Sway bar bushing
 

The ride feels a lil bit boaty/bumpy
went under to inspect things visually (even tho it was sometime ago) to found my sway bar bushing are cracked and dried out... in my opinion
do you guys think its a worn out sway bushing ? Im asking because i am not sure how bad it should look for it to be actually bad/worn out to affect the ride quality.
to me it looks like it needs to be changed , did soms research also a while back thag i would need to buy the whole new bar with bushings as it comes only as once piece.
Thank u

They actually don't look too bad, usually the exterior surfaces will get that way when the core/ interior material is still ok. I'd look at struts/shocks (and their bushings/ mounts) if the ride is as described. Yes you can certainly change the sway bar but it has minimal effect on straight driving down the road.

The car is got 106k miles now... and i actually had to tighten the bolts on the bushings , because it seemed loose , and to my surprise i could actually see that it was a bit loose (probably because of the rubber shrinking and cracking so its not that firm no more. , is what im thinking caused that).

Shocks should be fine , as i changed them about 2-3 years ago.

Seems like normal rubber cracking. No chunks missing. If there is no play now, should be fine.

Did you find any other cause of the ride feel? My first thought would be shocks but you recently did those. No signs of leaking, right? I usually check mine going real slow over speed bumps.

So that cracked rubber is still okay? I would think its done , Cali heat sure did dry them out. But if i got 2 people saying its normal maybe i am overthinking. Ima be changing oil soon , so i will try to tighten them up again , and if i see they are not tight (since i remember for a fact that i tighten them untill they stop) then it is definately the issue.

Im pretty sure shocks are not the cause , cuz no leaking or clunking heard on any pavement or bumps.

One thing i noticed tho... that when i drive to bay area there is an open field , and there is usually pretty strong winds , and if i go over over lets say 70 and up i can feel how my car is not stable , like the wind makes it wobble or smth.. and i have to slow down a lil. I dont know if its related.. but yeah... it might be because of air suspension trying to adjust so it be straight , but i dont know.

I haven't noticed any crosswinds since getting my car. It's like it's on rails. But I might not be seeing the winds you are. The stability along with the boaty/bumpy has me concerned for you. You might want to get it checked out just to confirm nothing is wrong.

I agree I think it's a good idea to have the suspension bushings checked.

Yea i guess i will double check everything when im gonna be doing an oil change.
I also replaced sway bar links , upper control arms and ball joints , so those are out ..for now.
I might even take out the boot covers on tie rods to see in what condition those are , since i never have done that(the only suspension component that i actually dont know/never seen.)

So all that makes things easier on me.

By suspension bushings u mean any bushing that related somehow to suspension.?

Looking at these pictures , makes me wanna think that its pretty much gamrle over lol
Time to look for a new sway bar and maybe another DIY

Got a used anti roll bar off ebay for 56 bucks (what a deal huh ) came off a 2012 e350 with 56k miles but has the right part number...
So what i can tell after installing it is that the ride feels a bit stiffer , also taking ramps and exits. , i have more control and it doesnt feel so loose/disconnected from the road.

Anyways. Took me about 3 hours , woulda been faster if i had another jack.

P.s. looked like the old bushings shifted/moved

$56.... good deal......

Definitely an improvement... im guessing it was going bad for sure. Im glad

Hey there,

I too am experiencing the "floaty or boaty" feeling from the rear when driving. My sway bar bushings look very much like yours. I am curious, is your car a 4matic? If so, did you have to remove or loosen any other suspension components with your installation? Or were you able to just wiggle the sway bar out?

Thanks in advance,
Brad

Did changing the swaybar bushing solved the problem??

What size tires you have?
Coming to sway bar bushings, couple years ago we had the dispute and being on junk yard for other parts, I run into W211 with engine off, so just for the experience I start taking the bar out.
The bushings are vulcanized into the bar, so they are not replaceable, even some ebay sellers advertise them.
Than the bushing is like 2" wide, so the surface cracks shown by OP should not affect it, unless the rubber broke loose somewhere.
Than my 2014 model come with SB links having torn boots already. So check the links before worry about bushings.
Than I already have control arm ready to be replaced as the bushing shows deteriorating rubber.
My W212 has over 180k miles on it, but those bushings were still holding on W124 with 300k miles and 30 years.

On my last Service I was told my Sway Bars needed to be replaced. I'd do them asap if I could get them for the price you found them for. Might take care of them right before the fall.

On my last service I was told that my 4 years old car need over $5000 of parts replacement.
That seem to be common practice with all dealers, who without asking perform multi-point "safety inspections" and gladly present estimates.
On older MB models people drive 30 years on factory sway bars. Older links had neoprene joints who would wear out every few years. Sway bars don't fail, only start to make clunking noises.
Why newer, improved (?) design seems to wear out faster?

A little more about my situation, when I removed my dedicated snow tires I needed new all season ones and went with Michelin AS3+. I just rotated them and noticed the rears are wearing a little funny.

Back in the fall I had the motor mounts replaced and the dealership did an alignment as part of the procedure. They had quite the issue with getting it to go straight down the road. The guys thought the issue was the tires and it was time to get the winters on so with one more try and winter tires on they got it to track pretty well. The old tires did not really look unusually worn to me but, they did look plenty worn.

Investigating the issue further and talking to my tire guy I think it might be the sway bar end links. It is a much more common problem and symptoms like the alignment issue, floaty feeling and tire wear would make sense. I ordered replacements for the rear when I install them I will definitely post the results.

make sure your control arm bushings are fine.... and then go from there.
thet might not look too bad , but in real life they may be worn out. Recently replaced my upper and lower control arms and it made a difference.

Can't imagine how sway bar play can affect tire wear, but those cars do have so-called hydro-bushings on control arms and they don't last.
Just like hydro motor mounts. Trouble in troubleshooting is that they do flex when new, so takes good eye to see play coming from wear.

i also saw a little bit what it looked like a fluid..... between rubber bushing and aluminum housing around. I still got my old control arms i will take a pic later to show what i mean.

Thanks, that would be helpful.

I wish ive taken some pictures when it was on the car , and when it was visible a bit better.
Basically it was leaking on the bottom (when the control arm was installed it had like a wet spot there most of the time i would change my oil , or take off wheels or just an inspection. First few times ive noticed them i didnt think it was anything serious and would just clean it but then next time i go under i would see the same thing). https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...90028f4672.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...241ed04887.jpg