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2006 CLK 350 Sport suspension refresh

5K views 14 replies 6 participants last post by  rudeney 
#1 ·
My 2006 CLK 350 sport has just passed 60,000 miles and I feel that the handling is quite what it used to be. It's not as 'planted' as it should.
Don't get me wrong, it's still very good! Just not 'as good'
What would the panel recommend the parts I should replace to give it a bit of a refresh? (bushes, links, arms etc)
Or,
could it be tyres? (Replaced all four with Pirelli Zero rossos about 4000 miles ago) tracking or just general gremlins? :crying

Thanks for your help
 
#2 ·
Dear Halcyon,

A more detailed description would help. These are heavy cars. If you jack the front of the car and grab the front tire top and bottom and try to move in and out can you feel any free play (it will be subtle)? My guess would be lower ball joints.

Thanks,
Zill.
 
#4 ·
The only way I can describe it is the rear feels loose? Going over a rut or manhole cover at speed will make it 'shimmy' slightly. It didn't used to do this :-(
Someone else mentioned control arms, so that's probably a good place to start. Thanks for your replies :)
 
#5 ·
So this is more in the rear than the front? I thin it's time for a good suspension inspection to check for worn parts. My CLK550 has 70K miles and I'm replacing all four front control arms. The right lower had a torn busing.
 
#8 ·
The Lemfoerders come with the bushings installed. The reason I replaced the control arms and not just the bushings was twofold. First, replacing just the bushings means having to remove the entire control arm and then spend the labor time extracting and installing new bushings, and that's not an easy task. Second, the new arms come with new ball joints. Going to all the trouble to do the job, I'd just prefer to have all new parts.
 
#9 ·
My mechanic gave the whole suspension a good going over and inspected all the seals, bushes, springs and shocks - he said that there isn't anything obvious wrong - everything looks in good condition with no damage to any components. There's no unexpected movement in any of the joints either..
The tyres all look ok with no obvious signs of bad tracking or uneven wear etc. (Maybe the Pirelli p-zero Rossos aren't a great choice?)

So he took it out for ten minutes (and ragged it a bit, as I asked him too!) We agreed that it "feels" like the behaviour you'd get with worn shocks - even though there's no obvious sign of any faults with them (leaks etc)
So it's booked in to have the rear shocks replaced: £115 each + labour + tax
I'll let you know how i get on :)

There was a nice black SLR in for some work at the same time, so at least I had something to gawp at :-D
 
#10 ·
New rear shocks and new pinion bushes. Car feels like new again :laugh
Though even after removal, there was no obvious signs of damage or wear on the shocks.

Had a 2008 ML320 to borrow while the work was being done, it was much nicer than I imagined it would be :angel
 
#15 · (Edited)
Absolutely! But some people complain that they wear out too soon on MBZ vehicles. Many people have Hondas and Toyotas with 200K miles on the original suspension parts with "no problems", yet an MBZ with 75K miles has problems. My response to that is first, I guarantee that the 200K mile car does have problems, but the driver just can't tell because the parts wear over time. There may be no noises, but handling and emergency avoidance will be greatly affected.

Second, MBZ suspensions use much more sophisticated suspensions systems, such as fluid-filled control arm bushings. The MBZ multi-link system is totally different from the typical "double wishbone" setup many cars use. The multi-link setup improves handling, but also amplifies suspension problems. So those other cars likely have the exact same suspension problems as MBZ, but you just don't notice them because they handle less precisely.

An example: I drove a brand new Mazda 6 rental car. Ever bump and rut cause loud clunking and bumping noises from the suspension. If I heard these in my 13 year old C240, It would be in the garage getting an overhaul. But this was "normal" for the Mazda.
 
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