Aaron68

When I turn the steering wheel all the way to the left, it makes a clonking noise. Im assuming its the ball joint. I raised the car up and tried to move the rim up and down and I can feel and hear a mild clicking noise. I also noticed that the steering damper may be leaking or something but the steering feels fine. So I have a couple of questions for the experts :-)

1. Is the ball joint an easy part to DIY?
2. Will it require an alignment afterwards?
3. Also, what happens if I leave it as is for a while? Will it eventually mess up something else?

MarcusF

Easy is relative. If you have the tools, and you're mechanically inclined, yes. An easy way to see if it's the ball joints is to raise the wheel and check for vertical play (grab the wheel at 12 and 6 o'clock). If one is bad, I'd change them both.

I would align it. Next to tires, alignments are cheap.

Assuming a ball joint is bad, and it's ignored, the clunking noise will get louder and the tire wear will get worse.

shane1000

I had the same clunk when I turned the car and went in reverse. I changed the dampener, and the problem went away. The part was around 15- 20 dollars, and only took 5 min to install. Hope this helps.

joeray

What's a dampener? I have the same cluncking noise once in a while or when I go into reverse.

If the part is that checp, I don't mind changing it and see if the noise goes away.

Thanks

tastoto

what is the dampener pls explain

MarcusF

The steering damper is the thing with the white arrow pointing at it. Put the car on jack stands, remove two bolts, and re-installation is the reverse of removal. If you still have the OEM damper, it's probably dead.

If you don't know what a steering damper is, it's a shock absorber for your steering.

Aaron68

Thanks, yes I know what the damper is. Im just going to order it from AutohausAZ, replace it and see what happens. I took a look at it last weekend and it looks like its busted as I can see traces of a leak on the shock. Im sure it dead just hoping the noise is coming from the damper. Then I noticed that Im going to needs some brake pads very soon. So might as well swap those out to.

bobbyjo9

Don't forget that pads NORMALLY mean rotors too. If you have a ridge then I'm sure they are out of spec. Basically any wear and they are out of spec.

sfclk

The noise can also be from the inner tierods. You would have to get the whole drag lnk assembly.

Serndipity

Had the noise too....gone now.

Re-torqued the 3 steering box bolts (inside the driver side wheel well) and bought premium tires (Michelin).

Not sure which of these did the trick.

Aaron68

I mic'ed my front rotors today and their at 27.3MM. I know the service limit is at 30.4MM. Is it really a big deal to keep using the same rotors even though their out ot speck?
What would be the draw-back? Reason why I say this is because I noticed the service limit for the front rotors on a 430 is 25.4MM.

dlbehrns

here's another one for you MarcusF: We all know it is very expensive to have work done by the dealership. They didn't earn the name "stealership" for nutin", so I won't apologize for being cynical but, is less than 25.4mm really a critical point or is this a figure Mercedes set to bolster repair/part replacement revenue? Naturally, when a rotor becomes thinner it will absorb less heat, may become hotter when braking hard and become brittle and crack. I think I answered my own question: it all depends on the driver. I know the answer to the second question would be purely speculative. Can I assume that minimum thickness applies to the 320 as well?

gregory13lil

I also wanted to add that with the thinner rotor you will be be more prone to rotor warp as well as the other issues you mentioned.

Aaron68

The reason why I question it is because, they make a big deal about the front rotors on a CLK55 being "Vained" (better for cooling) and they charge you for it. So it thats the case you would think since their supposed to run cooler as their vained; why would they warp specially if you use a set of new ceramic pads.

MarcusF

All vented rotors have vanes. That's how they're cooled. The expensive ones (IE yours) have "directional vanes".
A rotor with directional vanes can (should) only be mounted on the side of the car that it was designed for. In your case, a left front only works on the left front. The right front is a different part number and won't cool as well if mounted on the left side. The extra setup cost to make a left and right side, and the limited number of W208 55 cars are what make them cost so much.

Rotors with radial vanes (like mine) can me mounted on either side of the car, so they have half the tooling costs. Too bad Wilwood doesn't make a hat for the W208 spindle. If they did, I'm sure one of the disks would fit. They're a local SoCal company (Camarillo) too. I asked some time ago, but there were no Benz apps. You may want to call. If they get enough calls they may start making rotor for our cars.

Aaron68

I like Wilwood products and have their back brakes on my Mustang. I had called them before and they do not make anything for our cars. I even double checked this morning, the funny thing was the guy I talked to was named Marcus. The odds of that..

So, I finally ordered my front rotors this morning for a really good price from www.bimmerspecialist.com

2002 CLK55 front rotors for only $158.99 (GENUINE MERCEDES) parts. Its the best price I found anywhere. Just need to figure out which pads to get.

bobbyjo9

haha.. yes you certainly did answer yourself.. damn inner voices!! haha. Thermal is thermal.. rotors have a spec for that reason and im sure we have all pushed past that spec at times. It's not to say they will instantly fail outside of the parameters set, but manufactures have to cover their a$$. I tend to trust the engineers have done there homework and not try and push the envelope when safety is on the line. In good order those 55 brakes will definitely surpass the tires!

takaseem

Aaron, I know this thread is a bit old, but can you update us on how you fixed your issue? I noitce you commented a year later in another thread regarding noise (described differently there) that "it could be a tie rod end links". Is this what ended up being your issue here? please give some details about the fix. Thanks in advance.

I have the same issue with my w208 CLK320 2003, where turning the steering wheel all the way to the left, you hear the loud clonk noise when it hits the end of turn; even when the car is parked, but only if I hit the full turn. It is like metal on metal and you feel like releasing the steering abit to stop the "clonking" if you were doing a U-turn or something with full steering left lock.

It does not happen when I turn fully to the right. On the left when the steering is fully turned I can recreate the noise while parked, by going slightly right of full-left steering lock and back to left so that when you hit the end of the turn it will make the clonk sound like metal on metal.

CJackson13

I had this problem. Replacing my front lower ball joints and re-torquing the steering gear bolts fixed the problem.

triplefiresoul

What tools should I purchase for tie rod, and front lower ball joint. I have read its a messy job without the right tools.

Can't find it on here

https://www.autohausaz.com/search/gr...hop%20Supplies

Cheers

MarcusF

Did someone say ball joints on a W208? Isn't this where the "hammer time" jokes begin?




Because ball joint press jokes aren't nearly as entertaining.

Hitman0187

my zerks are sealed

rorf

Yip they call it a BFH

and it works

triplefiresoul

There are two dampers in one cars or only one??

On autohausaz it says one per car??

Cheers

MarcusF

One "steering" damper per car.