New Bentley owner and opps
#16
02-05-2020 | 05:23 PM
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Yeah I don't know how that came to be (kit only) as when I just clicked on the page to see OP's order it only showed bags, I went back to home page and started over clicking "BENTLEY' and all is back to normal, the full strut/bag is available left or right, or as a pair..
https://aerosus.com/bentley/continen...ion-strut.html
#17
02-05-2020 | 05:51 PM
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Hello JGib,
I am not sure what to say at the moment as I do not see where you ever told us if you ever found the leak, be it a air line or air bag, valve block, etc., and being you have the right front and the right rear dropping, we need an answer, usually if the RF is leaking and dropping the left front will follow, not the rear, as to the 8 hours for the job, that's more then double the time of just swapping out complete units, both complete units could be swapped out in say 2.5 - 3 hours, now if you were doing it yourself then ok, take you time and swap the bags on your struts, also, you do realize that there is no rebuilding of your 45k mile struts, only the replacement of the O-rings, so you still have a strut with the ride of a 45K mile vehicle, I understand it's $1100 vs. $2000ish, that's a call for you to make, save the labor time of say 5 hours, maybe 4 to be fair so the mechanic can make some money...
As to the O-ring's they should be in the kit I would think, I will go get the info from AW on the size, but those are for the A8L and may be different.
I wish you would have pasted your selection here before the ordering of bags, as I thought for some reason you were doing the work hands on, so, did anyone ever find the leak ?
complete units.
https://aerosus.com/bentley/continen...ion-strut.html
I am not sure what to say at the moment as I do not see where you ever told us if you ever found the leak, be it a air line or air bag, valve block, etc., and being you have the right front and the right rear dropping, we need an answer, usually if the RF is leaking and dropping the left front will follow, not the rear, as to the 8 hours for the job, that's more then double the time of just swapping out complete units, both complete units could be swapped out in say 2.5 - 3 hours, now if you were doing it yourself then ok, take you time and swap the bags on your struts, also, you do realize that there is no rebuilding of your 45k mile struts, only the replacement of the O-rings, so you still have a strut with the ride of a 45K mile vehicle, I understand it's $1100 vs. $2000ish, that's a call for you to make, save the labor time of say 5 hours, maybe 4 to be fair so the mechanic can make some money...
As to the O-ring's they should be in the kit I would think, I will go get the info from AW on the size, but those are for the A8L and may be different.
I wish you would have pasted your selection here before the ordering of bags, as I thought for some reason you were doing the work hands on, so, did anyone ever find the leak ?
complete units.
https://aerosus.com/bentley/continen...ion-strut.html
Johnny just ordered the 2 airbags from Aerosus. Here is what the order looked like. My mechanic is going to charge me 8 hours for the job. I figure if I am going to pull and breakdown the struts I might as well do the airbags. Anybody happen to have a part number on the upper and lower O Rings?
Bentley Continental GT / GTC / Flying Spur Residual Pressure Holding Valve Front Sku: 163589-2
Bentley Continental GT / GTC / GT3-R / Flying Spur / Supersports Front Suspension Air Spring (Left or Right) Sku: 169002 for 2
Subtotal
$1,167.00
Shipping & Handling
$0.00
Tax
$0.00
Discount
-$112.00
Grand Total (Incl.Tax)
$1,055.00
Thank you!
Bentley Continental GT / GTC / Flying Spur Residual Pressure Holding Valve Front Sku: 163589-2Bentley Continental GT / GTC / GT3-R / Flying Spur / Supersports Front Suspension Air Spring (Left or Right) Sku: 169002 for 2Subtotal
$1,167.00
Shipping & Handling
$0.00
Tax
$0.00
Discount
-$112.00
Grand Total (Incl.Tax)
$1,055.00
Thank you!
#18
02-05-2020 | 10:53 PM
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Hi Johnny. Thank you for the reply. Maybe I screwed up again but what else is new. Used to have a full working garage at my house prior to its recent sale and could of handled this myself. The right front was leaking a bit faster then the left front but they both were dropping down after the car sat over a day or two.
The mechanic said he did a leak down test and the leak was at the lower part of the air bags but at this point who knows. Thought I read that most strut assemblies were remanufactured not completely rebuilt ( maybe backwards here) and only faulty parts were fixed. On the rebuilds you could be getting a strut with 180k on it. I figured since my car only had 45k on it I was gonna take a chance on the struts. I also read that other strut assemblies you could loose some factory adjustments? Struts verses just the airbags was $1,100 bucks and the 4 hours difference in labor @125 is costing me $500. Guess I shoulda just spent the extra $600 and been done with it?. I could always return them and get the strut assemblies if you think that is best. Do their strut assemblies maintain all the factory options? Appreciate the help.
Best,
Jim
The mechanic said he did a leak down test and the leak was at the lower part of the air bags but at this point who knows. Thought I read that most strut assemblies were remanufactured not completely rebuilt ( maybe backwards here) and only faulty parts were fixed. On the rebuilds you could be getting a strut with 180k on it. I figured since my car only had 45k on it I was gonna take a chance on the struts. I also read that other strut assemblies you could loose some factory adjustments? Struts verses just the airbags was $1,100 bucks and the 4 hours difference in labor @125 is costing me $500. Guess I shoulda just spent the extra $600 and been done with it?. I could always return them and get the strut assemblies if you think that is best. Do their strut assemblies maintain all the factory options? Appreciate the help.
Best,
Jim
#19
02-06-2020 | 01:53 AM
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Hi Johnny. Thank you for the reply. Maybe I screwed up again but what else is new. Used to have a full working garage at my house prior to its recent sale and could of handled this myself. The right front was leaking a bit faster then the left front but they both were dropping down after the car sat over a day or two.
The mechanic said he did a leak down test and the leak was at the lower part of the air bags but at this point who knows. Thought I read that most strut assemblies were remanufactured not completely rebuilt ( maybe backwards here) and only faulty parts were fixed. On the rebuilds you could be getting a strut with 180k on it. I figured since my car only had 45k on it I was gonna take a chance on the struts. I also read that other strut assemblies you could loose some factory adjustments? Struts verses just the airbags was $1,100 bucks and the 4 hours difference in labor @125 is costing me $500. Guess I shoulda just spent the extra $600 and been done with it?. I could always return them and get the strut assemblies if you think that is best. Do their strut assemblies maintain all the factory options? Appreciate the help.
Best,
Jim
The mechanic said he did a leak down test and the leak was at the lower part of the air bags but at this point who knows. Thought I read that most strut assemblies were remanufactured not completely rebuilt ( maybe backwards here) and only faulty parts were fixed. On the rebuilds you could be getting a strut with 180k on it. I figured since my car only had 45k on it I was gonna take a chance on the struts. I also read that other strut assemblies you could loose some factory adjustments? Struts verses just the airbags was $1,100 bucks and the 4 hours difference in labor @125 is costing me $500. Guess I shoulda just spent the extra $600 and been done with it?. I could always return them and get the strut assemblies if you think that is best. Do their strut assemblies maintain all the factory options? Appreciate the help.
Best,
Jim
I had a small back and forth with the Arnott rep that comes in from time to time (no problems with him per say) and I think Johnny did also but I was left still confused on if their NEW design maintained all of the OEM features. Used them for the struts for my Escalade...they said direct fit. They were not. They had to send me some “things” to clip on/install onto the electronic part of my strut that never worked. Now I have to turn my wheel far left or right to get the stability light to come on just to drive it, if I don’t it bogs down every 5 or so feet till the light comes on then it drives normal(besides my stability track light being on). Luckily it’s my work truck.
#20
02-06-2020 | 02:40 PM
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Hello TJ & Jim,
As to Aerosus, yes, they state that their new units are 100% OEM with active dampening, no fixed valve, no resistor either install by them inside the unit, nor any resistor for the installer to install, I have received this information via phone call, and email, I misplaced the email, so I just called again to verify and also asked for it in writing, I will receive said email tomorrow from tech support.
As to the confusion with arnnot, I give the following information, I too had a go around getting the truthful information from Arnott, first I was told on the phone by more then one rep that their "NEW' design maintained all OEM functions, that turned out to be untrue, and I was told that after I purchased the item they would tell me how to get rid of the suspension fault light, I said why would there be a fault light if they were to be just as OEM, that was the big clue that the information as to being an active valve strut was in-fact not the case, and that a resistor was needed, next, what irked me is the fact that they sold just one unit to buyers to install on one side of the vehicle, so say your right front is original and you replace the left front with their "NEW" designed unit, your right front would have the OEM active dampening, whereas the left front by Arnott would be a fixed valve with no active dampening, and their sales rep over the phone thought this was perfectly fine to do, not in my book it isn't, next is the blatant misuse of the terminology of "Rebuilt" VS. "Remanufactured" to which Doug from Arnott states that in the industry they mean the same thing, they do not, rebuilt is just the fixing of the fault that caused a failure of function, where as a remanufactured unit has all aspects of the complete unit brought back to factory OEM specs, testing a strut to what degree as far a pressure resistance, leaks, and or O-ring replacement and painting said strut is not remanufacturing it, as Arnott claims their strut to be, it's just a used "tested and painted" strut, nothing more, and with unknown mileage, placing a new airbag on the strut is not rebuilding the strut itself, period.
Johnny J J
As to Aerosus, yes, they state that their new units are 100% OEM with active dampening, no fixed valve, no resistor either install by them inside the unit, nor any resistor for the installer to install, I have received this information via phone call, and email, I misplaced the email, so I just called again to verify and also asked for it in writing, I will receive said email tomorrow from tech support.
As to the confusion with arnnot, I give the following information, I too had a go around getting the truthful information from Arnott, first I was told on the phone by more then one rep that their "NEW' design maintained all OEM functions, that turned out to be untrue, and I was told that after I purchased the item they would tell me how to get rid of the suspension fault light, I said why would there be a fault light if they were to be just as OEM, that was the big clue that the information as to being an active valve strut was in-fact not the case, and that a resistor was needed, next, what irked me is the fact that they sold just one unit to buyers to install on one side of the vehicle, so say your right front is original and you replace the left front with their "NEW" designed unit, your right front would have the OEM active dampening, whereas the left front by Arnott would be a fixed valve with no active dampening, and their sales rep over the phone thought this was perfectly fine to do, not in my book it isn't, next is the blatant misuse of the terminology of "Rebuilt" VS. "Remanufactured" to which Doug from Arnott states that in the industry they mean the same thing, they do not, rebuilt is just the fixing of the fault that caused a failure of function, where as a remanufactured unit has all aspects of the complete unit brought back to factory OEM specs, testing a strut to what degree as far a pressure resistance, leaks, and or O-ring replacement and painting said strut is not remanufacturing it, as Arnott claims their strut to be, it's just a used "tested and painted" strut, nothing more, and with unknown mileage, placing a new airbag on the strut is not rebuilding the strut itself, period.
Johnny J J
My Aerosus does. That’s the first thing I asked them when I bought them. “Is there a resistor in there or do they function as OEM.
I had a small back and forth with the Arnott rep that comes in from time to time (no problems with him per say) and I think Johnny did also but I was left still confused on if their NEW design maintained all of the OEM features. Used them for the struts for my Escalade...they said direct fit. They were not. They had to send me some “things” to clip on/install onto the electronic part of my strut that never worked. Now I have to turn my wheel far left or right to get the stability light to come on just to drive it, if I don’t it bogs down every 5 or so feet till the light comes on then it drives normal(besides my stability track light being on). Luckily it’s my work truck.
I had a small back and forth with the Arnott rep that comes in from time to time (no problems with him per say) and I think Johnny did also but I was left still confused on if their NEW design maintained all of the OEM features. Used them for the struts for my Escalade...they said direct fit. They were not. They had to send me some “things” to clip on/install onto the electronic part of my strut that never worked. Now I have to turn my wheel far left or right to get the stability light to come on just to drive it, if I don’t it bogs down every 5 or so feet till the light comes on then it drives normal(besides my stability track light being on). Luckily it’s my work truck.
Last edited by Johnny Hotspur GT; 02-06-2020 at 03:07 PM. Reason: 's
#21
02-06-2020 | 03:22 PM
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Hello Jim,
Do not beat yourself up over this, it is a tough call to make, I too would most likely get just the bags if I were doing it myself, depending on the mileage on my struts, now when my 2005 A8L W12 needs strut replacements I will 100% be getting the complete units from Aerosus, as my A8L has 190+K miles on her, whereas if my 2005 GT with 8840 miles needed a bag I would definitely just do the bag, now as far as you doing just the bags vs. the complete units from Aerosus, I give this thought, having your mechanic do the job of replacing the bags on your struts leaves a lot of room for blame if there becomes an issue, which is why I would then recommend the complete package to be installed.
As far as your other comments, you are on the right track, I made my comments to them in my other post to yourself and TJ.
Johnny
Do not beat yourself up over this, it is a tough call to make, I too would most likely get just the bags if I were doing it myself, depending on the mileage on my struts, now when my 2005 A8L W12 needs strut replacements I will 100% be getting the complete units from Aerosus, as my A8L has 190+K miles on her, whereas if my 2005 GT with 8840 miles needed a bag I would definitely just do the bag, now as far as you doing just the bags vs. the complete units from Aerosus, I give this thought, having your mechanic do the job of replacing the bags on your struts leaves a lot of room for blame if there becomes an issue, which is why I would then recommend the complete package to be installed.
As far as your other comments, you are on the right track, I made my comments to them in my other post to yourself and TJ.
Johnny
Hi Johnny. Thank you for the reply. Maybe I screwed up again but what else is new. Used to have a full working garage at my house prior to its recent sale and could of handled this myself. The right front was leaking a bit faster then the left front but they both were dropping down after the car sat over a day or two.
The mechanic said he did a leak down test and the leak was at the lower part of the air bags but at this point who knows. Thought I read that most strut assemblies were remanufactured not completely rebuilt ( maybe backwards here) and only faulty parts were fixed. On the rebuilds you could be getting a strut with 180k on it. I figured since my car only had 45k on it I was gonna take a chance on the struts. I also read that other strut assemblies you could loose some factory adjustments? Struts verses just the airbags was $1,100 bucks and the 4 hours difference in labor @125 is costing me $500. Guess I shoulda just spent the extra $600 and been done with it?. I could always return them and get the strut assemblies if you think that is best. Do their strut assemblies maintain all the factory options? Appreciate the help.
Best,
Jim
The mechanic said he did a leak down test and the leak was at the lower part of the air bags but at this point who knows. Thought I read that most strut assemblies were remanufactured not completely rebuilt ( maybe backwards here) and only faulty parts were fixed. On the rebuilds you could be getting a strut with 180k on it. I figured since my car only had 45k on it I was gonna take a chance on the struts. I also read that other strut assemblies you could loose some factory adjustments? Struts verses just the airbags was $1,100 bucks and the 4 hours difference in labor @125 is costing me $500. Guess I shoulda just spent the extra $600 and been done with it?. I could always return them and get the strut assemblies if you think that is best. Do their strut assemblies maintain all the factory options? Appreciate the help.
Best,
Jim
#23
03-01-2020 | 10:48 PM
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##########UPDATE################### I WANT TO PUNCH OUT MY BENTLEY.
Ok that said I did enjoy todays drive through the desert and mountains at an undisclosed speed
. For a recap I had the motor and trans R & R'd, the vacuum lines replaced with high temp silicone, 4 new Lamda sensors (apparently O2 sensors) and a new starter and I was finally able to clear California smog ($7,200). Next step was dealing with the suspension issues so I purchased new airbags (Returning them after Johnny Hotspur educated me) and then purchased new front strut assemblies from Aerosus in Germany after reading many forums. Also purchased new upper and lower control arms from a guy named Luke at TopEuromachine. (Nice guy). Aerosus was quick on the delivery but keep in mind when ordering their first price on the website says (incl. VAT) when you check out the cost goes down but does not include VAT so you think your getting a deal till you get hit with $500 bucks from the UPS guy upon delivery. All said its ends up being a little more then the list but still worth it. Called them twice and a nice German girl was always helpful.
That leads me to trying to punch my Bentley. I have a few remaining issues but am working through them. Most recent is a "Please check lights" warning with an exclamation point in the middle of it. This appears different then the check brake light code that I have been getting for my 3 brake light issue. The problem here is the alarm goes off every 5 or 10 minutes or so and on one occasion went off 13 times in a row in two minutes all with the audible alarm. It got so distracting at a point I had to pull off on the side of the freeway and looked at my headlights and taillights to make sure they were working. I sure hope this is not for something like an glove box light out or I will punch it.
In addition to the above listed I also have an issue that it appears someone lowered the car. The front valance on my GT63 sits about 3 inches off the ground and I have taken out stuff on the street. I was to bring the car to its factory height. My questions are as follows.
Johnny Hotspur your feedback is invaluable to this site.
1. Anyone know what this "Please check engine lights" warning is?
2. If someone lowered the car is it highly likely they changed the length of the control rod on the leveling sensor? Also is there one on each wheel and if so does anyone know the length and where I can get factory length ones? I ran over a 3 inch rock and it dislodged the plastic carriage protector under the engine and I had to drive 100 miles with it dragging on the ground ( I was in middle of nowhere)
Best.
Jim
Ok that said I did enjoy todays drive through the desert and mountains at an undisclosed speed
. For a recap I had the motor and trans R & R'd, the vacuum lines replaced with high temp silicone, 4 new Lamda sensors (apparently O2 sensors) and a new starter and I was finally able to clear California smog ($7,200). Next step was dealing with the suspension issues so I purchased new airbags (Returning them after Johnny Hotspur educated me) and then purchased new front strut assemblies from Aerosus in Germany after reading many forums. Also purchased new upper and lower control arms from a guy named Luke at TopEuromachine. (Nice guy). Aerosus was quick on the delivery but keep in mind when ordering their first price on the website says (incl. VAT) when you check out the cost goes down but does not include VAT so you think your getting a deal till you get hit with $500 bucks from the UPS guy upon delivery. All said its ends up being a little more then the list but still worth it. Called them twice and a nice German girl was always helpful. That leads me to trying to punch my Bentley. I have a few remaining issues but am working through them. Most recent is a "Please check lights" warning with an exclamation point in the middle of it. This appears different then the check brake light code that I have been getting for my 3 brake light issue. The problem here is the alarm goes off every 5 or 10 minutes or so and on one occasion went off 13 times in a row in two minutes all with the audible alarm. It got so distracting at a point I had to pull off on the side of the freeway and looked at my headlights and taillights to make sure they were working. I sure hope this is not for something like an glove box light out or I will punch it.
In addition to the above listed I also have an issue that it appears someone lowered the car. The front valance on my GT63 sits about 3 inches off the ground and I have taken out stuff on the street. I was to bring the car to its factory height. My questions are as follows.
Johnny Hotspur your feedback is invaluable to this site.
1. Anyone know what this "Please check engine lights" warning is?
2. If someone lowered the car is it highly likely they changed the length of the control rod on the leveling sensor? Also is there one on each wheel and if so does anyone know the length and where I can get factory length ones? I ran over a 3 inch rock and it dislodged the plastic carriage protector under the engine and I had to drive 100 miles with it dragging on the ground ( I was in middle of nowhere)
Best.
Jim
#25
03-05-2020 | 01:49 PM
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I was just joking on punching my Bentley 
. Think I got everything else listed above figured out except to the stud to stud length of the factory leveling rods. It appears someone bent them to lower the car. Is it safe to assume they were straight or bent originally?
. Think I got everything else listed above figured out except to the stud to stud length of the factory leveling rods. It appears someone bent them to lower the car. Is it safe to assume they were straight or bent originally?
#26
03-06-2020 | 05:08 PM
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Sorry about the markings on the photos, I did that to show an other member the sensor plug end and rod mounting points, as his was hanging as shown.
JJJ
...
#27
03-13-2020 | 12:13 PM
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Thanks Johnny but hard to tell by the picture. When you get a chance do you think it would be possible to get a measurement from center of the ball joint to center of the other ball joint on that link?
Is it possible they lowered the car through the computer module (maybe because its a mansory GT63 version?)?
Best,
Jim
Is it possible they lowered the car through the computer module (maybe because its a mansory GT63 version?)?
Best,
Jim