Hello Members,
First; a wish for a happy/healthy holiday to all and family.
I have not posted on the site for quite sometime but I am so very thankful for the guidance I received from so many members when I queried to sell my car or buy a new car after the extended warranty ended.
With the forum help I kept my 2014 MB E350 4MATIC (Model212) and I still love this car from the day I bought it in October 2013.
The car is at 105K MILES and with thankfully no issues; only ordinary maintenance....tires; battery; A+B scheduled checkups as per the manual LIKE CLOCKWORK---I NEVER MISS.
I placed four new tires yesterday and was shown that the boot cracked and the oil/grease was not encased on the LEFT FRONT AXLE.
I NEVER HAVE HAD ANY DRIVING ISSUES, NOISES; ETC and I would never have known of this issue unless I did the tire replacement.
My question is:
Do I go to a MB dealership or find an indie and ask to just replace the boot or replace the entire unit. What price area would I be looking at and what is the usual number of hours to perform such a repair.
I truly appreciate any advice and/or suggestion.
THANK YOU !!

 

MB dealers in USA 'Don't do boots" so new axle can cost you more than $2k.
My W212 is not 4M, but I did boots on W210 and W211.
Could buy German-made boots for $40 in the past, while MB boot for W211 was about $100.
This is about 1 hr job even for DIY.
I made pictorials about those jobs on benzworld,
But since you drove the car with lost grease, make sure the joint is still in serviceable condition.

 

What's the vin number? Maybe someone can look up the correct MB part number for you. I would either get a boot kit or a cv joint kit because the dealer will probably want to replace the entire axle but they should be able to just replace the joint/boot. If it's not making noise, it's probably ok to just throw a new boot on it. If it was making noise, then you'd do the joint kit. In theory you could go to an indy and try an aftermarket CV axle, those are in the $100 range but in the W211 it caused a vibration, don't know if it will do the same with the W212 but save the old axle so you can rebuild it if a new aftermarket one causes any problems. While it may just take an hour or so to replace a boot, you do have to take apart a bunch of stuff to get at the axle and then get it out so it's several hours. That's why they like to just replace the axle, no need to spend time replacing the boot. There are some aftermarket boot kits out there but they don't seem to last as long as OEM so that's why I'd get the MB part, they use better rubber.

 

Thank you...appreciate the advice !!!

 

Thank you very much; I appreciate the advice !!!