Posted by Matthew Yu on Thu, Jan 28, 2010 @ 07:17 PM
All cars have air suspension systems that serve a dual purpose – contributing to the car's roadhandling and braking for good active safety and driving pleasure. Mercedes vehicles are equipped with hydraulic systems that are called; depending on your vehicle make; AIRmatic or Active Body Control (ABC) system. This system automatically maintains your vehicle height level and adjust your car to provide higher safety conditions and comfort due to:
- Road conditions and drive style
- low center of gravity
- low aerodynamic drag equating to lower fuel consumption
- lowers car as speed increases and raises car as speed decreases
- additional weight in the vehicle
One of the hydraulic system parts are the struts. The ABC system uses air pressure to electronically control your struts and when it has been replaced air is still trapped in the struts so you must perform what is called a "Rodeo Test" or some may call it Hydraulic Suspension test. If the Rodeo test is not carried out then your suspension is not optimized and your vehicle may be not be as comfortable and not isolated from road noise, bumps, and vibrations when driving.
The Rodeo test applies to only Mercedes CL and S-class models. Below we have provided instructions with screenshots from the AUTOBOSS V30 / PC Max:
1) Select Cars
2)Choose either CL or S-class.
3) Then Chassis # corresponding to your car
4) Then the spcific model
5) Select "Control Units" then "Chassis"
6) "Active Body Control (ABC)"
7) Choose "Actuations"
8) Select "RODEO" and follow the prompts
