interested, search the W211 sections for "washer method" or "washer lowering"

 

Thanks for all the info. I did find some post talking about renntech and it sounds exactly like what I'd like to do. I also saw you can get an optional display to control individually all corners & by the looks of it, it's pretty much a plug & play mod. Have you had any problems when you had renntech? Does it give any kind of errors?

 

No problems with my Renntech ELM V1 on my 05. V3 with remote would be nice but I don't play with the height too much. I am sure if I had the remote, I'd play with it more.

 

I am new to the forum. I just bought an 04 E500 4-matic Wagon and it seems to have a stiff ride when driving over sml bumps around town even in comfort mode. Previous owner installed Toyo Proxces 4 tires. Is there anything I can do to soften the ride?