W251 R320 CDI suspension info
 

Does anyone know how the air suspension on a 2008 R320 CDI 4-matic 7G-tronic work, and can you explain it to me? I find surprisingly little info about it online.

I know I have air suspension, when I hook up a heavy trailer I can see the rear raise itself, and it does it much faster than a w124 or w123. Likely hydraulic vs electric I guess.

I've read about air bags in the rear only, and air bags in both front and rear. I have no idea which I have. I live in a condo now and can't just go look. I've also read about people being able to raise and lower the suspension at will, like 6.3/6.9?? And that it lowers itself on the highway. This behemoth actually rides like glass on the highway.

My issues is it seems like I need "struts", but I dunno where to start. I know some R-class' come with standard struts. Other than the needing struts, it's very tight in the front end.

Oh, I have a C/S suspension button too. The S(sport I guess) mode is noticeably tighter and I usually use it on the highway so it doesn't float so much.

Any idears?

Try pitching this on the on the ML / G / R / Sprinter section of this list to get more traffic. 08 is still pretty new so information is still being figured out.

Maybe you could get a bunch of people to sit on the hood and see if the car sags in the front or not.

Forum member Clacker has an R and may have some insight into how the suspension works.

Unfortunately he is away from the forum right now, back in a few weeks.

You will need to do some shopping around for the $trut$. I know the initial aftermarket price Clack got was $1200 each. He managed to do much better but I don't know where or how.

Is there a switch to raise/lower the vehicle??? If not it's only equipped with rear self leveling (by far the most common). If this is the case it's amazing that the C/S switch changes the way it handles since Comfort vs. Sport only affects transmission shift parameters ;)

If you have adjustable suspension that means you have four corner air bags (called AirMatic and ADS). Three settings, Sport, Comfort and Normal (no light on). The transmission switch for C/S is also in that area but only 2 settings and no change in ride.
You will also have a raise suspension button on the other side of the hazard light switch in the console, this will bring it up 2" in height (great for oil changes), only below 25mph-it will ride really rough when raised up.
I have Arnott suspension in the front (complete units) and rear bags, to date the best solution. You can now source cheap chinese struts, but nobody offers a warranty with them (Arnott is lifetime excluding wear and tear, and some online retailers also back it with another lifetime warranty without fine print). I spent $775 USD on both fronts (rebuilds) with air bags complete, rear air bags were $350 ish a pair, one OEM Bilstein rear shock was $500. I have found the Arnotts to ride very close to the original stuff and easy to install.
I did my fronts as preventative, the air bags were showing lots of minor cracks when deflated from exposure/age like an old tire.
FYI Arnott will buy cores if you find something without a core charge, not much but something ($50-100 each range, see their website).
If you need more info PM, I know the system well now but yes, not much info out there.