titanicCC

Hello, you will see a few days ago I sound like a knock on the rear suspension to catch irregularities in the road. plus the car is not very stable in the rear axle. I think it's a silentblock. What is your experience. thanks

Crissus

Lower Bushing on the struts. Easy to replace with the correct tool. Bushing is like 30€? or so? Part Number: A2203520027, Or Lemförder OEM: 20994 02.
Be careful when re-seating the lower end of the strut in to the lower control arm! You need two people, one to carefully allign, another one to lower the car step by step so the lower control up goes up carefully. Ohhh and you need to put something under the rear control arm, either another car jack or whatever is handy.

titanicCC

Thanks

Welwynnick

Can I suggest a simple test before you do anything else?

Jack up the rear end and see if you can bounce the wheel up and down.


Nick

titanicCC

Thanks, any idea is accepted

Crissus

What would a positive answer to your suggestion mean?

Welwynnick

I will be very obvious.
If the suspension is OK, the wheel won't move.
If the suspension bush is worn, the wheel will move a few millimetres up and down freely.

Nick

titanicCC

I lifted the car and have moved the wheels and shock sounds a patter, the silenblock everyone is ok. I think the shock is worn inside. what do you think

Welwynnick

Sorry, what does that mean?

titanicCC

sorry problem of Google translate. i think the noise is the strut . when I move the wheel and strut (up and down) the noise comes from into of strut. Is posible that the strut is bad

tusabes

It might be the strut

But it also might be the ball joints and control arms which is very common problem

Unless you take off the strut to verify its the part making the noise it's going to be impossible to say which part is bad

Welwynnick

You can often find out what's really going wrong with suspension if you remove or disconnect the spring, then everything becomes much more obvious.

I would suspect the rubber bush at the top of the strut.

Nick

titanicCC

the next weekend remove the struts and inspect the noise

ItalianJoe1

Nick, those bushings are failed on my car, it has terrible wheel hop on hard launches and I can push the wheels down several inches with the car on the lift.

Is there really no solution to just the bushings? I can't take the car apart to experiment, but I feel like I need to come up with a better option for us than a $700 rebuilt strut to just get a bushing replaced.

Crissus

Guys again, i already had that issue on my car. It was the lower bushing in the strut. The strut itself is very rigid. I have spoken for hours with the company CEO that rebuilds these struts. Even the the conventional gas dampener part inside the strut lasts in most cases for more than 16 years, springs are never an issue with 230, 215, 220 ABC struts unless the plastic cover gets damaged and water comes in. What can fail on the rear struts is sorted by commonness: Lower Bushing (easy DIY), Upper bushing (Strut replace/reman), Plunger sensor. Squeaking noises are ALWAYS the lower bushings. Trust me i had that twice with used Struts.
Thats it. Front ABC Struts for 215, 220 and 230 is a different story though. There the upper bushing fails mostly, so its the most common failure on front ABC struts.

Rear strut removal on the 215 is like 30minutes with 2 people in your home yard - where the issue checking it? But please raise the suspension to maximum before doing so, to release spring pressure.

Welwynnick

I found a successful way to rebuild the front strut top bush, but not the rear one. That would need another strut. There are various options:

$1500 - New Mercedes strut http://www.mbpartsworld.com/p/Merced...203209113.html

$700 - Arnott remanufactured strut https://www.arnotteurope.com/p-4169-...lass-w215.aspx

$460 - Rebuild Master Tech remanufactured strut http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-S-C...cAAOSwKtVWuOjE

$300 - CNO Cars remanufactured strut http://www.cnocars.com/pshow.asp?id=618

£300 - eBay good used strut http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw...29&_sacat=6000

Interestingly, both RMT and CNO sell W220 coil-over conversions based on ABC struts (but presumably without the hydraulics) that look suspiciously similar.

Also, RMT remanufacture the V12 coil packs.

Nick

titanicCC

hello, when I raise the car and move the wheels (up down) the noise is into of the strut
the next weekend remove the strut and inspect the lower bushing

ItalianJoe1

I'm trying to solve a horrible wheel hop I get on hard accel, I can't figure out how a worn upper bushing could cause that but I've checked everything else and it all seems so solid. I know the uppers are shot because I can pull the wheels down a lot with the car on the rack, just trying to get my car ready for the drag strip.

Welwynnick

titanicCC and ItalianJoe, how far can you move your wheels up and down?

If the lower ball joint failed (which it does) it would be a mm or two.

If the upper bush failed, it might be a cm or two.

Nick

fireman685

Interesting. I too am also encountering a slight clunking noise at low speed most noticeable on my gravel driveway and in not so smooth parking lots. I've had my car on the lift a few times replacing flex disks and transmission mount and have tried moving my rear wheels up and down but it is solid. I also went around the car with a pry bay checking all the suspension bushings which feel tight. I've already replaced all of the front control arms and ball joints so not worried about those. However, the thought of checking the bushings on the bottom of the rear shocks never crossed my mind. So they are a common failure? My 05 CL55 has 117k miles on it now ( have put 40k miles on it in little over a year, and besides the expected ABC repairs, it has been trouble free ) and would it be about time for those to be worn out? If I feel frisky enough after working on my pick up I may take a wheel off and start prying around on those. Also, if they are worn they can be replaced without having to replace the entire shock? I have a shop press so that would be an easy easy job to do.

tusabes

If it's the lower bushing it's easy to repair without changing the strut

If it's the upper bushing I would leave the struts alone until they require replacement . If you Drive 40k a year you'll likely need them replaced within a few years anyway

fireman685

This past year was kind of a fluke. I was off work for almost 4 months from a shoulder surgery. I got really bored and not long after I was able to start driving I hit the road and went to numerous states. Enjoyed every minute of it.
Didn't feel like investigating it today after all the work I did on the old Chevy. Maybe tomorrow.

ItalianJoe1

Inches. It takes force, but with the car up if I pull down on the wheel, the strut comes down. I didn't try to see how far it would go, but it's a lot of movement once you pull it away. Not subtle at all.

Welwynnick

That sounds pretty bad. The upper bush is probably completely detached, so you need to replace the strut. Don't push too hard, or you'll damage a flexible hose or level sensor.

Nick

titanicCC

this weekend, I could not inspect the strut, I hope can the next weekend