SnowCub

My suspension is worn out, on my 2006 E320, with sagging springs and one broken. So I called my Mercedes independent mechanic and asked for the price to replace all the springs, struts and shocks. Now this is on a car with the standard suspension, No Sport, No Airmatic, No 4Matic. The estimate came back as $3,700. Does that seem a tad bit excessive to anyone else? Seems crazy to me. I can't imagine that a dealer would charge much more.

I'm going to get a quote next week from a recommended local mechanic.

Meanwhile, I looked up replacement springs and shocks for Bilstein OEM B3/B4. Summitracing.com has the parts and I priced them together at $583.76 shipped to my door. If I do new spring mounts and bump stops for the shocks from mbonlineparts.com, its an extra $193.84.

I really figured that a standard suspension wouldn't be that much to replace.

cetialpha5

That does seem high. Maybe he's getting them directly from MB. I think Sachs was OEM and they're half the price.

rapidoxidation

Buy the parts, buy the tools to do the job, buy the shop manual to learn how (or alldata.com), and still have a few thousand in your pocket for some nice upgrades

F1Fan

You will need to replace more than just the shock and springs.

If you want to restore your ride to the tight new car feel, you should look into replacing/inspecting the following.

Front:
Upper and Lower ball joints
Outer Tie rods
Lower Control arms, 2 on Front Left and 2 on Front Right
Stabilizer or Sway bar links. Also look into the sway bar mounts as there was an issues with these earlier.

Rear:
Control Arms, upper left and right on each side. You may be able to get just the bushings but you will need to have a shop press out the old ones and push in the new ones.

Of course, after all of this or any suspension work you will need a new alignment.

What I would do is buy all the parts online, either factory or oem equivalent such as Lemforder, and then go to a local mechanic and get a quote on how much they will charge labor to replace all of these.

wdelcomyn

Where can I get a shop manual for a 2004 E500? My vehicle's rear end is dropped and it doesn't seem like the compressor will come on. I have a code reader (iCarsoft MB II) and a few tools, but can't figure out the fuses for sure and don't want to tear into something without a little more confidence that I might be able to fix it.

cetialpha5

Either a knock off EPCNet/WIS DVD on ebay for $10 or subscribe to Startek at $60 a day and download as much as you can in 24 hours.

https://www.startekinfo.com/StarTek/subscribe2.jsp

SnowCub

I asked Direct Tire (a local tire chain) where I buy my Nokian tires and sometimes have them replace my brakes, they quoted me $2,200 for Sachs parts installed. Which sounds a hell of a lot better, but I'm not a 100% sure that I should go with them.

Asked the local dealer, their estimate was $4,200.

Asked my local mechanic and he said I should only replace the rear springs where one is cracked. The front springs are fine. I pointed out that the front passenger spring is sagging that's why I can't fix my alignment. Could he install parts if I got them? No, he's had too many problems going that route. OK, could he give me an estimate on replacing all the shocks and springs? Sure, he'll call me later, except he never did.

I've called twice since for the figure and was told to call back the next day. I really hate chasing people. Does anyone else get this run around with mechanics?

Marcus Gent

Very high! Consider the price of the parts