C55 Amg Firm Ride?

[Coggers]

I've now owned my C55 AMG for about a month and am absolutely loving it. Its amazing to drive and can't fault it...........however, the ride is quite firm. If I run over a drain cover or slight bump in the road the car won't just role over it smoothly like I was expecting a Mercedes to do so, but will actually bang over it making a quite loud noise like its a lowered Vauxhall Nova.

I've owned cars with some quite extreme suspension (race suspension on a Skyline for example), but the truth of it is, I was not expecting a rough ride from a Merc, even if it is an AMG.

Is this other people's experience of the AMG brand?

Of course, it could be that I'm just being a little girl and need to enjoy the beautiful handling.

 

[brucemillar]

I have a C55 Estate. The ride is hard but that feels OK to me. Tyres and wheel sizes will make a huge difference to the ride quality. But what you have may well be how it is meant to be. They do snap springs and it may be worth a check to ensure that everything is in the correct place underneath. Or you could buy an industrial sized tub of pile cream.

 

[clever dicky]

Have a word with benzedup.
He has a fabulous C55 AMG with I believe suspension mods done.

 

[BaldGuy]

Although it's not a Merc... Both of my 911's suspension setup was like this... I lived with the 1st one I had but on my current one I have changed the suspension for H&R. It has transformed the ride, gone is the choppy ride, it's still a "sports" setup but a comfortable setup.... My previous CLK55 Cab was quite a choppy ride too... My previous to that CLK500 also had an H&R kit fitted and again was transformed.... The H&R kit also gave it a slight lower stance....

Cheers Greg

 

[The _Don]

Have you got standard wheels and suspension ?

 

[Coggers]

It has standard low profile tyres. I know these will make the ride firm.
As for suspension. I'm planning on sticking my head under the car again once the weather clears, but it certainly looked standard when I crawled around under the car before purchase.

Maybe I'll consider a suspension change then, see if I can keep the lovely handling and remove the stiffness. Now that the Cat delete is be a bad option due to MOT changes my money can be spent elsewhere.

 

[brucemillar]

Although it's not a Merc... Both of my 911's suspension setup was like this... I lived with the 1st one I had but on my current one I have changed the suspension for H&R. It has transformed the ride, gone is the choppy ride, it's still a "sports" setup but a comfortable setup.... My previous CLK55 Cab was quite a choppy ride too... My previous to that CLK500 also had an H&R kit fitted and again was transformed.... The H&R kit also gave it a slight lower stance....

Cheers Greg

You fail to mention that you have enormous **** which gives extra cushioning.

 

[BaldGuy]

I think you'll find Sir that you carry far more ballast than me... I've also lost weight recently due to issues.... So get stuffed....

 

[just240]

I've now owned my C55 AMG for about a month and am absolutely loving it. Its amazing to drive and can't fault it...........however, the ride is quite firm. If I run over a drain cover or slight bump in the road the car won't just role over it smoothly like I was expecting a Mercedes to do so, but will actually bang over it making a quite loud noise like its a lowered Vauxhall Nova.

I've owned cars with some quite extreme suspension (race suspension on a Skyline for example), but the truth of it is, I was not expecting a rough ride from a Merc, even if it is an AMG.

Is this other people's experience of the AMG brand?

Of course, it could be that I'm just being a little girl and need to enjoy the beautiful handling.

Hi Coggers,

I had exactly the same questions concerning the suspension hashness when i purchased my C55 last March. The car had only covered 28k miles since new so i knew it was nothing to do with the car. I have a friend who owns a E92 M3 & my brother owns a RS4 - both of which have very sporty suspension but they equally both ride on public roads a lot better (ie. no crash or bangs when going over road bumps). I also asked Olly of PCS (Merccedes Specialist garage - on this forum) if there was a problem with the suspension when he last serviced my car - & he said no!

I think that Mercedes or AMG decided on a very basic hard set-up for the C55 when it was new, I recently did a track day at Rockingham raceway in my car & got a 1/2 hour instruction lesson from Tim Harvey, the first thing he asked me before he drove my C55 was to change the suspension set-up to Hardest setting...(as he though all AMG mercedes has electronic controls set-ups). When i informed him that this was not possible on a C55 (only a E55 & so on) he shrugged his shoulders however, after 1 lap he was quite surspried & said there was minimal body roll & movement for a car as large & weighing as much and that it was set-up quite sportly/hard for the road.

Anyway after 10 months of ownership now I can honestly say that you get used to the ride very quickly & it soon becomes very natural. I even think when travelling in other sports cars without electronic adjustable suspension that they are too soft!!

 

[Dieselman]

I think you'll find Sir that you carry far more ballast than me... I've also lost weight recently due to issues.... So get stuffed....

Another happy camper...

 

[Coggers]

@just240. Thanks for the post. That's pretty much was I suspected. Other car manufacturers seem to be going the same way with their 'sporty' cars such as Audi and BMW. I would have to agree that the handling and very negligible body roll on the C55 make it a very nice car to drive quickly.

 

[BenzedUP]

Hi Coggers,

I've not really noticed that on mine, if anything I thought they were abit soft? (for me anyway) could be down to your tyres? I have P zeros on mine.

I went for a complete change to H&R Coilovers on my C55, and I love it, changed the whole drive, it's slightly firmer ride but not crushy if anything it's allot better ride quality than OEM and mostly importantly for me it grips and handles incredibly now, corners flat without any compromises!

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/wheels-tyres/116741-h-r-coilovers-my-c55-amg.html

 

[V12]

Any 203 or 209 i've ever experienced with avantgarde or amg suspension have all been quite "harsh" especially if you compare to the equivalent w202 and 208, that said the 203 and 209 handle a lot better as well.
Have also heard lots of good things about H & R on them, but Greg has already said all that needs to be said...

 

[malphadour]

Ahah, mine is the same, so it is a "feature" of the Avantgarde

I was wondering as both sides seem equally crashy, yet really smooth over smaller bumps.

 

[whitenemesis]

Bilstein B14 on my 203, transformed the ride and handling. Highly recommended