Very satisfied with them.

 

Only have the Arnott rears. They seem to have a bit more harsh of a ride. May have something to do with not using the factory external air chambers?

I would not hesitate to purchase Arnott products however there are other air strut rebuilders out there. So far I have been buying used MB factory front air struts when needed, but when the time comes that I can't find anymore, I'll send mine out for rebuild instead of buying new, especially from the dealer.

Keep that in mind and don't throw out the old failed strut so you can send it out straight away upon a failed unit on the car or if you can afford it, you could send it out to be rebuilt and have a working spare on hand at anytime.

 

+1 to Sleeper Benz. The Arnott "engineered" "new" version have the extra air volume removed and a dummy resistor placed in the connector to make the Airmatic control believe that the valve is still there. This way Arnott is making the ride adjustment ineffective. I know that they came with a simpler solution to the "drop rear axle to change rear bags" nightmare but they could have been honest on their description. BTW the dummy resistor goes bad. I have changed 3 Arnott front struts already and I still have a rattle, I will change it for a rebuild.
Use rebuilds and make sure that they did not disable the factory damping and stiffness adjustments with their shortcuts.

 

You also make a good point. I contacted Arnott directly and asked them specifically if my wagon would still maintain the height adjustabilty in the rear with their re-designed airsprings and they said Yes.

Yet I could swear they do not automatically adjust? If they do, it must not be very much? It doesn't sag anymore and seems to maintain them same ride height in the back. Now I could be totally wrong and when it gets warmer out I'll try to verify this. I can hear solenoids clicking in the rear for the rear suspension, but I just don't notice it changing height as much like the front factory air struts do.

 

Im in the process of replacing my front left air strut w211 2003 E500.

Has anyone had any experience with the Bilsten air strut?

Have been quoted, all in New Zealand Dollars

- $2,100 for MB strut from the dealer, overnight delivery
- $2,100 from MB parts company for Bilsten strut.

Done some digging online.

- $1,300 for Bilsten from Pelican Parts including delivery
- $1,440 for Bilsten from AutohausAZ inclusive of shipping of $466

Now i could save myself $700 odd dollars here going for the Bilsten.

Would you consider me crazy if i went for the MB Genuine strut?

Main concern is if i was to go with OEM the front struts 1 would be OEM and the other Genuine, would that give me a mixed ride experience?

Also the car has been sitting for the last 2 weeks and want to start driving her again.

 

Did you check Husker internet pricing?
On few occasions Husker, who is official MB dealer sold me MB part cheaper than aftermarket parts elsewhere.

 

Both my front units were replaced with Bilsteins before I purchased my car used. 50-60K on them now and they are doing fine (knock wood). I believe Bilstein is the OEM for the factory units anyway... Why not save a significant amount of money? Get the Bilstein strut.

 

Does the adjustable ride height still work with bilsteins? The saving only ended up at about $300 as I have to pay tax at the port when importing. So I’m thinking after all the research I’ll just go to the dealer haha ahh!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

To Sleeper Benz. The original bags have 2 adjustments, ride height and ride stiffness. Ride height adjustment is achieved by increasing pressure in the bag while ride stiffness adjustment is achieved by increasing the air volume of the bag through the use of the extra reservoir (and pressure adjustment). When Arnott removed the the extra reservoir from the system the ride stiffness adjustment became ineffective. However the ride height adjustment is still functional so they are right about that one. The rear bags height changes are not that visible because you would need a line of sight backwards to observe it. They are the same as the front, I verified with my DAS.

 

As I was replacing the MB air bags with the Arnotts I wondered a bit about why they just didn't incorporate the old air reservoirs into the new replacement air springs. Then I read a few posts that showed pitting and corrosion in the factory aluminum exterior reservoirs that caused slow air pressure leakage. So that little chestnut and the fact that you would have to reconnect to the existing old hoses with new clamps would possibly be an insurance liability for Arnott. I didn't look hard enough to see if the old aluminum reservoirs could be removed for replacement without removing the rear sub-frame but that is probably the whole reason for the Arnott replacements in the first place.

 

The only way to change pressure in the bag is by changing the load, so we are talking about different volumes, or different bag footage.
Additional reservoir adds volume, so think about as adding a cushion to the suspension.
Airmatic also have dual-chamber bags, who depends on the mode change the footage, different footage changes required pressure and stiffeners as the result.

 

The only way to change pressure in the bag is by changing the load, so we are talking about different volumes, or different bag footage.

I guess the only way to change the pressure in the bag is when the compressor pumps more air in it, right? You cannot change the load because the car has always the same weight.

 

Compressor adds air volume to lift the car, while not changing the pressure.
The bags are not perfectly cylindrical, so pressure will change slightly due to that, but not due the level.

 

Arnott in my ML350 and the ride was great when I also changed the compressor, also Arnott. No difference compared to the original MB parts. Only less expensive.

 

AVOID Arnott!! - - - DO NOT BUY ARNOTT PRODUCTS!
I contacted Arnott technical support to confirm which struts I needed to order for my vehicle and was given a part number. I ordered the Arnott recommended parts from a supplier and paid to have the struts installed by my mechanic. After installation, the “service suspension light” remained on my dash. I called Arnott customer service and was told “they are having issues with the sensors, and I would need to swap them out”. Arnott mailed me replacement sensor which I paid additional money to have installed by my mechanic. After the new sensors were replaced, the “service suspension light” remained on. Again, I had to call Arnott and was told that I would have to replace the struts with a totally different part number. Arnott shipped replacement struts and I had them installed by my mechanic (3rd time I had to pay the mechanic!!!). Arnott refused to pay the cost of installation of the replacement struts even after they said they would pay all installation costs. I reached out to Arnott customer service and they refused to assist.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME and MONEY with Arnott.

 

What car are talking about?

 

we had the fronts replaced on our '09 e550 a few years ago with arnotts and i can't tell the difference. parts & labor was about $1200.

 

That seems like an isolated case.
Not saying they did screw the pooch,
but it is very rare.
Have used Arnott on my own car
and have helped install them on
many different MB models. In the
rare case they failed Arnott did a
cross ship if they were purchased from
Arnott. And if it was a parts store like
Advance or Oreilly they covered the
warrant cost at that store.

 

I have to agree with Noodles on this one. I've used Arnott struts on our various W220's (our W211 uses factory coil-overs), and Arnott's customer service has been very good to me. Their quality also has been fine. So, based on my experience, this may be a one-off that the above poster described. Not saying he didn't run into one bad apple, but it is so far only one data point.

 

I heard from two friends with MBs that since Covid their independents, one in Atlanta, one in Charlotte, will not install Arnott air springs or compressors because of repeated failures. Hopefully Arnott has turned around since.

Sixto
05 E320 wagon 209K miles

 

That is really odd about the compressors.
The two I have gotten were Wabco made
Europe. Wabco was the the OE supplier to MB
for suspension compressors.
Not sure if Arnott switched brands so there could
an issue. I have not needed one for many years.

 

I have my rear shocks and bags replaced with Arnott on my w211 ride is horrible. Not losing air and no warning lights but ride is definitely more uncomfortable than my sienna or Chevrolet malibu and Mercedes air ride should not even be used in same sentence as 2005 sienna. I spend too much money on labor and parts I would just bite the bullet and ride the car while hating it.

 

Installed 2 Arnott rear air springs and both failed within a month. Pure trash.

 

OK, that definitely is unexpected. Didn't know that was happening with Arnotts. Wow.

OK, then I guess that for the foreseeable future, we're now going with reman'd Genuine-MB.

 

Arnott doesn’t offer a lifetime warranty anymore. Website says it’s down to 2 years.

Sixto
05 E320 wagon 213K miles

 

Has anyone tried Miessler aftermarket suspension struts and air springs for their AIRMATIC-equipped 4MATIC S211 & W211 cars? The longterm feedback from a few W220 forum members that I have contacted who have installed their air struts and/or air springs with full Adaptive Damping System (ADS) support has been quite positive... Full E-Class product catalog is accessible from here.

 

I have installed 6 sets of Arnott Airmatics over the years on my E55, CLS63 (W219) and GLS63 (X166). They have all lasted between 3 to 5 years. In general, they ride softer than stock but is relatively comfortable, in both comfort and sports settings. In fact, I don't notice much difference between sports and comfort settings in both the CLS and the GL. They are clearly not tuned like the originals for sports driving. They all do the height adjustments as well. Arnott has been pretty exceptional in terms of service on these shocks (all of which had lifetime warranty when I purchased them). CLS just had a third set installed in the front and Arnott's customer service has always willing, pleasant and helpful when I reached out to them for service/replacement units. The value proposition now changes somewhat with the newly minted 2-year warranty instead of lifetime warranty. But for extending the life of that beloved car of yours for general commuting and casual driving, it's a no brainer.

 

2 Arnott air spring failures within a month. Arnott is garbage. And that wonderful 2 year warranty? It's parts only. No refunds, no labor cost. Caveat emptor.

 

Incidentally, Arnott's remanufactured air struts already had developed poor reputations for longevity...and they seem to have gotten worse.

Like I said earlier, I would definitely look into Miessler's aftermarket air suspension parts (assuming that Bilstein parts are out of the question financially)... Their full E-Class product catalog is accessible from here.