[Ancalagon]

Hi everyone,

I bought my 1994 E320 sedan in 2011 from the original owner, who was a farmer. Because the car lived on a farm for its entire live, its suspension got abused quite badly. So much so that the steering damper bracket got ripped off the chassis, so I had to have the bracket repaired in order to fit a new steering damper.

Anyway, nearly 3 years and lots of money later, I have got the car into pretty good mechanical condition. I have had the head gasket and wiring harness done, and its now been getting regular maintenance, so its in good mechanical condition. Problem is, I'm not happy with the suspension, with how the car feels on the road. It doesnt feel smooth to me. A friend of mine has a 1995/1996 E280, and his car feels much more smooth than mine. Problem is, I dont know if it is all in my head, although same friend has remarked that his car feels "tighter" than mine.

My mechanic can see nothing wrong with the suspension, and doesnt want to replace parts, since he is not sure whether it will actually make a difference. he doesnt want me to spend a whole lot of money on the suspension, and find nothing has changed. He does say that something, I forget what but it could be the ball joints or the bushes, collects water when it rains, and then makes a creaking sound later.

How much work did the old man, the previous owner, do on the suspension? I have no idea, although I seem to remember him saying that he recently redid the rear suspension. The front is much lower than the rear, and my car often scrapes over bumps.

What exactly do I not like about the suspension? It creaks, and the whole car feels loose. Like, there is too much roll maybe, when it goes over bumps. Feels very soft, and not smooth on the road.

I checked the shocks a year or so ago, and they were okay.

Any advice would be appreciated.

EDIT: Ps the only suspension related repairs that I have had done, besides the steering damper, is to have the engine mounts replaced in 2011. I think the mechanic also mentioned that one of the brackets that holds the exhaust is damaged, and cannot be repaired because it is aluminum.

 

[chuckh0308]

Creaking could be as serious as the ball joints, or it could just be the sway bar bushings or control arm bushings. If the car still has the original shocks then despite looking okay, they are probably done. If not the shocks themselves, then I can pretty much guaranty that the bumps stops are rotted out. Also, the upper mounts should be checked closely. You do not want a failure of the ball joints of the upper mounts!

I would probably start with the easy stuff...replace at least the front shocks, upper mounts, and all four sway bar bushings. See where you're at after that. Make sure the ball joints are good first though. They are top priority.

Perhaps the spring pads (shims) are toast too and that's why it is riding low up front.

These cars should be pretty tight and well controlled, but not stiff. If it's loose and floaty then things are worn out. On the bright side, most of these things are easy to take care of yourself.

 

[Ancalagon]

Thanks for the advice.

Can you give me any idea how much you would expect the easy stuff to cost? I will have to have my mechanic do the work, so there will be labour charges involved. Relative to getting the wiring harness and head gasket done at the same time, is it close to that?

EDIT: Unfortunately I dont know how old the current shocks are. The previous might have replaced them, I just dont know. No service history.

 

[chuckh0308]

I honestly don't know what they would charge for labor, but if you have basic tools you can do the shocks, upper mounts, bump stops, and the sway bar bushing in probably two or three hours by yourself. These are seriously easy things to do and don't even affect the alignment. And you don't need a spring compressor to replace the shocks. You would to replace the spring pads though.

I'm also in the U.S., so it's hard to price things for you, but in U.S. dollars you'd probably be looking at $300-$400 for those easy to replace parts depending on which brands/models you use, and probably another $200 in labor (a Mercedes mechanic should be able to do these things in about an hour or hour and a half).