OK, for all you do it yourselfers. I have been collecting front suspension parts for the past few weeks for my E420 off of ebay. I was very careful to pick the right parts and used only ebayers with high feedback scores. I bought the inner tie rods, outer tierods, and lower ball joints. Total parts cost was $48.00 for the inners, $65.00 for the outers, and $45.00 for the ball joints. I installed them yesterday in about an hour and a half or so. I had the help of my best friend who is a tech and I used his tools. Not a very hard job at all.

Took the car to the MB dealership this morning and got a special 4 wheel alignment for $99.95, normally $145.00. The car drives like brand new again! My total cost was under $275.00.

A few weeks ago I replaced the swaybar bushings and links. Those werent hard at all and only cost about $30.00.

I recommend to any of you W210 drivers with high mile cars like mine to do this its well worth the money and will make you like your car better!!

Jeff

 

Good to hear your parts installation went well. I realize this takes a long time, but are you able to post some step-by-step instructions on how to do this? I'm sure many will value this information if you can provide enough description. Thanks,

 

Wow, step by step huh? I'll try to give you a general overview........

Jack-up the car, using floor stands! Remove front tires. Turn the wheel so that the tierod is exposed to the outside. Remove nut and hit the top of the threads with a soft hammer. We used wood as a cushion. It will fall out fairly easy. Remove the outer tierod end "counting the turns" so you can install the new one with a close proximity to alignment. Remove the inner tierod boot. If your careful you can reuse the strap that holds it in place. Using two large cresent wrenches hold the rack plunger and loosen the tierod. It isnt easy but a little elbow grease will get it done. Install the new inner tierod and tighten snuggly. Install the boot and clamp down on the straps. Then install the outer tierod with the same amount of turns you took the other off with. Tighten the lock nut but dont attach it to the outer suspension yet. Stop there..........

For the ball joints remove the caliper using a bungy cord to hold it up out of the way. Using your floor jack support the lower control arm up abit. Remove the bolts and then we used a ball joint puller to remove the ball joint. It took some work but it finally came out. You may have to slightly bend the dust shield, we did. Just dont bend it too much. Once out install the new ball joint and tighen the bolts. Bend the dust shield back to original shape and reinstall the rotor. Now, attach the outer tierod end to the suspension and tighen the bolt. Recheck all your bolts to make sure you didnt forget any.

Once you do the other side, and both are the same procedure, reinstall the wheels. Drop the car and your ready for a drive. PUMP THE BRAKE PEDAL TILL IT GETS FIRM!!!!!!!!!

Might be a slight steering wheel slant but now your ready for the alignment.

Like I said, its not really hard. I fly jets for a living and are a bit mechanically inclined. So, if I can do it, you can do it! It took me less than two hours to do both sides AND it saved me a bunch of money....................

Good luck and if you have a freind like I do who is a mechanic use him. I needed him to hold the rack while I muscled the inner tierod off.

Jeff

 

Yeah, step-by-step is what we usually post when we have a DIY job in here. Most of the time, the write up that you posted is even followed up by step-by-step pics of the installation/upgrade. Thanks for the info...