I have a 2014 Flying Spur with 74k miles on it. I bought 4 months ago from a close friend. I have the history on the car and the same local mechanic I use on my other vehicles has taken care of this car since the warranty expired; this shop works on many Bentleys in the area. There were 3 in already when I dropped mine off for an oil change, front lower bumper repair, and send out the front passenger (this is a LH US vehicle) to repair some curb rash I had created.

When I bought the car I knew it needed front struts and some front end suspension work as the road feel was almost non-existent. I had the work done at a "boutique" mechanic who specializes on air suspensions. He is rather far away and had to flatbed it there. He put in Arnott front struts replaced the upper control arms and the car drove like new and had zero air suspension issues since then.

I called my local mechanic yesterday to pick up the car and he told me that after they completed the list, the air-suspension was leaking. They discovered that the right front NEW air strut developed a leak and not at the connection; he didn't investigate further. I asked if the car was put in Jack Mode which he confirmed. I believe him when they put it on the lift last week for the oil change. I I think it is too much of a coincidence that the leak is on corner where the rim had road rash. I doubt they tied up a lift to send the wheel out for repair, and my guess is whoever jacked up the car to remove the rim didn't put it in Jack Mode and left it that way for the couple of days till the rim returned, causing the new strut to stretch and the compressor to overwork.

Arnott's warranty service is marvelous. I emailed a copy of my original invoice from the other shop; to expedite it I paid for one to be shipped immediately and they will credit me back 100% when the neighborhood shop returns the leaky ones.

The car drove GREAT for the 3,000 miles I put on it since the suspension was originally fixed. It seems to great a coincidence that I drove it in for an oil change with zero problems, no codes and it developed a leak on the one corner where the wheel was removed.

I am hoping they do not charge me labor, or severely discount it for replacing the strut. And I certainly hope this did not damage the compressor. As it is now throwing a "compressor overheating" code trying to get the damaged strut to fill.

I hope it is just the strut and I don't have to then order a compressor.

All in all very frustrating. I have a very nice car to drive while the Bentley is in the shop, but after driving a Bentley, nothing I have ever driven compares.

Thanks for listening.

 

Hello @gotafly ,

You will have to give some more information as to how the vehicle will jacked up, BUT, either way this would not cause the issue of leakage, as you say they did not tie up a lift, did the put a spare on it and park it, or did they jack it up by the body on this corner and let it hang, if it was left hanging, then the compressor would not kick on at all for that corner as the suspension control module sees that corner as to high, therefore it would release the air pressure in that strut if not in jack mode, if they jacked the vehicle up and placed a jack stand under the lower control arms ball joint area, that would simulate the wheel being on the ground, again, if not in jack mode, and there is a leak, the vehicle will try to level itself for a certain amount of time, before it no longer can, like sitting for a period of time with existing leaks that are unknown because of every other day use or so.

This brand had had many issues, leaks, clunks, and blowouts, and the service is not as great as you stated, let's see how all turns out after the defective units are returned.

Do a search here or on Audiworld for more information on all the issues.

Also, it would be interesting to know exactly which struts your shop installed, the rebuilt units that this brand calls "Remanufactured", which consists of a used strut of unknown mileage and a new air bladder and it's components, or their first in-house design that has no electronic active dampening valve built into the strut as factory OEM originals do, but instead, this brands installs a resistor to fool the suspension control module into thinking the original equipment is installed.

Johnny

 

Johnny,
Thank-you for the reply and the insight. I went with the rebuilt ones.

I absolutely will follow up and now watch out for their customer service.

Best,
Michael

 

The post illustrates the fears I have about getting service on this car without jack mode being used when appropriate.
I've had wheel rash work on three different wheels and fortunately the guys knew to put the car in jack mode for the work.

More to the point on the post, it seems like OEM struts at exorbitant pricing or Aerosus are the way to go.

 

Everytime a post like this comes up and they say Arnott, I tell them how I used Aerosus and never had a problem. It’s like a factory Bentley strut, using all the components and not “fooling” the system to think it is. A good search for air struts on here should detour anyone from buying Arnott’s.

 

What local service shop are you using?

 

Samhain,
I replied privately. As I now think it is an Arnott issue not a local shop issue.
Michael

 

Thank-you all for the sharing your knowledge and experiences. The "new" rebuilt/remanufactured Arnott strut arrived expeditiously as promised and my local shop installed it quickly and she held air! This replaced the Arnott strut which was bought and installed in July. My shop charged me a very small diagnostic fee. Anecdotally, I went in the shop to retrieve something and asked a tech cleaning their station if he worked on mine, he didn't but said he could hear this leak hissing, and the compressor working overtime (thankfully the compressor seems to be no worse for it; fingers crossed) I still think something in addition must have happened because it was operating perfectly when I brought it in.

Johnny's thorough explanation was immensely helpful and led to me taking a very deep dive in here on previous posts. When I ordered the Arnotts in July I just had my toe in the water.

Well here I am. I am kind of married to the Arnotts assuming they are good to their word and I get my Credit card refunded when they receive the return. And I shall spend the rest of my days driving a touring car (we do take long trips in it) hoping it doesn't decide to spring another leak. If I had it to do over, I would probably try Aerosus.

I am not concerned that the rebuilt/remanufactured/using party balloons I have just put on are otherwise miled up and worn as my 2014 Flying Spur is a rather high mileage example: 74k Miles. So for all I know I am getting one with fewer miles.

One question, does anyone know that because I got the "remanufactured" ones, does my drive choices, Comfort to Sport, still work or is that disabled at the strut fooling the control unit?

Again thank-you to all who participated. And if you DM me I have a shop in the Northern Suburbs of Chicago that I highly recommend. They did a Ferrari Testarossa engine out service for a close friend a couple years back with excellent results.

Best,
Michael

 

One question, does anyone know that because I got the "remanufactured" ones, does my drive choices, Comfort to Sport, still work or is that disabled at the strut fooling the control unit?

That's one of the issues when selecting replacement struts - some vendors use the original valving which preserves the adjustable feature and some do not. I *think* Arnott's do not but I may be incorrect. Not sure what the car does if 1 or 2 of the struts are not adjustable but the others are and set to a different resistance.

 

@gotafly ,
Being that you say you purchased what are-not calls "Remanufactured", then you have the factory stock oem struts, as they do nothing at all to rebuild or remanufacture the strut itself, they clean it, then inspect it for fluid leaks, then test it for in and out resistance, if it passes their standards, they paint it and add the new air bladder, that is why the issue arose about the actual mileage on the struts they are selling, because they are used, taken in from other buyers as cores, well, if I ever sent my no fluid leaking struts in because my bags blew on my Audi A8L W12, someone else would end up with my 200,000 miles plus struts that are claimed to be remanufactured, this company has stated that they have "no way of knowing the true mileage" of any of their "remanufactured struts", and that is a big issue for those that understand the difference between rebuilt and remanufactured, so, long story short, you should have 100 % factory operation of the comfort to sport settings, and you should be able to feel it in the ride, I certainly can with my factory struts on both the Bentley GT, and the A8L W12.

As to what Sam stated above, it was are-not who made their "NEW, in house design" that actually turned out to have no active dampening, yet the reps called it "variable dampening", when pressed for how that was possible without electronics involved, it was then stated that they use a "fixed" dampener, and an added resistor to fool the suspension control module, to add insult to injury, as in my mind as well as others, they claimed it was OK the install just one of the non-active struts on one corner of the vehicle, I asked again as I was shocked at what I heard, they repeated "yes, it's ok to have three active units with one of our new design fixed units", to me, that is careless, dangerous, and most likely, liable !

Johnny

 

Johnny,

Could you clarify the difference between the "strut" and the "air bag?" Or is the air bag part of the strut?

 

​​​​​​Hello @tteplitzmd ,
Yes, the air bag is part of the strut when purchased as a new replacement at the Bentley dealership, just as it came from the factory on the vehicle when new, but as Louis showed in his video that I posted on another thread, the strut and the air bag are two separate pieces that make up the assembly, with the Sachs strut number shown in the screenshot of Louis' video below, you can see the strut lying on the floor, and he installs a new air bag assembly onto his original strut, the new bag is pictured below also, but I have not be able to find the exact Sachs strut online, I ran all those numbers in different variations, but no luck yet, they did show up as Sachs / ZF.

Johnny

.

 

So how do you distinguish whether the "Sachs" piece or the air bag is bad?
For 2013 GTC the Aerosus only shows the air bag, and NOT the strut Sachs piece.
For the first generation GT the Aerosus site shows both the Sachs strut and airbag as one piece.

 

Update. The "new" Arnott strut has been working great. One week after returning the broken strut to Arnott they refunded my CC charge. As a reminder I chose to pay for a strutt so it can be sent immediately vs. waiting for them to receive broken one for exchange. Arnott warranty department was great to work with.
Thank-you all for your help