Mercedes air suspension issue

[gailjon]

Follow up to Father in Law's e class air woes - now needs to replace bags as well as lines. Lines covered under warranty as they had already been replaced, but bags costing 1500 to replace.

Needless to say he is not going to buy another Merc.

 

[Jez]

Follow up to Father in Law's e class air woes - now needs to replace bags as well as lines. Lines covered under warranty as they had already been replaced, but bags costing 1500 to replace.

Needless to say he is not going to buy another Merc.

To be fair, having had a few mercs with active suspension, those sound like main agent prices. Mercedes dealers are extremely expensive for out of warranty work and most people would usually avoid them and never pay anything like that to refresh the struts or compressor. The systems are well known these days with many parts suppliers available.

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

...
Needless to say he is not going to buy another Merc.

As I understand it, failures with air-suspension and expensive repair costs are very much not restricted to Mercs.
I've read of plenty of painful experiences with Range Rover, BMW etc.

If you want to avoid, the only option appears to be sticking with normal coil springs.

 

[Scuzi]

Follow up to Father in Law's e class air woes - now needs to replace bags as well as lines. Lines covered under warranty as they had already been replaced, but bags costing 1500 to replace.

Needless to say he is not going to buy another Merc.

At my local Merc specialist I’ve been quoted £536.09 for the pair on my car, and that is using genuine Mercedes parts. It’s a 2hr job. £1500 sounds like a main dealer price.

If you’re handy or know someone competent enough you can get aftermarket springs for under £100 a corner.

 

[thecremeegg]

As I understand it, failures with air-suspension and expensive repair costs are very much not restricted to Mercs.
I've read of plenty of painful experiences with Range Rover, BMW etc.

If you want to avoid, the only option appears to be sticking with normal coil springs.

Totally, a mate of mine has had the rear air springs go on 2 BMW 5 series estates on cars under 100k miles

 

[geekman]

At my local Merc specialist I’ve been quoted £536.09 for the pair on my car, and that is using genuine Mercedes parts. It’s a 2hr job. £1500 sounds like a main dealer price.

If you’re handy or know someone competent enough you can get aftermarket springs for under £100 a corner.

In my experience, suspension struts are far easier to change than traditional suspension. I changed one on my Jag in a public carpark with some jack stands and a breaker bar and I’m no mechanical genius. Unless your car has some rare, dealer option system which makes the struts really expensive, there’s no reason to be scared of air suspension anymore.

 

[tom_nieto]

I would have been concerned about owning a car with air suspension due to high repair costs (and failure rates). £500 for both doesn’t sound bad at all so perhaps my fears are unfounded.

 

[Scania]

I have never understood why air suspension is such a no-no on cars, its been a thing for years on trucks and rarely gives problems, maybe down to reduced scale, I don't know, but they can't seem to get it right on cars.

Then again, we're talking Mercedes, once the pinnacle of cars & certainly trucks,alas no longer.....