Dear All, if you have E-types make sure you have the front spiral springs checked time to time. In my 1999 E-240 the left side spiral exploded with a loud metallic bang (thank god the vehicle was parked at a time!). Even worse, when my mechanic looked at the situation we found the other (right) side spiral also in three separate pieces, although still in place... I contacted MB Customer Service and asked them for 1) an explanation, 2) the cost of repair. To my shock, they said they can't do anything as I don't have my car serviced by an authorized MB repair station so they "don't know the history of the car..." Ridicuolus. What does changing oils and brake pads have to do with the collapse of a factory original pair of front spiral springs? This response is disgraceful and unacceptable - another reason for me to have my car serviced by my old, responsible and friendly non-MB station, where I feel I am important. Plus, this was the last MB car I have ever owned - I am switching to Lexus.

 

from the photos, i'm seeing what appears to be an abundance of rust.

 

damn...that sucks. From the pictures it only looks like the springs were only rusted on the surface. Im just thinking out loud but did you lower the car by heating up the springs with a blow torch or something? That would cause the metal to get brittle.

 

and if anyone had looked at the undercarriage of that car as should have been done during routine service it would have been apparent something was going wrong.How long did you own the car?Has it ever been serviced?Did your trusty non mb service center ever look at the underside of the car.The only worst rust I have seen on a coil spring was on the underside of tommyboys e320 mystery motored 6 banger
Blame mb for a few things they screwed up on,however don't blame them for clueless operators.