mis3

There is a noise coming from the rear suspensions Went to an indie and they gave the following assessment:

1. Replace both rear stabilizer links 203-320-0789, 203-320-0889
2. Replace both rear stabilizer bushings 203-326-0281
3. Replace rear right control arm busing 204-352-0027

Labour is 3 hours of $330CAN.

On top of the noise, I found that the car is less stable than before. Would the root cause be these defective parts?

Patton001

See my recent rear suspension experience

https://mbworld.org/forums/clk-class...n-warning.html

Yidney

The root cause is the fact your car is 11 year sold. End links, front and rear, area common wear points on most any car. The stabilizer (sway bar) bushings are far less likely to be a noise source on the rear, but are culprit #1 on the front. The only item on your list that takes any time is number 3. #2 takes 10 minutes.

I'm trying to trace a noise in my rear right now - ok, literally my car's rear. In order to get a good bounce to hear it better, I have removed my rear shocks. That made for an interesting commute.

Yidney

Ok, now I see that your question was whether the root cause is the parts, not the root cause of why they are worn. They may or may not be. You did not describe the noise.

MarcusF

It may be the parts listed, but when I had the same noise I changed the sway bar end links, lubed the sway bar bushings, and lubed all the rear links, and the noise still was there. I took it to the dealer, and they retorqued all the rear link bolts to spec. That fixed it. The fee was $150 - their minimum diagnostic charge. If I were you, I'd retorque the bolts to spec before handing it to a wrench to throw parts at it.

xsever

If the noise is a squeaky one when going over speed bumps, it's the sway bar bushings.

mis3

This is it. The rear right squeaks over speed bumps.

Also, the car feels unstable and wanders when I turn, hope these replacements will improve the ride.

Yidney

in the front that is true, but not so much the rear. They are made totally differently. The can squeak, but much less likely to.

xsever

My experience with my car was squeaky noises in the front and the back when going over speed bumps. I solved it in the front by replacing the torsion bar and its bushings (2033234365) and in the back by replacing the sway bar bushings only (2033260281).

Yidney

The rears can squeak for sure, but the reason they are not as likely as the fronts is that the front bushings are fused to the bar, and clamped very tightly to the car frame by aluminum clamps. So all flexing is rubbing hard rubber against bare aluminum. That's a recipe for squeaking. In the rear, the bushings are not fused to the bar, and are clamped sort of loosely by comparison. Plus, the inner diameter of the bushings are coated in cloth, so most of the flexing movement is between the bar and cloth - not nearly the same recipe for squeaking. They were the issue for you, but I've removed and lubed those puppies with no difference, so my issue lies elsewhere, and it's not the shocks because those are laying dead silent on the bench in my garage. Now that I have the shocks off, this weekend my wife can bounce the car easily while I lay under there and pinpoint the source. I hope.

mis3

I talked to a MB technician (dealership) and he told me that he would guess the noise would come from the sway bar bushings and the spindle bushing.

What is this spindle bushing? Is this the same as the control arm bushing?

Yidney

Spindle bushing has various meanings. But it does appear in this case to refer to a control arm bushing. Rear suspension naming is not very consistent. Not counting the sway bar end links, you have five arms back there on each side. But try to find two places that call them the same thing.

If I'm not mistaken, you posted your car in the high mileage thread started a couple days ago. If your suspension has not been refreshed before, most any bushing may need to be replaced. I diagnosed my creak this weekend. It was the sway bar end links as I suspected. I simply lubed the contact points and put them back. They will creak again, then I'll replace them. I can do both sides in under a half hour on ramps, including at least one glass of wine, so no big deal. I mostly wanted to track the noise down. But this is an example of price gouging by Mercedes. I asked the dealer how much they are, and it was over $100 per side. Name brands like Moog online are $25 to 30. If you have a lift, I bet I can do both sides in 15 minutes, so watch out for inflated labor rates. Sway bar bushings take 5 minutes a side. Any "control" arm (pick your name) will take far longer, especially the main lower control arm, which supports both the shock and the spring. Some of them require a special socket called a triple square - sort of like a Torx but not.

mis3

I checked my records. Both rear shocks were replaced in Jul-2014. Bushings of the rear sway bars were replaced in Dec-2013. Not sure if the rear control arms were ever changed.

Yidney

In that case you should not get new sway bar bushings.

Yidney

The price the dealer gave me must have been wrong, because the online places that sell genuine MB parts show an MSRP of $55 per side for rear ends links. Anyway, I just ordered Lemfoerder ones from AutohausAZ for $27.50 each - so 1/2 dealer price. Lemfoerder makes them for MB.

tw2

My car and many earlier years do not have bonded front swaybar bushings. Check which you have. I am not sure when they changed. Those parts for the rear are very easy to change. I would do them anyway regardless of noise.

MarcusF

Unbolt the rear sway bar end links and go for a drive. If the noise persist, you'll know it has nothing to do with the sway bar, the bushings, or the end links.