2011 C300 4Matic Luxury - New Acquisition Report & Repairs
01-27-2017, 05:49 PM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
2011 C300 4Matic Luxury - New Acquisition Report & Repairs
Hi All,
I recently picked up a used 2011 C300 (W204) 4Matic Luxury with the Navigation Package. After a few months of driving it around, I am pretty pleased overall, having come from a BMW 330i (e46). Naturally, since it was a pre-owned car, there were some minor repairs I felt necessary. Below is a critique of the vehicle along with the repairs I performed, or had performed.
Coming from a BMW 330i, I immediately thought the car does not perform or handle as well as the BMW. After having a few months in the Mercedes, I have concluded that it isn't so much that it doesn't perform as well as the BMW, but rather it seems that the Mercedes has a different, more refined driving style to it. The BMW steering feels much more connected to the road. There is a more throatier sound and stronger torque felt with the BMW inline 6, along with much higher RPMs per gear (5 Speed Steptronic). The Mercedes V6 7-Speed revs much lower in each gear (even with "S" Sport Mode engaged) and sounds much quieter.
While the car was in great condition overall, the suspension felt a little worn and occasionally bottomed-out on the bumpy roads of NYC. With over 90K on the car, it was clear it still had the original suspension bolted on. Even at highway speeds, you could feel the diminished dampening with a bit of swaying in the rear.
After comparing both OE and OEM prices, I went with some from both columns. There is a super cheap MB Dealer online (http://www.genuinemercedesparts.com) who has really low prices on their parts. There are several of these MB Dealers that sell online, but as far as I could tell, this place had the lowest prices for MB-stamped OE parts. Much cheaper than the other popular vendors for OE/OEM/AM equipment. in some cases, the OE was cheaper than OEM or AM.
I wanted to keep the same Luxury ride, so I went with direct replacement struts and shocks. The factory ones are made by SACHS. You can buy AM Bilstein's, but be advised that they are much firmer - even the non-HD ones. Since everything was original, I also replaced both of the front strut mounts and lower bearings, along with new bump stops. Even after 6 yrs/90K - the mounts, bearing and bump stops were in good condition and could've probably been reused. Since these are relatively inexpensive parts that are only accessible during strut/shock removal, you should go ahead and replace them preemptively. What was nice about buying the rear OE shocks, is that they come with a new mount, bumper, and boot along with the shock itself. MB sells the shock as one whole unit and ends up being pretty cheap compared to buying an AM shock that does NOT come with this additional hardware.
As this repair involved new mounts, shocks and struts, a wheel alignment was required. After leaving the repair shop, I put about 50 miles on the car to help the suspension settle a little. After bumping around town and a spin the highway, I went to an alignment shop that was recommended to me. The gy charged $85 and did a 4-wheel alignment on a new HUNTER machine. The car now tracts perfectly. The dealer wanted $200 plus tax. that is insane. Don't be worried about not going to a dealer for a wheel alignment. an indy can do this for a lot less. Don't waste your money. I have had both indy and dealers perform alignments and can honestly say I don't see a difference.
The car also had some vibrations felt through the chassis which would disappear when shifted into N or P (or when in D with speed). As the engine and transmission mounts were likely also original, I elected to have these replaced as well. While the vibrations were really minimal (and lessened once warmed up - engines run smoother once at operating temp.), I felt that it took away from the comfort I had expected. After having them replaced, the car has less vibration, although I feel there is still some slight vibration left. I did read quite a bit on this, and it seems that new mounts do solve this issue, or lessen it a lot. As some of you may know, there was a thread going around that seemed to allude to the 4Matic system causing this. Something about the drive axel and/or drive shaft needing replacement. Evidently, someone quoted a MB Service Rep. who said something to the effect that the mounts do a great job of masking the issue. I am happy enough for now that I would not pursue this issue further.
With new suspension and motor mounts, the car feels like it accelerates and handles much better now. Since shocks and struts wear out gradually, you will not notice that they have lost most of their dampening ability until you put new ones on and see the difference.
The car also has a retractable rear sunshade, but the button does nothing. It appears to have failed in the down position. This is not something I see myself using, but may tackle this DIY later down the road. I'm not sure if it is the motor or a fuse issue.
The COMAND system still had its 2010 Factory Navigation installed without any subsequent updates. The dealer charges somewhere around $300 for this DVD. It contains new/updated POI's and roads which can be handy. I was able to find a 2017 copy on eBay for $30 (2 DVDs) which installed flawlessly. It just takes almost 2 hours from start to finish - however, it will stop and pick up where it left off between drives. You don't have to do it all in one sitting.
I also installed new wiper blades as they would rubbing loudly and making an awful noise when in the rain. You can get BOSCH or MB OE ones for the same price. The MB ones also have a black sticker that turns yellow when it is time to replace it.
The last thing I changed were the cabin and intake air filters. these were super easy and take no more than 15 minutes for each. Evidently, it looked like only one of the two intake filters were changed. I went ahead and replaced both. The OE and OEM MANN look identical. However, the OE filter was made in Germany and the OEM in China. You could see slight imperfections between the two, but for the most part they're identical.
I recently picked up a used 2011 C300 (W204) 4Matic Luxury with the Navigation Package. After a few months of driving it around, I am pretty pleased overall, having come from a BMW 330i (e46). Naturally, since it was a pre-owned car, there were some minor repairs I felt necessary. Below is a critique of the vehicle along with the repairs I performed, or had performed.
Coming from a BMW 330i, I immediately thought the car does not perform or handle as well as the BMW. After having a few months in the Mercedes, I have concluded that it isn't so much that it doesn't perform as well as the BMW, but rather it seems that the Mercedes has a different, more refined driving style to it. The BMW steering feels much more connected to the road. There is a more throatier sound and stronger torque felt with the BMW inline 6, along with much higher RPMs per gear (5 Speed Steptronic). The Mercedes V6 7-Speed revs much lower in each gear (even with "S" Sport Mode engaged) and sounds much quieter.
While the car was in great condition overall, the suspension felt a little worn and occasionally bottomed-out on the bumpy roads of NYC. With over 90K on the car, it was clear it still had the original suspension bolted on. Even at highway speeds, you could feel the diminished dampening with a bit of swaying in the rear.
After comparing both OE and OEM prices, I went with some from both columns. There is a super cheap MB Dealer online (http://www.genuinemercedesparts.com) who has really low prices on their parts. There are several of these MB Dealers that sell online, but as far as I could tell, this place had the lowest prices for MB-stamped OE parts. Much cheaper than the other popular vendors for OE/OEM/AM equipment. in some cases, the OE was cheaper than OEM or AM.
I wanted to keep the same Luxury ride, so I went with direct replacement struts and shocks. The factory ones are made by SACHS. You can buy AM Bilstein's, but be advised that they are much firmer - even the non-HD ones. Since everything was original, I also replaced both of the front strut mounts and lower bearings, along with new bump stops. Even after 6 yrs/90K - the mounts, bearing and bump stops were in good condition and could've probably been reused. Since these are relatively inexpensive parts that are only accessible during strut/shock removal, you should go ahead and replace them preemptively. What was nice about buying the rear OE shocks, is that they come with a new mount, bumper, and boot along with the shock itself. MB sells the shock as one whole unit and ends up being pretty cheap compared to buying an AM shock that does NOT come with this additional hardware.
As this repair involved new mounts, shocks and struts, a wheel alignment was required. After leaving the repair shop, I put about 50 miles on the car to help the suspension settle a little. After bumping around town and a spin the highway, I went to an alignment shop that was recommended to me. The gy charged $85 and did a 4-wheel alignment on a new HUNTER machine. The car now tracts perfectly. The dealer wanted $200 plus tax. that is insane. Don't be worried about not going to a dealer for a wheel alignment. an indy can do this for a lot less. Don't waste your money. I have had both indy and dealers perform alignments and can honestly say I don't see a difference.
The car also had some vibrations felt through the chassis which would disappear when shifted into N or P (or when in D with speed). As the engine and transmission mounts were likely also original, I elected to have these replaced as well. While the vibrations were really minimal (and lessened once warmed up - engines run smoother once at operating temp.), I felt that it took away from the comfort I had expected. After having them replaced, the car has less vibration, although I feel there is still some slight vibration left. I did read quite a bit on this, and it seems that new mounts do solve this issue, or lessen it a lot. As some of you may know, there was a thread going around that seemed to allude to the 4Matic system causing this. Something about the drive axel and/or drive shaft needing replacement. Evidently, someone quoted a MB Service Rep. who said something to the effect that the mounts do a great job of masking the issue. I am happy enough for now that I would not pursue this issue further.
With new suspension and motor mounts, the car feels like it accelerates and handles much better now. Since shocks and struts wear out gradually, you will not notice that they have lost most of their dampening ability until you put new ones on and see the difference.
The car also has a retractable rear sunshade, but the button does nothing. It appears to have failed in the down position. This is not something I see myself using, but may tackle this DIY later down the road. I'm not sure if it is the motor or a fuse issue.
The COMAND system still had its 2010 Factory Navigation installed without any subsequent updates. The dealer charges somewhere around $300 for this DVD. It contains new/updated POI's and roads which can be handy. I was able to find a 2017 copy on eBay for $30 (2 DVDs) which installed flawlessly. It just takes almost 2 hours from start to finish - however, it will stop and pick up where it left off between drives. You don't have to do it all in one sitting.
I also installed new wiper blades as they would rubbing loudly and making an awful noise when in the rain. You can get BOSCH or MB OE ones for the same price. The MB ones also have a black sticker that turns yellow when it is time to replace it.
The last thing I changed were the cabin and intake air filters. these were super easy and take no more than 15 minutes for each. Evidently, it looked like only one of the two intake filters were changed. I went ahead and replaced both. The OE and OEM MANN look identical. However, the OE filter was made in Germany and the OEM in China. You could see slight imperfections between the two, but for the most part they're identical.
The following users liked this post:
Stan Wisniewski (01-28-2017)
01-27-2017, 08:11 PM
#2
MBWorld Fanatic!
Congratulations, and great job getting your ride back in shape.
Yeah, that's a good site to bookmark.
I didn't realize the MB logo was designed to do that. Interesting.
After comparing both OE and OEM prices, I went with some from both columns. There is a super cheap MB Dealer online (http://www.genuinemercedesparts.com) who has really low prices on their parts.
I didn't realize the MB logo was designed to do that. Interesting.
01-28-2017, 09:49 AM
#4
MBWorld Fanatic!
01-28-2017, 09:53 PM
#5
Junior Member
Thread Starter
If you're talking about the subtle vibration felt when in D, which disappears when u shift into P or N, I would like to hear more.
While the new motor/tranny mounts helped alleviate the vibration, I can still tell it is there. The vibrations felt were not really caused by worn mounts.
There are some scattered threads that discuss this issue, and all seem to say the same thing. The motor/tranny mounts help slightly, but do not cure the problem. They only mask it. It seems that it is somehow related to the drive axle and drive shaft particular to 4Matic models. Replacement of these parts have had success. Others have had entire transmissions replaced that may or may not have solved the problem.
Anyway, I an still unsure what is causing the vibration and would like to hear from others who may have had similar problems. While there were a lot of threads about the problem, many users never post back about whether the problem was resolved and how.
While the new motor/tranny mounts helped alleviate the vibration, I can still tell it is there. The vibrations felt were not really caused by worn mounts.
There are some scattered threads that discuss this issue, and all seem to say the same thing. The motor/tranny mounts help slightly, but do not cure the problem. They only mask it. It seems that it is somehow related to the drive axle and drive shaft particular to 4Matic models. Replacement of these parts have had success. Others have had entire transmissions replaced that may or may not have solved the problem.
Anyway, I an still unsure what is causing the vibration and would like to hear from others who may have had similar problems. While there were a lot of threads about the problem, many users never post back about whether the problem was resolved and how.
