I really haven’t been able to find a reason to do a spring conversion on my e53. Granted, I only have the rear air springs on mine, but they have been quite reliable and I like the ride with them. They also handle the mild off-road stuff I do when hunting fairly well. The failures have been just as Andrew described- leaking down overnight. The air springs are a very simple job too.

Air springs on all four corners may be a different story though. I know my wife’s 2015 grand Cherokee was a huge pita to troubleshoot when it develop leak, and at the end of the day I never found it. Hence the spring conversion for that car.

Alright, I've decided to leave the SLS in my car as I really like the ride and everything works as it should.


The PO has already changed the front airbags with Arnotts as well as the compressor.


The rear bags are still 21 year old originals, I just ordered new Arnott replacements for those and will replace them as a preventive maintenance measure and a compressor rebuilt kit as well.


Thank you for your answers and insights on this matter!

Nice and thanks for posting the follow up.

Please post your experience with the compressor rebuild. I’m sure that is in my future, given that I’ve got 23 years and 170k on the OE compressor

I'd have that on my summer Todo list. In my case is walnut blast intake