I heard some weird noises on the way home from the front passenger side suspension, so I decided to check it out and this is what i found:
the mount that the top of the spring goes into rusted through in a couple of places where it was welded to the chassis and came of!
It if comes off completely the brake line will be ruptured and I'll get a garage full of breaking fluid.
So I'm getting spring compressors tomorrow and taking that thing out of there, hopefully before the brake line gets ruptured.

What I need some help with is to figure out what this part is, the one that is welded to the frame and that the top of the spring goes into.
Is that even something that can be ordered from the dealership?
I can tig weld the thing back to the chassis (assuming i can sandblast that part of the chassis and the frame is in a good shape). But I'm not sure I can salvage the part or fix it, too much of it is rusted through and this will be more of a metal fabrication than just a welding job and I'm not that good a fabrication to build something I'll be literally trusting my life with.

I'm attaching a picture, hopefully someone could help me with the part identification and get some comfort from the fact that even when something like this happens you can still drive the car and pretty much not notice anything if the music is on
Handling was still fine and it didn't even pull . . .

Almost forgot, this is C43 front suspension, passenger side.

 

Front spring perch

 

you might have to cut one off another car-

wow, that's crazy.

 

Thank you very much for your quick reply!
I've googled around and it looks like it's a common problem on some MBs.

 

It is common but usually on W210's not W202's

 

Metal cancer has taken its toll.... Crazy for something like this to happen. Makes good sense to clean the underside of the car regularly and at least at the end of each winter to wash out the salt residues.

 

The part is listed in the Electronic Parts Catalog as: Bracing, Right Front Spring. It is Part #202 626 02 19. It should be available for modest cost from a dealer. Check the left side too.

 

that doesn't help unfortunately. the thing rusts from the inside and you can't see any rust until you peel of the protective mastique from it. you only see the rust once it's ripped off.
i've checked the driver's side and it looks perfect, no rust, but i'm sure the same thing is bound to happen soon.
both sides were in the same climate and it's not like I garaged one and not the other

 

Accident damage perhaps??

 

looks like there was a recall in canada but not in the US.
like 503C43 said this is a relatively common problem, especially on W210s.
the thing rusts under the coating so you can't tell unless you rip of the coating or the perch rusts through and gets ripped off.

anyway, I took the coil out today and was able to avoid causing real damage to the brake line.

now i've got a really dumb series of questions
considering the fact that there is no coil there at all . . .

if I was to put the wheel back on and try to lower it in this state, would I be able to:
1) get the car out of a garage on a driveway and load it on a flatbed?
2) drive about a mile to the closest body shop?
3) none of the above?
4) break the strut or cause some other damage?

I ordered the perches for both sides and the rivet kits, but I don't feel like buying a thousand dollar hydrolyc rivet gun + unknown $$$s for extension.
Initially I thought the new perch would be welded on and I was planning to tig weld it on myself, but it looks like MB doesn't recommend welding on the frame since it will start rusting and instead has a procedure that uses some special rivets to secure the new perch on.
So i'm trying to figure out who could do this in my area. I just don't have the tools to do it myself.

Perhaps tig welding would not be as bad as some of the other welding technologies since the heat affected area could be quite small, but I still feel that it's probably not the best way to do this because it will for sure burn the paint and protective coating on the other side of the frame and I won't be able to reach there to reapply the coating so it will just have bare metal there and will start rusting. On the other hand the car is 11 years old so how many more years should I be expecting it to survive considering this is probably not the only thing that is rusting on it.

 

once the coil is out, is the car:
a) movable enough to be loaded on a flat bed.
b) drivable (1-2 miles at 20mph and no bumps).
c) immobilized completely

 

If it were me, and it relatively recently drove to wherever it currently sits, it would drive another 2 miles (probably in the dead of night after I finished bouncing up and down on the fender). At a minimum, it would make it on a flatbed.

Of course, if it meets a violent end, I accept zero responsibility.

 

but it drove to the garage with the coil still in it (although it was wedged between the body and the strut.
and now there is no coil at all (i have removed it to prevent brake line rupture).
so i would assume the car isn't drivable and isn't movable, but the canadian recall said that the perch issue leaves the car "in controllable condition" so that is why I wonder if it's still possible to load it on a flat bed in this condition.

 

The coil spring has to be put back before the car can be driven anywhere. Alternatively, the flatbed driver can pull it on to the flatbed.

 

Just in case anyone has to go through this.
I was able to fix the problem eventually. Took me a while to get the tools and parts.

I'm attaching a PDF describing the fix procedure for 210, 202 isn't much different.

I decided against welding even though it would have been a lot easier to do (for me at least, as far as tools, experience, etc) and instead followed the recommended fix procedure.

I ordered "special MB rivets" sets part numbers 004 990 28 97 and 004 990 35 97. I have to admit that upon receiving them I have a strong suspicion that the only thing special about them was the plastic MB bag they came in.
I've used a hydraulic riveter capable of setting steel structural rivets up to 1/4".
I've heard that only Gesipa Taurus 4 can be used for this purpose but I couldn't find it anywhere so I ended up using an ATD-5831. I didn't have any problems with it so I guess any similar tool may work. My guess is that Taurus 4 is specifically called out simply because it's part of the standard MB dealership tool catalogue.

I ended up using a Koch Tools Part #: KT20243 internal spring compressor to put the spring back in, cheap external compressors just didn't do it for me, although they were enough to take it out since there was more space there when the old perch was bent heavily.
I still had to use one external compressor even when putting the spring back in as I couldn't remove the Koch tool if the spring was in a fully extracted position, the top plate would wedge against the perch. This was probably due to my lack of experience and improper positioning of the place, but I did make 3 honest attempts at placing the plates correctly. Anyway, with a little help from one external compressor this wasn't too bad.
I used a standard air powered angle grinder to prepare the area, some chemicals to treat the rust, to prime the parts and to cover the area after it was all done.
Also had to make a custom drill bit extension as i couldn't fit even my fairly small air drill there. You might be OK with a right angle drill, i didn't have one available.
I think that's about it for tools.

As far as the difficulty of the DIY goes I'd say it wasn't too bad and if the base metal is in good shape after you remove the old perch (it was in my case) it's very doable if you have the right tools. I'm not an experienced DIYer and I was able to do it. The other issue of course is safety, so you're at your own risk.
Also, when you drill holes you have to be very careful to place them correctly and you have to figure out what's on the other side of the metal you're drilling into so you're not going to drill into a joint.

I'm going to remove some mastic from the other side and inspect the other perch for the rust at some point and probably replace it as well. I'm a little on the fence about doing it myself due to lack of time and loss of interest , but I guess I have to now since I bought the tools and the parts. Since the other side isn't broken yet I still have the option of driving it into a shop . . .

I'd like to thank those of you who provided advice and part numbers. This community has been very helpful, as always.

 

Looks like a 2 for enjoyment factor but a 10 for a job well done.

I think its fun that MB claims the car is "manageable" after this happens..

 

Great write-up and definitely a must to have handy. May I suggest you copy and paste the .pdf file in the "stickies" in the videos and How To's" here https://mbworld.org/forums/c36-amg-c...deos-w202.html

 

yikes, Ive never seen them riveted on. we have a certified welder at my shop who does them all, including replacing the rusted out metal behind the perch, not all of them rust from the inside out though.

 

I got lucky. I had my car on a lift for a completely unrelated exhaust problem and when the mechanic let the car down, unknown to both of us, the spring pushed through the top of the perch bracket and bent it over but not enough to pop out. That came later at home when I put the car up on jacks to check out the strange noise which I thought was the spring settling down.

<http://www.jesseparris.com/MiscImages/spring perch damage 008.jpg>

I jacked the front up, removed the wheels and walked into the garage for something and there was a bang! The top of the perch just bent backwards and the spring actually shot out and onto the ground.

I've called Greenwich Mercedes in Greenwich, Ct three times, leaving messages and the service advisors are ignoring me and will not return my calls. I'm wondering if this is class action material? See this link <http://resources.lawinfo.com/en/Legal-FAQs/Class-Action/Federal/how-many-people-are-needed-to-bring-a-class-a.html>

There has got to be a quite a few people who have had to get this repaired. I know some attorneys in Greenwich who might be interested. If you have had to pay for this out of your own pocket, please contact me while I get some more info from the lawyers.

I do have a mig welder and know how to weld so the worst case scenario is that I have to chisel and grind out the old brackets and mig weld in new ones. I have tell you that I certainly would fabricate a plate at the top to reinforce the round top with the flat side of the apron. Looks like I will have to buy the Koch spring compressor that costs $200 with shipping.

 

bummer. Replacing a spring perch is a ***** and I would never feel confident to ever drive it hard in the corners after replacing one.

 

Really? Maybe riveting it on, but I feel extremely confident in my mig welds especially after adding the two extra triangle-shaped supports at the top. I wouldn't hesitate at all to push hard in the corners.

Steel mig spot welds, when done correctly, are better than factory robot welds because they can made wider, thicker and placed more often. This spring perch concept was a very, very bad design.

I worked in bodyshops and owned my own for over ten years so I know how strong mig welds are.