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A180 ride comfort


blackhicks

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Hi Everyone,

This is a newbie question. First you have to pardon me as this is my first Mercedes, coming over after 15 years of Audi. My comparison might be an apple to orange too.

This is my day 7 of my ride. Compared to the state of my last A6 at the age of 9.4 years, below is my review.

1. I find the suspension is very hard. Every single dent on the road can be easily felt.

2. At times, I can feel the car wobble a bit on uneven roads.

3. Wind noise is pretty high pitch at a mere 80km/h

My possible deductions are :

1. Runflat+Bridgestone. A super hard combination? I am a big Michelin PSS fan.

2. Suspension is still new and my car is not equipped with adaptive damping system.

3. I need to get use to A180 as I should not benchmark against A6.

Doing a quick poll to see if anyone experiencing this? Have anyone done anything effective to improve the ride?

I am thinking about the following :

1. Is there such a thing as an after market adaptive damping suspension upgrade?

2. Changing to regular tyres.

3 Doing cabin insulation.

Thanks for reading. Comments and suggestions welcome.

Cheers

 

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Hey bro

all of the above ..

you may find a simpler change back to the A4 may fix all issues or the Golf 7.5..

but if you stick to the A class I am not sure if any amount of insulation will make it match your benchmark of the A6 which is an E class equivalent.. 

the cheapest change will be the run flats. Good luck! 👍 

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Hi Pete,

I agree with you that tyre change is probably the easiest and most economical. So I am trying to learn from you guys if anyone has similar experience and a working solution.

The other strange thing is the test drive wasn't like that. So I was hoping it could also be due to brand new stock suspension.

Insulation wise, I am sure I can live with it.

Cheers

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Yes if you choose an A class you're not going to get the pillowy ride of your previous car. In fact in the past decade, the trend is for mercedes to design their cars with sharper handling at the expense of comfort - the W211 to W212 E class is a good example of that. Take it as you sacrifice some comfort, you get a sporty feel with less body roll. Sadly this is a real issue. Whenever I see one of us A class or CLA drivers going over a hump I notice we have to slow down a lot more than other people.

In my experience, using Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres instead of the Bridgestone RFTs helped a lot. Was surprised at how big a difference it was. Also keep your tyres pumped to 250 front 220 rear instead of 250 all round.

The suspension doesn't really soften up after use. 

I guess that in times of extreme desperation, downgrading to 16 inch wheels will make the ride softer. But I don't think anyone would want to do that. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Wow. With 18" and you can still get better ride comfort,  this confirms my theory that runflat is really really hard and bumpy. 

By the way, I have researched and arrived at the following solutions :

1. Go for a regular Michelin PS4

2. Get a tyre repair kit from Merc called tirefit or a 3rd party version called slime. They ship to Singapore https://goo.gl/Lva9Zv

On the safe side,  I went to consult MB service consultant on their Tirefit repair kit. As expected, I didn't get full hearted support and endorsement for it's use. Based on my findings, even the third party kit claims to be TPMS friendly.

Lastly,  the consultant gave me an advice to try. Lower tires pressure. Upon checking, I found out my cold pressure is 275 all wheels. That's for full loads. From MB recommendation printed at the fuel cap, for light loads, you can do 250 front 220 rear. Will check it out and report the effects. 

Cheers!

 

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3 hours ago, blackhicks said:

Wow. With 18" and you can still get better ride comfort,  this confirms my theory that runflat is really really hard and bumpy. 

By the way, I have researched and arrived at the following solutions :

1. Go for a regular Michelin PS4

2. Get a tyre repair kit from Merc called tirefit or a 3rd party version called slime. They ship to Singapore https://goo.gl/Lva9Zv

On the safe side,  I went to consult MB service consultant on their Tirefit repair kit. As expected, I didn't get full hearted support and endorsement for it's use. Based on my findings, even the third party kit claims to be TPMS friendly.

Lastly,  the consultant gave me an advice to try. Lower tires pressure. Upon checking, I found out my cold pressure is 275 all wheels. That's for full loads. From MB recommendation printed at the fuel cap, for light loads, you can do 250 front 220 rear. Will check it out and report the effects. 

Cheers!

 

Ya. Run flats are harsher I feel. 

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Latest update. Went to my favorite tyre shop in MacPherson and deflate the tyres and change to nitrogen at the light load settings recommended by MB. The ride comfort was noticeably improved. This will definitely buy me some time before my next change to regular tyres.

If you guys are like me, rarely carry full load, give it a shot!

IMG_20170725_141903853~2.jpg

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  • 5 months later...

5 months passed, still can't get used to the bumpiness so decided to get all wheels changed to non RFT. 

On normal roads, seems better but can't quantify the % improvement. On Highway, the ride is noticeably less bumpy. I think this is probably the limit of what softer tyres can do. To really push the envelope, I think replacing stock suspension is the only way.

Currently looking at KW Street comfort. In 2018, with new workshop ruling in place, C&C can no longer void warranty for jobs done at 3rd party workshop. I think this would mean that once I get my suspension changed,  only that warranty is voided and not my entire car. After all, 3 years? I think it is very unlikely for a suspension to break down and be eligible for in-warranty replacement. 

Cheers 

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1 hour ago, blackhicks said:

5 months passed, still can't get used to the bumpiness so decided to get all wheels changed to non RFT. 

On normal roads, seems better but can't quantify the % improvement. On Highway, the ride is noticeably less bumpy. I think this is probably the limit of what softer tyres can do. To really push the envelope, I think replacing stock suspension is the only way.

Currently looking at KW Street comfort. In 2018, with new workshop ruling in place, C&C can no longer void warranty for jobs done at 3rd party workshop. I think this would mean that once I get my suspension changed,  only that warranty is voided and not my entire car. After all, 3 years? I think it is very unlikely for a suspension to break down and be eligible for in-warranty replacement. 

Cheers 

Which non RFT u using now? Need to go for comfort tyres for softer feel I suppose. 

If change at reputable workshop and reliable brand for suspension should be fine. :)

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3 hours ago, blackhicks said:

5 months passed, still can't get used to the bumpiness so decided to get all wheels changed to non RFT. 

On normal roads, seems better but can't quantify the % improvement. On Highway, the ride is noticeably less bumpy. I think this is probably the limit of what softer tyres can do. To really push the envelope, I think replacing stock suspension is the only way.

Currently looking at KW Street comfort. In 2018, with new workshop ruling in place, C&C can no longer void warranty for jobs done at 3rd party workshop. I think this would mean that once I get my suspension changed,  only that warranty is voided and not my entire car. After all, 3 years? I think it is very unlikely for a suspension to break down and be eligible for in-warranty replacement. 

Cheers 

Changing to coil overs sounds extreme and may not really improve ride quality imho.

Perhaps the way to better ride quality may be to downside the rims and get higher profile tires.

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9 hours ago, blackhicks said:

5 months passed, still can't get used to the bumpiness so decided to get all wheels changed to non RFT. 

On normal roads, seems better but can't quantify the % improvement. On Highway, the ride is noticeably less bumpy. I think this is probably the limit of what softer tyres can do. To really push the envelope, I think replacing stock suspension is the only way.

Currently looking at KW Street comfort. In 2018, with new workshop ruling in place, C&C can no longer void warranty for jobs done at 3rd party workshop. I think this would mean that once I get my suspension changed,  only that warranty is voided and not my entire car. After all, 3 years? I think it is very unlikely for a suspension to break down and be eligible for in-warranty replacement. 

Cheers 

C&C warranty already works like the latter before the new ruling kicks in. They only void warranty to parts that are not stock.

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On 30/06/2017 at 2:32 PM, blackhicks said:

Hi Everyone,

This is a newbie question. First you have to pardon me as this is my first Mercedes, coming over after 15 years of Audi. My comparison might be an apple to orange too.

This is my day 7 of my ride. Compared to the state of my last A6 at the age of 9.4 years, below is my review.

1. I find the suspension is very hard. Every single dent on the road can be easily felt.

2. At times, I can feel the car wobble a bit on uneven roads.

3. Wind noise is pretty high pitch at a mere 80km/h

My possible deductions are :

1. Runflat+Bridgestone. A super hard combination? I am a big Michelin PSS fan.

2. Suspension is still new and my car is not equipped with adaptive damping system.

3. I need to get use to A180 as I should not benchmark against A6.

Doing a quick poll to see if anyone experiencing this? Have anyone done anything effective to improve the ride?

I am thinking about the following :

1. Is there such a thing as an after market adaptive damping suspension upgrade?

2. Changing to regular tyres.

3 Doing cabin insulation.

Thanks for reading. Comments and suggestions welcome.

Cheers

 

The A, CLA are designed to cater to younger drivers. They're designed in mind of young drivers that would want a sportier ride, thus the stiff suspension. Some like it some hate it. But I personally find it too stiff. 

as for wind noise this could be an uneven door panel or fender thats causing it. Head to your Servicing executive to have it sorted out. 

you cant compare it to the A6. because its a totally different design approach. we can't even compare the A/CLA to the C. its just not the same.

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  • 4 months later...

I'm driving a CLA SB and have too thought of switching out the stock Goodyear Eagle F1 RFT tyres with PS4. However, my car is very new and I've yet driven 15k on it so I'll wait a while more. The noise level is quite low on good tarmac road but on some road especially along PIE before/after Toh Guan exit, the noise is deafening! Also, the bumpiness over speed regulating strip is quite jarring I would say and I tend to go very slow < 30km/hr which will literally push your whole body up and down the seat.

 

Still, the car is more comfortable compared to my previous A4.

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