jtwillia2

2005 C230K SS. Last week my steering began making a slight "groaning" and "knocking" noise when turning, especially at slow speeds. I suspected the bushings on the control arms needed to be replaced. I also did some searching and some people have had to replace the bushings on the steering rack, which seemed like something I could DIY.

Took it to my local indy shop that happens to work on Mercedes vehicles and they said I need a whole new steering rack, explaining that the boot is torn and is leaking gear fluid, and it would basically be impossible to successfully repair that boot and replace that fluid. Just want to see if this has happened to anyone else. From searching, it doesn't seem like this is a common problem. However, my car is 10 years old and has 110k miles. I am friends with the owner of the shop and I trust him. He was also the one who drove it and diagnosed the noise issue. I know he wouldn't steer me wrong (pun intended).

The OEM steering rack is about $1100. Aftermarket ones run around $400. He printed me an estimate that is $450 for the part and $450 labor, coming to $900 total.

Hoping to get some input/opinions on these prices and OEM vs. aftermarket vs. aftermarket refurbished in this situation. I looked at the Haynes manual for the replacement and it just appears to be a huge PITA so I honestly don't really want to try to DIY it.

Thanks in advance.

VVF

If it's leaking fluid, you should be able to look under the car and see it.
See the bellows boots between the red and blue arrows in the pic.

The boots are there just to protect the internals from dust and moisture, not to keep the steering fluid inside.
If the rack is indeed leaking imho there's not much you can do except replace it with a reman/new one.