I just replaced my front air struts with ones rebuilt by RMT in Ft Lauderdale FLA. kudos to them for really fast turn around.

The question i have. Do I need to purge/bleed the system down prior to lowering the car or can i just start the car and let the compressor do its thing. Will the car figure things out on its own or do things need to be adjusted with vag-com?

 

My experience the car figures it out without any external calibration. I only had one problem that perplexed me for a little while. I had trouble with inserting the plastic supply hose into the fitting on the shock. I took the fitting apart and put the ferrule on the tube and inserted and tightened it up. Problem occurred when I tightened the fitting it pressed the tube hard against the fitting. It blocked the air going into the shock, so the car didn’t raise up. I did go through the diagnostics with Ross Tech and found no problem. My last resort was to take off the fitting and discovered the tube was too far above the ferrule. Quick fix was a razor blade to trim about 1/16” off the tube and all was well.

 

How do you like the ride quality? Any different from stock?

 

I have the RMT struts in my Phaeton (same setup as the Bentley). They've been adequate so far (about 9 months) and they do preserve the adjustable suspension feature. Some replacement struts do not.

 

How is the ride quality compared to stock? I noticed on my driver side front the ride height is good but I can push that side of the car down. The passenger side I can’t budge. Makes me think the strut should be replaced.

 

Didn't notice any difference. No sagging or anything if left undriven. Should be the same since they use an OEM strut and rebuild it.

 

I think I will be doing the same.

 

Just so everyone is clear on one issue, RMT nor Arnot actually rebuild the struts themselves, they only test and paint the used struts, then add the new air bladder to the strut body, as they are two separate pieces that make up the air ride adaptive suspension, that is the issue some have who have purchased the so called rebuilt units, that in fact have an unknown mileage on them, you could end up with a strut with 100,000 miles plus, because it tested ok....
So if you send yours in, be sure to mark it somehow so you know you got you strut back with your mileage.

Johnny

 

Thanks Johnny, this is what I am worried about my air ride height is perfect it never drops even if I leave it for weeks. I do think the dampers are worn though because I can semi-easily push down on the corners and the bumps feel sharp.

Is OEM or Bilstein B4 the only real option for like new ride quality?

Are the PHAETON struts really the same as the Bentley part?

The best I found VW struts for is around 1500 and the Bilstein roughly the same. Does anyone have a better priced source. I am in NY and these pot holes are terrible!