After balancing and mounting other wheels on my 05 CGT and going for a test drive, my mechanic left the car for about 15 minutes and heard a loud BANG. No prior warning or lowering whatsoever until then. How is that possible??
Did anybody experience this?

 

Evidently the air strut rubber bladder blew out just like a tire. As the bladder ages it develops a wear ridge with micro cracks. For this reason I park mine in the high setting.That's my theory and I'm sticking to it😉. How many miles are on the struts?

The recommendation is to change both sides, keep this in mind. The inexpensive Chinese knockoffs don't last so stay away from them..

 

Wow. Never heard of that happening to any car equipped with these. I wonder what would have happened had this taken place while driving the car? Yikes.

 

Wow, Ive seen this happen on R/Rovers but never on a Bentley, But as our friend mentioned it is possible ...

 

I'm pretty new to Bentley ownership, but I've owned a Phaeton for 11 years and they use the same setup. I always follow the Phaeton forums and no one has ever mentioned this happening.....

To speculate perhaps a failure of whatever monitors the air pressure in the struts?

 

As 1eapplebaum states it more likely the age & deterioration of the bladder and the surrounding rubber ...

 

Close to 100k, if this is normal wear i have no problem with it and have it done as it should be done. the car is great.
But, i did have an accident at the right front some six months ago. fender, headlight, cooler etc was all replaced. suspension was deemed to be ok.
However, afterwards I had a leak in the power steering (fixed by tightening a screw) and had heavy vibration above 90 miles per hour (germany), the tires had apparently suffered in the crash and had to be replaced, vibration gone.
It just makes me wonder...

 

Keeping the car straight should be ok, lowers at both sides. Just very little space left to the road and turning is impossible...

 

Close to 100k. If this is normal wear, I have no problem with it and have it done as it should be, the car is great.
But, I did have an accident some 6 months ago. Fender, cooler, headlight etc all replaced. Suspension was deemed not to have suffered, I did however have a leak in the power steering afterwards (solved by tightening a bolt) and had heavy vibration above 90 mph (Germany) solved by replacing the tires that had apparently suffered as well in the accident.
I just makes me wonder....

 

That's prob the case. Usually though these just fail very gradually with a very small leak. Never seen a huge blowout like this.

 

Hello Rooks, that may explain the failure to the suspension, it got damaged ... driving the car with no air in the suspension will be difficult, be very carful that the tyres don't touch the wing (fender) ...

 

hi, the failure happened while the car was parked. we didn't move it since. it is indeed impossible to turn the wheels.

 

All the above are contributors. Tire blowouts are not that common anymore either. The air bellow is just above where the protective shroud hole is. The air bellow is inside an aluminum encasement. Perhaps the strut took a torsional hit in the accident. Albeit amazing that nothing happened sooner. Also the vibration at 90 miles per hour may have stressed the system. Perhaps once the unit is removed the problem will be more apparent. Please post photographs once the strut is removed.

 

Just a suggestion. I think you are supposed to press down the 2 buttons to disengage the suspension load even when changing tires on a lift. Could your mechanic have forgotten to do so? May be unrelated but just thought I might suggest.

 

Hi 4KB ... you mean jack mode, even if it was left in jack mode it wouldnt make a difference + once one drives the car in jack mode it disengages ...