Monty3038

I have a 2008 CLK350, which is in reasonable shape for its age, has been taken care of. I've had it for a few years now and just recently took it in for service and was faced with a huge estimate for repairs.

The car has 137,000 miles on it, and I'm looking at some of the obvious items that need replaced - brake rotors and pads, tires, etc...

But some of the suspension parts concern me. Lower Control arms and bushings (don't just the bushings go bad?, Upper radial bushings, one strut has failed completely... possibly more.

Facing a $6000 estimate, I'm looking to know how often these types of items fail, if this is expected normal wear (my Mitsubishi didn't need some of these items until closer to 200k miles)... am trying to consider whether to do myself (if I can) or just sell the car due to the costs involved... as that likely comes close to value on it overall...

pvitoria

Hi mate i bought the complete kit upper and lower control arms and inner and outer tie rods bought also swaybar bushings and spent 150EUR did all the work peacefully in 1 day its easy to do

Monty3038

I see I can get most of the parts online, but am a bit concerned about the control arms... not having done them before. Also the 'radial bushing' which I am not sure where that is.

One point of concern is the strut itself though. In looking at available models in parts catalogs, I see about 5 different versions... will the VIN decode which version I have or do I have to remove to verify before I purchase? (I have some AMG highlights on the car, like wheels and exhaust, but I don't think being a 350 that it has any beefed up suspension parts, so probably the OEM standard regular model is in order... but there still seem to be differences... any thoughts on that part of it?

pvitoria

The VIN gives you the specific kit for standard or sport chassis depending on your model. There are several numbera because as i was told there was an update of parts so diferent numbers.

SLcharge

You mention struts.

Is you car fitted with ABC or Airmatic ?

Monty3038

I am assuming Airmatic are adjustable, which I don't think I have, from the outside they look like normal struts. ABC.... I am not sure... looking at the images I see online, I doubt it.

Am wondering if there is a good VIN decoder that I can use to determine the feature set on the car originally (which I assume is what is still there) and install the correct ones based on it. Will search for one...

Monty3038

From the VIN decoder, isn't a lot to go by... but...

Independent 3-link front suspension-inc: coil springs over gas-pressurized shock absorbers, anti-dive geometry


Independent 5-arm multi-link rear suspension-inc: separate coil springs, gas- pressurized shock absorbers, anti-squat & alignment control


Front/rear stabilizer bars



So I am assuming based on this, that the front struts/shocks are standard for the car, nothing extra.

Monty3038

I've watched a few videos on the control arms, I don't have a lift available and looking this over... would be a real pain to do on jackstands, so I think the control arms are beyond me. Strut looks possible, if I can figure out the right one. It appears from the aftermarket sites I am looking at, to get Billstein or OEM parts, am looking around $130 USD to $180 USD for the strut... plus shipping, and I see different search results per site, based on sport package code 486 for SPort Suspension. I am running into same problem with Brake rotors too... so this is getting interesting. Hopefully I can ID the right ones without having to go through MBParts as they indicate different ones (for example, the rotors they show are not perforated but mine are)

Stevie Palmer

I'm just about to do my control arms too. I am nowhere near mechanically minded so it's a new one for me.

I can't afford to get it done elsewhere as my newborn baby eats all my money!

I'll let you know how it goes. I have only jackstands too. I'll be using the spindle Jack to prop up the load onto the hub. I'm sure that's not the best idea but without ramps I'm going with that.

I should be doing it in the next week or 2 just searching for parts. Fcpeuro seems the most favorable at the moment although there are plenty of cheaper options on Amazon Ebay etc

Monty3038

Awesome, let me know how it goes. I bought everything for brakes and Struts, waiting for shipping on it... if that goes well (first time doing struts), I might take on the control arms depending on your comments about having a lift... my biggest concern is the skid plate and the plethora of bolts to remove to get it off, when working on jack stands only, is a lot of creeping under the vehicle (without a creeper)

Stevie Palmer

[
https://youtu.be/VbAA0w6Q-k0

This has been the best video guide I have found so far. Ordering the pieces and tools (every job seems to need a special tool) I think I will be tackling it Tuesday so I'll let you know.

Where did you get the brakes and struts from? I'm sure they will need doing soon too on mine

Monty3038

I probably paid more than necessary, but have ordered from AutohausAZ.com before for filters and such and they have always been quick and treated me right, so I ordered from them. I am not 100% confident the pads are the right ones, but I will see when I take the wheel off... my concern is my car has a model code that no one references... it has the 486 Suspension (everyone references a P90 or P91) and then also the 951-Sport Package USA which everyone references 950 and 952. So I am hopeful based on shape and general notes on 'sports package compatible' that they are the right ones. I'll investigate cloesly before putting them on. Good Luck on Tuesday, let us know how it goes.

OR-CLK350

You can find the work instructions here:

http://benzbits.com/w209/

or

http://benzbits.com/w203/

including torque specs.

I myself are getting ready for a full front suspension refresh, probably next month.

BTW, I’ve found the best way to visually tell if you have a Sports Suspension is by looking at the stud in the front suspension link... if the stud has a torx counter then your car has Sports Suspension, but if it has a hex, then you have the std suspension.... you can see it in the ZF/Sachs catalog: https://webcat.zf.com/?SPR=4