S211 airmatic spring ride quality

[JWood3]

Hi all. I have the beginnings of airbag failure on the rear right of my S211 E500. Currently only dropping if parked in sport mode, but will need sorting asap.
The options have been well discussed on here (OE and Bilstein need the rear end dropped, Arnott does not.)
I will be DIY the swap and the price diff between Arnott and Bilstein is only £100 at the moment.
I am struggling to find accounts of what happens to the comfort mode with Arnott springs, the lack of expansion tank must make a difference? It it worth wrestling the subframe down to keep the ride or is the difference not really noticeable?

 

[Stegel]

I can’t comment on the rear springs, but when I bought my E500 the rear was original (but failing) and the front struts had already been replaced with Arnott units. The car didn’t move between Comfort, Sport 1 and Sport 2 settings - apparently the Arnott units contain a device to fool the car and not flag a fault). That sort of thing bugs me, so I replaced the whole set, front and rear - MB rear (as it was cheaper, after a deposit was refunded when I returned the old ones) and Bilstein at the front.

 

[JWood3]

Just to close this off for future searchers:
I went for Arnott springs in the end. The extra work to drop the prop/ exhaust and subframe just didn’t seem worth it. The instructions given weren’t great, so here’s a few points to help others:
Allow approx 2 hours per side, the videos show a nice shiny car with no rust on a lift, at 18 years old and with Uk road salt it’s a lot harder.
I used Star to deflate the bag, they have 7 bar in so be careful. You will need a way to do this.
Remove the ARB link, stabilising arm at the rear, bolt through the airbag and then the main bolt from control arm to subframe, this makes it super easy to get the old one out and the new in.
You can undo the 10mm air fitting with a standard wrench, just go steady, if you round it off you are screwed.
Cut the clamp to the reservoir pipe, I had to slit the hose to get it off the bag as well.
Replace the white locating pin. It just screws onto the body.
It is impossible to fit the Arnott bag incorrectly, the lower mount is angled to fit into the control arm.
Replace the air fitting. Cut the hose right behind the old ferrule, it compresses the hose so if you reuse that section you could have a leak. The bags come with new parts, remove the white insert, slide the nut on then the ferrule, leave about 2mm sticking out. Tighten to 5nm(snug).
I then lowered the car onto some bricks to just above normal height, then used star to inflate the bag until it just lifted off the jack. Tighten bolts etc at ride height. Then off the jack and set it to calibrated height.

Test drive feels pretty much the same. Comfort/ sport modes work and ride height changes accordingly.

 

[Stegel]

Just to close this off for future searchers:
I went for Arnott springs in the end. The extra work to drop the prop/ exhaust and subframe just didn’t seem worth it. The instructions given weren’t great, so here’s a few points to help others:
Allow approx 2 hours per side, the videos show a nice shiny car with no rust on a lift, at 18 years old and with Uk road salt it’s a lot harder.
I used Star to deflate the bag, they have 7 bar in so be careful. You will need a way to do this.
Remove the ARB link, stabilising arm at the rear, bolt through the airbag and then the main bolt from control arm to subframe, this makes it super easy to get the old one out and the new in.
You can undo the 10mm air fitting with a standard wrench, just go steady, if you round it off you are screwed.
Cut the clamp to the reservoir pipe, I had to slit the hose to get it off the bag as well.
Replace the white locating pin. It just screws onto the body.
It is impossible to fit the Arnott bag incorrectly, the lower mount is angled to fit into the control arm.
Replace the air fitting. Cut the hose right behind the old ferrule, it compresses the hose so if you reuse that section you could have a leak. The bags come with new parts, remove the white insert, slide the nut on then the ferrule, leave about 2mm sticking out. Tighten to 5nm(snug).
I then lowered the car onto some bricks to just above normal height, then used star to inflate the bag until it just lifted off the jack. Tighten bolts etc at ride height. Then off the jack and set it to calibrated height.

Test drive feels pretty much the same. Comfort/ sport modes work and ride height changes accordingly.

Thanks for the update. Interesting on the functionality of the Arnott springs. The fronts on my car certainly killed all that, restored when I switched to Bilstein.

 

[JWood3]

Thanks for the update. Interesting on the functionality of the Arnott springs. The fronts on my car certainly killed all that, restored when I switched to Bilstein.

If I have to replace the fronts I will go oem/ Bilstein as the spring and ADS are combined. Rear air springs do a little for the ride and the separate dampers control the compression and rebound.

 

[ChristopherLembra]

If I have to replace the fronts I will go oem/ Bilstein as the spring and ADS are combined. Rear air springs do a little for the ride and the separate dampers control the compression and rebound.

My 219 front right side needs new air strut and Im thinking if should I go with Arnott or Bilstein. Arnott is 360eur neto while Bilstein is 660 neto. Im not sure the almost 2x price difference is worth buying Bilstein. What is your experience with front air strut so far with Arnott?

 

[JWood3]

My 219 front right side needs new air strut and Im thinking if should I go with Arnott or Bilstein. Arnott is 360eur neto while Bilstein is 660 neto. Im not sure the almost 2x price difference is worth buying Bilstein. What is your experiencewith front air strut so far with

My 219 front right side needs new air strut and Im thinking if should I go with Arnott or Bilstein. Arnott is 360eur neto while Bilstein is 660 neto. Im not sure the almost 2x price difference is worth buying Bilstein. What is your experience with front air strut so far with Arnott?

I replaced rear airbags only. My thoughts re: front are above your post.