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W211 Rear Wheel/Subframe/Knuckle Damage, Need Help!!!
Hello guys,
I'm new to forums and this would be my first post. I am a weekend mechanic and deal mostly with replacing maintenance components. I don't have a garage and do all of my work in the street.
After my BMW 325xi got hit from behind and totaled, I purchased a 2003 W211 E320. After having the car for less the a month, it got clipped while parked in the street overnight, Christmas night ...
I did not have full coverage to cover the damage and decided I would try to fix it rather than sell it as is. From the pictures you can see the bumper damage but what you can't see is that the rear left wheel is now moved slightly forward and when you lift the car it almost touches the front inside of the wheel well. I thought I would be one of the control arms and purchased a set on eBay for $100.
Now that I lifted the car, I can't see any obvious damage (like i thought I would) and don't want to just start replacing parts without taking some measurements or getting some help.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to check if the subframe or other components are out of shape? It took a pretty nice hit and I'm wondering if I should get a used subframe with all the suspension components already attached. I never had to deal with this type of damage and while I'm waiting for my triple square socket set to arrive I figured I would reach out and try to get some help.
If anybody needs more pictures or information, I will try my best to get it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!
Damn that sucks, good luck with the repair. I might get an estimate from a body shop to get an idea of what you are dealing with - espically if you can drive it. Did the tire pop? Not a whole lot to the rear, but frame damage would be costly.
The tire did not pop or deflate, the tire in the picture is the one that got hit. I went to a body shop and they wanted a little over $6,000 to fix everything but they said it could be more if there is damage that was not detected in the original estimate. I paid $4,400 for the car and after looking at some part prices online I decided to give it a go myself. I like working on my cars and trying new jobs I never did before and learning something along the way (not always cost effective but satisfying that I did it myself ). Found this whole subframe assembly on eBay for $899 but it was the air suspension version. I'm thinking if I find one for my car (non-airmatic), it could be easier and faster to replace then going part by part. I'm going to try some local junk yards and see what they will quote me for parts.
The trunk area has a small dent under the tail light but I'm not too worried about that. I'll let a shop fix that if I can get the mechanical stuff fixed first.
I will update this post as this project continues.
Have a new place to work. It's indoors, away from the elements and there is space to keep the parts I take off the car.
So here is what I did this weekend. I purchased a used knuckle assembly and a triple square (12 point) bit set. When the parts came in, I was going to replace all of the control arms and knuckle on the rear driver's side. When I jacked up the car and took off the wheel, I started planning how I'm going to complete the job. I soon noticed that it would be impossible to remove at least one of the bolts connecting the front upper control arms to the subframe (on the subframe side). It was time to remove the subframe. This is how I did it:
1. Secure the front wheels so the car does not move. Lift the car by the differential and put jack stands under the rear jack points on the sides. I placed a piece of thick plywood between the stands and the plastic jack pads.
2. Remove the rear half of the exhaust. The bolts securing the pipes together were rusted and stripped quickly. Had to use a dremel tool to cut through the bolts. Jacked under the part where two pipes enter one chamber about a half inch. Used PB Blaster on the rubber exhaust hangers (really helped) and wiggled them off the shafts (I think 4 in total). It's a good idea to have a helper hold the rear of the exhaust while undoing the last hanger. When off the hangers, hold the tips of the pipes and roll them, one side down, the other up, and the other way around until you feel the pipes come out. Mines were stuck pretty good.
3. Disconnected the rear drive shaft from the flex disc. I removed all 6 bolts but maybe I could have gotten away with just doing 3.
4. Removed parking brake cables. To do this, I had to remove calipers, rotors and the parking brakes. The spring that holds the center of the parking brake was tricky but was removed by compressing the spring with a flat head screwdriver and turning counter clock wise until it unhooked from the dust shield. The mechanism that the parking brake line attached to was held by a small (easy to lose) pin that slid out with little force. Now I was able to remove the plastic end of the cable from the knuckle and pull the cable through. There is also a rubber part that holds the cable to the subframe that has to be pushed out and cable pulled through.
5. Removed ABS sensors and brake wear sensor. There is also another sensor that attaches to the sway bar but I removed it after I dropped the subframe a little.
6. Disconnect the hose from the gas tank to fill neck. Had gas in the tank and a catch tank ready but only a few drops came out. After removing the subframe I reconnected the line.
7. Removed the bottom bolt from the struts on both sides. Jacked the knuckle a few inches to take pressure off the bolt while I removed it. I did not remove the coil springs before removing the subframe.
8. Now I was ready to drop the subframe. I placed a jack under the differential and jacked until there was pressure but the car was not lifted off the jack stands. I carefully removed the four bolts that screw to the rest of the car. I placed two old tires under the subframe to catch it in case it fell off the jack. When it lowered a couple of inches I was able to disconnect that cable that attaches to the sway bar sensor. I started lowering it slowly and made sure everything was disconnected before I fully lowed it. And wallah!!! I removed the subframe.
It took me about 8 hours to do this job by myself. When I'm ready to assemble the car I will definitely want somebody to help me.
With the subframe out, it was ease to see where the damaged was. That also meant that if I just replaced the control arms and knuckle (like I originally planned to) I would still have problems with the wheel alignment.
I just placed an order for a used subframe and when it comes in I will update on the progress.
I have some photos I took during this job but I did not cover all the details. Hope they help somebody if they ever need to take a subframe out.
Last edited by BenznBimmerGUY; 04-05-2015 at 01:32 AM.
Hey, I haven't been here in a while but I've seen Mackhack comment in my email pop up, so here is an update. I did finish the car, it cost me less than $1,000. Got a painted bumper, subframe and tail light from eBay and the hardware for the exhaust from the dealer. There was a dent under the taillight and I pulled it out with body clamp attached to a seam and some ratcheting pulleys attached to a tree and a rubber mallet! I was surprised myself but it came out really good in my opinion, I'm attaching some pictures. After fixing the car and driving it for a while, I ended up giving the car to my mom for mothers day. She still has it and the car now has close to 200k miles in the clock. Since my original post, my wife had our 3rd child and we purchased a house so I've been pretty busy. Till next time!
Im doing the same project you did years back on your w211 mercedes. Im using your post as a guide. I know it was a long time ago, but do you remember how to torque down the 4 main rear subframe bolts?
same.. all my rear components are rusted like hell.. the lower control arm bolt is stuck and wont come out of the subrame mount bushing.. pain in the ***.. so i am going to pull the whole subframe out and use a sledge hammer.. or fire.. or some other violence.. but it will come out
02-22-2015, 12:11 PM
W211 Rear Wheel/Subframe/Knuckle Damage, Need Help!!!
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