my baby's down
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Joined: Dec 2009
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From: Chapel Hill, NC/Montreal, QC
1995 C36 AMG, 1998 C43 AMG
my baby's down
Lower Control arm snapped in half hitting a bridge at 70mph. Dragged the wheel at 90 degrees for about 200 yards. Looking at it afterwards, the damn control arm was super rusty...
Does anyone here know a good indy around Lexington, ky? Hope it's not a write off...
Does anyone here know a good indy around Lexington, ky? Hope it's not a write off...
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you must have been long over due for a swap of these LCA bushings?
how bad did your car break?
show some pics of the damage.
are these LCA bushings that weak to break?
it's a risk driving your car if you don't know how bad they are!
how bad did your car break?
show some pics of the damage.
are these LCA bushings that weak to break?
it's a risk driving your car if you don't know how bad they are!
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Joined: Mar 2010
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From: Land of mountains, cheese, chocolate and watches
12' W204 C63 AMG coupe "T-Rex", 12' W451 Smart Fortwo Pulse (99' W202 C43 AMG + Ultima Can-Am sold)
tough to hear. Was that control arm rusty and the cause of snapping? We need more info and pics if possible 
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Joined: Apr 2010
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From: Seattle
1996 C36 AMG, 1970 LeMans Sport, a truck
wow you got lucky..
2nd thing, how many miles on the car and how good of overall condition is it?
If it's an otherwise clean car I'd bring it to the attention of MBUSA- that's not a typical failure and frankly it's scary.
Spring mounts are known to fail on these and w210 cars due to rusting as well.
2nd thing, how many miles on the car and how good of overall condition is it?
If it's an otherwise clean car I'd bring it to the attention of MBUSA- that's not a typical failure and frankly it's scary.
Spring mounts are known to fail on these and w210 cars due to rusting as well.
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Joined: Jul 2009
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From: Maryland
C43
Sucks to here but we can replace cars. Glad your OK. Im guessing it'll be a write off by the sounds of it. But if its not that bad, try to work with em to keep it. I looked over my total write up. They had things on it that were not even damaged. I am thinking they were trying to do me a favor or something?
Thread Starter
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Joined: Dec 2009
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From: Chapel Hill, NC/Montreal, QC
1995 C36 AMG, 1998 C43 AMG
Well, first off, it is getting fixed. Well, partially. Being a student, the car is still registered and insured by my dad. When I say insured though, I mean minimum "if I'm dumb and wreck your car, my insurance will fix your's and that's it" coverage, so they weren't going to touch this. It was all pocket. My dad's having the lca, ball joint, and tire replaced. Basically the minimum to allow us to drive home. They're leaving it up to me and my broke student a$$ to replace the side skirt, fender liner, and probably replace the fender because it gave me one hell of a fender rolling.
Pictures will come soon when I get home and access to my camera cable.
The car has quite a lot of miles, at 195xxx, and spent a decent fraction of it's life in salty NY. but, there are no visible rust spots except for one tiny one under the trunk lid where that rubber foot hits. No underside rust. bottom line it's never going to be close to a show car. I dont believe this had anything to do with the lca bushing, just the whole, metal, lca rusting from the inside out and snapping in half. What did it in was a large pothole about 20 miles before the bridge. Hit it pretty hard on the left side. Didn't feel anything different afterwards, but it must have cracked it and weakened it because hitting the dip entering the bridge was not a hard hit, but it sheared the while arm in 2.
Pictures will come soon when I get home and access to my camera cable.
The car has quite a lot of miles, at 195xxx, and spent a decent fraction of it's life in salty NY. but, there are no visible rust spots except for one tiny one under the trunk lid where that rubber foot hits. No underside rust. bottom line it's never going to be close to a show car. I dont believe this had anything to do with the lca bushing, just the whole, metal, lca rusting from the inside out and snapping in half. What did it in was a large pothole about 20 miles before the bridge. Hit it pretty hard on the left side. Didn't feel anything different afterwards, but it must have cracked it and weakened it because hitting the dip entering the bridge was not a hard hit, but it sheared the while arm in 2.
