BagMan

My e320 CDI has 175k miles and is running strong. However, the front suspension is making some noises. The car is also pulling heavily to the right.

Dealer did an alignment and advised that castor bushings were shot. I'd rather replace everything than chase down one failing component at a time.

What's the best & most cost effective way to freshen up the front end?

Are there any rebuild kits?

Thanks

F1Fan

You have the right mindset on replacing everything. Doing it one piece at a time will cost you more in the end because each part is worn. I haven't seen any rebuild kits but I did replace several parts of the front suspension and it resulted in basically a new car feeling. Took the car up to highway speed and the suspension feels tight again with the solid German car feel we expect from the E.

Assuming your front shock or airmatic air spring is in good condition, I replaced the following:

Ball Joints: Both upper and lower. Upper can be done relatively easily if you have the version that is held by 3 torx bolts. Lower you will need a ball joint press (basically a large C Clamp with fittings). The old ball joints were flopping around. New ones are tight.
Outer Tie Rod: Will tighten up the loose steering feeling
Lower Control Arms: There are two of them per wheel. I went with Lemforder parts, but you can get more cost effective such as Delphi or Febi. I did not find just the bushing or ball joints for the control arms as that may be cheaper solution. But replacing the whole arm was not that much. I would recommend a wheel alignment afterwards.

All of the above parts are not that hard to install with the right tools. As the dealer will probably charge you a ton of $$$ to replace these, I would recommend ordering the parts online and taking it to a local shop to have them replaced. Then get the wheels aligned.

BagMan

Thanks for the info. I'm going to take a close look at it this weekend and see if it's something I can DIY.

F1Fan

Do you have access to a lift? I think the upper ball joint is easy to replace, assuming you have the correct Torx tool bits.

Lower ball joint, you can probably rent a ball joint press from an auto parts store.

Outer tie rod ends, can be easily replaced with common tools, just maybe pay attention to the number of turns it takes to remove and put the new ones on with the same amount of turns. For example, it took 21 revolutions or turns to remove the old outer tie rods. This will help get you in the ballpark later when you go for an alignment.

Control arms, an impact gun will help here.

Overall, it does not require any special skills to replace the parts. Just need access to a lift and the proper tools. But it can all be done. Let us know how it turns out for you.

kajtek1

First I don't buy that car pull to the side because of aging bushings.
I had our wagon at dealer for alignment and they hold the car for 3 days, still giving it back with couple of adjustment in red, with story that bolts are corroded. They are not.
Checking why my tires got bold in inner edges, my oldfashion scale show that dealer left the toe at 4 degrees out.
Also evaluate the bushings. I had to replace hydro-bushings on control arms and from motor mounts experience- the "hydro" always wear much faster than solid stuff.
I replaced rear arm bushing on first arm as well, but found it perfectly solid.
Just did some checking on father's 29 years old W124 and even the bushings show some age on the edges, they still hold stiff at 300,000 miles.
Bottom line, inspect, inspect, inspect and don't buy BS.

sohailhussain

i used the list of parts from F1Fan, converted part names to part numbers from the part number site (mb-teilekatalog.info), went to pelicanparts.com my total for everything is about $470, my local MB guy wanted 450$ to do "ball joints", i assume he would have selectively replaced only a few of the parts, and the rest of the cost was labor.

Problem i am trying to fix on a 2004 with 150k miles is a) pulls to the right, and b) creaks when you get in and out as well as when you turn the steering

QUESTION 1: should i replace everything 1) upper and lower ball joints, 2) tie rod outer ends, 3) control arms and 4) spring control arms, 5) boot to cover the tie rod ends?

QUESTION 2: did i miss something?

QUESTION 3: how long do you think it should take?

cmriv

Upper/lower ball joints. Spring link bushings. inner and outter tie rods.

1hr to do upper and lower ball joints.
1hr to do spring link bushings.
.5 hour to do inner and outter tie rods.

wouldn't worry about your arms, either spring link or control, unless they are bent. I would just update bushings/joints if it was me. I would replace inner and outter tie rod assemblies and yup, replace boots and clamps!

F1Fan

I would replace all at once. When everything is new, it takes a few days of driving for the parts to work together. Rubber starts moving and then takes a set. If you do it piece by piece, your alignment will always be changing. This should fix your creaking problem.

Don't forget also the stabilizer or sway bar links. Mine are clunking around and I forgot them. At $20-30 a piece, it is not much money.

I estimate maybe 2 hours per side.