Airmatic conversion

[Hoops]

Has anyone got a conversion from airmatic to shock and spring on a w219 cls please?????

 

[V6Matty]

Most of the after market suspension manufacturers do a kit I believe, the question however is why would you want to go that route, the airmatic is a great system when all working and isn’t actually that much more cost wise than traditional spring and strut

 

[John Laidlaw]

as above, not known of anyone go that route with airmatic (a few with ABC but that's understandable!)

 

[LostKiwi]

as above, not known of anyone go that route with airmatic (a few with ABC but that's understandable!)

No it's not!

 

[mersum1es]

W219 is available at factory set of conventional spring suspension. Why not use them?

 

[Botus]

what upsets me is the idiots give no idea about the spring rates or damping they've chosen....

if they said ride height, 5mm below comfort, spring rate 8% firmer than how it feels in comfort and 10% firmer damping, I'd always replace with a kit containing real springs...

air suspension doesn't work on our roads.

mostly its just an odd vague unpleasant mix of out of its depth, miss matched confusion. It might just cope on great roads. but we have worn nasty roads and here airmatic doesn't know how to cope 80% of the time and thus its just a catastrophe. as for handling it doesn't even understand what it is.... its just a dangerous wayward mess that doesn't cope at all

the adjustment between comfort and sport is

comfort = uncomfortable out of control wallowing
sport = uncomfortable but brittle mildly wallowing mess

 

[matthew k]

what upsets me is the idiots give no idea about the spring rates or damping they've chosen....

if they said ride height, 5mm below comfort, spring rate 8% firmer than how it feels in comfort and 10% firmer damping, I'd always replace with a kit containing real springs...

air suspension doesn't work on our roads.

mostly its just an odd vague unpleasant mix of out of its depth, miss matched confusion. It might just cope on great roads. but we have worn nasty roads and here airmatic doesn't know how to cope 80% of the time and thus its just a catastrophe. as for handling it doesn't even understand what it is.... its just a dangerous wayward mess that doesn't cope at all

the adjustment between comfort and sport is

comfort = uncomfortable out of control wallowing
sport = uncomfortable but brittle mildly wallowing mess

Must say I wasn't very impressed with my W211 e55's Airmatic. Wasn't any bother and didn't drop etc, but it didn't seem to ride or handle as well as my W211 Sport.

 

[EmilysDad]

what upsets me is the idiots give no idea about the spring rates or damping they've chosen....

if they said ride height, 5mm below comfort, spring rate 8% firmer than how it feels in comfort and 10% firmer damping, I'd always replace with a kit containing real springs...

air suspension doesn't work on our roads.

mostly its just an odd vague unpleasant mix of out of its depth, miss matched confusion. It might just cope on great roads. but we have worn nasty roads and here airmatic doesn't know how to cope 80% of the time and thus its just a catastrophe. as for handling it doesn't even understand what it is.... its just a dangerous wayward mess that doesn't cope at all

the adjustment between comfort and sport is

comfort = uncomfortable out of control wallowing
sport = uncomfortable but brittle mildly wallowing mess

i disagree.
I like the Airmatic on my car like wise the R Class before it ..... always set to Comfort (unless I'm towing) I like the soft 'wallowing' and as for handling .... it's a 2 tonne plus barge. If I wanted handling I'd have bought a sports car.

 

[John Laidlaw]

The rear air in my 63 was mighty fine

 

[LostKiwi]

i disagree.
I like the Airmatic on my car like wise the R Class before it ..... always set to Comfort (unless I'm towing) I like the soft 'wallowing' and as for handling .... it's a 2 tonne plus barge. If I wanted handling I'd have bought a sports car.

One with ABC

 

[Botus]

w221 conversion - where it gives preciously NO information about what they fitted

 

[Hoops]

Most of the after market suspension manufacturers do a kit I believe, the question however is why would you want to go that route, the airmatic is a great system when all working and isn’t actually that much more cost wise than traditional spring and strut

The answer to why is my car in comfort mode will rattle your fillings out and rather than spend a lot of money chasing the cause I thought it may be better just to do away with it

 

[EmilysDad]

The answer to why is my car in comfort mode will rattle your fillings out and rather than spend a lot of money chasing the cause I thought it may be better just to do away with it

surely fixing the fault will be cheaper than trying to replace the Airmatic

 

[V6Matty]

Agree, replacing airmatic with aftermarket is going to cost a couple of thousand if your not doing the work yourself, you then have to have the car told it no longer has airmatic.
Have you had any diagnostics done to find the cause of the hard ride yet?

 

[brandwooddixon]

Apart from possible issues with your airmatic suspension, what profile tyres are you running?
I've always noticed a big difference when I switch from my summer 20" rims to my winter 17" ones!

 

[Hoops]

Tyres are 245/40 18 front and 275/35 18 on rear

 

[Hoops]

surely fixing the fault will be cheaper than trying to replace the Airmatic

Not sure to be honest..... just thinking there’s so many different parts to the airmatic that could be the cause ‍

 

[Hoops]

Agree, replacing airmatic with aftermarket is going to cost a couple of thousand if your not doing the work yourself, you then have to have the car told it no longer has airmatic.
Have you had any diagnostics done to find the cause of the hard ride yet?

Basic diagnosis but not in depth...... the car changes height without a problem...... it’s been suggested that it may use hydraulic pressure to do the height and air for damping but I’m not sure

 

[LostKiwi]

..it’s been suggested that it may use hydraulic pressure to do the height and air for damping but I’m not sure

You're being misinformed. The hydraulic system is ABC which is not Airmatic. Totally different animals.
ABC is only fitted to S, SL and CL as far as I'm aware (and then not all of them).

Airmatic issues are almost always one of 4 things:
1. Pump (and associated relay)
2. Leaking lines
3. Leaking bags
4. Bad valve block.

Occasionally level sensors can fail but it's not common.

 

[Hoops]

Pump must be working as heights work fine.
Doesn’t lose height so assuming lines ok.
So thinking more valve block ‍
would a faulty valve block give a hard ride???