Now it was time for the fun part, setting up the suspension. I hadn't initially intended on going this direction, but I discovered much to my chagrin that my driveway is too steep for the car to get up, even with stock suspension. So, though ordinarily I might have just done a set of H&Rs, it was clear I needed to do something special. On the kind advice of Eurow and a couple of others on StanceWorks, I decided to go for air ride.

That said, I was not remotely interested in ruining the car's handling, and I spent a not-insignificant amount of time drawing up charts and graphs to figure out the best setup to retain the car's wonderful drivability. I also went through not a small number of mockup designs before settling on what I have now.

First, more stuff needed to go into the trunk. The compressor (a Viair 444c) and a manifold with the pressure sensor, safety valve, and so forth were hidden behind the audio gear:


To try and take up as little trunk space as possible, I hung the air tank and manifold off the parcel shelf:


All visible air lines are 3/8" copper, and everywhere else is 3/8" DOT air line. Fittings are DOT-rated PTC.

I chose Slam Specialties SS-5 air bags, which are simply fantastic:


...and I had these brackets fabbed up to adapt the air bags to the factory spring pockets:


The brackets required a lot of trimming and trial-and-error to get everything to fit, but eventually I nailed it:



For air ride management duties, I selected AccuAir's e-Level system, which operates in practice much like Mercedes' own hydropneumatic systems. A height sensor is mounted to each corner of the car, which together continuously measure where the suspension is sitting. A small computer (hidden behind the manifold above) takes this data and makes minute adjustments to keep the car level and at the correct height. A small rocker switch is mounted in the interior of the car to move between three height presets. It works beautifully:

The car drives lowered 3" from stock, and aired-out, it sits 4 1/2" down.