royabc

I was driving in a rain today and out of a roundabout the E280 started to loose control and curbed the LF wheel first and then the LR. (unlike e320, 280 has NO ASR)

I managed to get home, with my steering wheel turned 180degree one way to get the car to go straight (forgot which way it was).

Upon examination, rear seem Ok but I'm not sure, and the front brake disk seem to bite onto the caliper so it might be locked up when I drove it home and that may explain why I had to turn the steering to one way to go straight. And also one screw linking the brake part to the strut is snapped in half.

I'm also sure something is bent because @the outmost sway bar bushing(the one closest to wheel) there is about 0.5 inch of extremely clean swaybar. It's certainly 'new'.

There is also one screw vertically mounted (vs the ground) and it seem to be snapped, it's on the back of the brake, very close to the one linking the brake to the strut. What is it for?

Any heros here help me out?? I am a bit lost and don't know where to start, so any comment would be appreciated. THANKS

royabc

*the speed when I hit was about 25-30MPH.

*actually I was quite amazed that the wheel was still attached to the car after hearing that big 'BANG', of course something is not right but seeing everything is still in 'shape' was unbelievable. (I also had some s**t happeded to my ex-Nissan Skyline R33, also in rain, under comparison, japanese only makes Tin Cans).

*seeing everthing in 'shape' makes it very hard for me to see what's broken and what's not.
-brake rotor is tightly holding onto the caliper
-screw attaching brake and strut is snapped
-another vertically mounted screw near seemed to be also snapped (ambiguous, don't know what it is for, nothing is attached to it)
That's all I can observe for now.

I will have a look at rear soon.

ohlord

most likely bent the rims,bent a control arm or two and may have snapped a control arm mount.A suspension shop is going to be needed to replace and align all damaged parts or it won't handle properly.
Sorry

royabc

Thanks for that response!
And my rims are a little bent too.
Anything else likely to go wrong?

YNVDIZW124

Pretty easy to replace the rear 5 link suspension. Just make sure that the mounts aren't bent either. The front is a little bit more work and a lot more expensive.

rivcal4life

Im not sure what the proper term is, but when I hit a curb, I bent the mounts that hold the adjustable washers on the lower control arm. If you were to look where the control arm mounts to the unibody, youll see what Im talking about. There are washers with offset holes, as to allow adjusting from front to back. I ended up bending the bracket that holds those washer. Luckily, I was able to adjust them for the time being, but it would be nice to have them rewelded eventually for peice of mind.

royabc

The funny thing is that nothing really look like bent, upon close inspection. But something is definetely bent...maybe just a little..

Anyway I will claim insurance tmr, as the deductible being $500 is less than the cost for two alloy wheel along. (hope them give me original ones not 'MB Style' copies).

I will keep posting about how things r going.

Quicksilver500

If your filing a claim just take the car to the benz dealer and let them do the work. I did pretty much the same thing you did except the impact was absorbed by my left rear. Bent all the links, the sub frame and wheel carrier. I knew I bent the **** out of something, replaced all the links, still had about 5 degrees of pos camber, so I bought a used subframe. When I was putting in new LCA bushings in the wheel carrier, because it seemed like time since everything was apart, I couldn't get them out of the left side, so I had to order a used wheel carrier. They are cast iron and bend and you can't tell. Its really hard to tell whats bent, you have to look for cracked paint. Luckily I was able to do all the work myself and parts cost me about 1200$. I will post a pic when I find it....Good luck man, if your doing insurance take it too a dealer for sure, don't nickle and dime it. They will be able to rack the car and see if it aligns right after they do the work to verify the fix.

-Mike

Quicksilver500

Here are some pics. That is NOT the front tire in that picture

I worked at the benz dealer at the time, so that's how I got that awesome hydraulic table. It took me about 2 days to do the subframe swap, I had to keep taking things apart because I kept finding bend stuff haha.

That shiny spot on the frame is where the tire impacted and rubbed. I wasn't going but about 30-35 when I lost control of the car. Lesson learned, when you have 2.0 deg negative camber, the outside of your tire looks FINE and the inside is GONE + torrential down pour = disaster.

-Mike