I noticed today my suspension is creaking when I do a low speed turn. The car has 100,000 miles and the last 10,000 miles has killed me in repairs.

 

what sort of repairs were these ?

Normally the top offenders are the sway bar links.
Have you noticed how bouncy is your car side to side and front to back?? Replace all 4x cheap links rods

 

In the past year I have replaced front struts, spark plugs, coolant line, O2 sensors, convertible top wiring harness and aftermarket wheels. The aftermarket wheels were my stupid fault.

 

I take it you were chasing a sort of road vibration ?

 

For creaks i'll spray down every rubber part with PB Blaster silicone spray lubricant. Not petroleum based.

Worn sway bar links in my experience are more like a clunking noise, metal on metal driving over bumps. Highway speeds over bumps will have 3-4 clunks in a row.

 

My front is creaking due to upper and lower control arm bushings being worn, can replicate the creaking with someone strong pushing down on front end, I can pinpoint it right to the Bushings with my stethoscope, upper much more noisier than the lower

 

What kind of a suspension you have with upper control arms in front?

 

2 control arms on each side, with the larger one “upper” in first pic, smaller “lower” second pic, with different names I’ve seen these control arms called.




Upper, forward, larger, torque strut

Lower, rearward, smaller, cross strut

 

Didn't notice you talk about a GLK. I assumed W212 that I have. It has no upper control arm, just two lower ones and then the strut that takes place of the upper arms.

 

I had a chance to take a closer look today. It looks like in the area of the thrust arm, control arm and sway bar link there is fluid marks. Is there something in this area that would be leaking? Hopefully not the struts as I just had them replaced 7 months ago.

 

Photo?

Big leak, small leak, grease, oil?

You dont mention its a 4matic so rules out ripped cv axle boots.

The control arm bushings are fluid filled and can leak leaving fluid marks on the bottom of them.

 

Thanks for the response. It is a cabrio, so no 4matic. I just took it to a local Mercedes specialist and they said I needed to replace the thrust arms, control arms and sway bar links ($2500). They said there was fluid leaking. I told them I sprayed the control arms and sway bar links with PB blaster last week, but they seemed to think that was not what the fluid leak was. I am trying to figure out if the what I they are seeing is fluid from the control arm bushings or PB Blaster. .

 

If its the PB Blaster silicone spray it usually washes off clean leaving no signs it was sprayed on. Photo above is dried up hydraulic fluid in the bushing so it leaves a stain even though its dry.

The sway bar links have grease in the rubber boots. My experience with torn sway bar link boots is the grease will usually stay put, not really run down.

I'm always taking photos. I'll just stick my phone under the car and snap a few so I can review them on the computer instead of jacking the car up and crawling under.

 

Thanks! Here are a few pics of the control arms.

 

Great photos.

From the looks of it i'd say your drivers side torque strut has seen better days. Looks like the bushing is cracked and signs of fluid leaking at the bottom. And at the ball joint it looks much dirtier than the passenger side. Maybe the grease leaked out and thats what were are seeing covered in dirt. Notice the threads on the passenger side are visible, drivers look encased in filth.

I see that little ball and socket joint, may want to clean and lubricate that.








Heres the passenger side for comparison:




Passenger side bushing does look cracked and fluid seeping but not as bad as drivers side.

 

Thanks for the insight. Quick question - Is the thrust arm the lower or upper control arm? Just trying to understand the terminology. So it appears the upper and lower control arm needs replaced? They are also wanting to replace the sway bar links.

Something happened to the ball and socket on the right side and the lever would repeatedly come off. The car would go into sport mode at 30mph with the lever off. I put it back on and wrapped a piece of tape around the ball to let it move, but stay on the ball. I will take a look at the left side.

 

When I hear thrust arm I think of the rear control arms.

On the front there is the torque strut (upper control arm) and the cross strut (lower control arm).

In the photos im not seeing the cross/lower control arms so cant tell the condition.

I would replace the drivers torque/upper control arm. The passenger side looks worn and would be on my list of parts to replace at some point.

For the headlight sensor lever ball and socket you may be able to just replace the arm. Not sure the exact part# you have so just found an example on ebay.

 

100,000 miles is good enough to refresh many suspension and steering components if you want you car to be tight almost like new again.
In my county the 2 front arms won't last well pass 50,000 miles, due to crappy road.

Your coupe is a C class chassis and no E class. W207 is your chassis code.
So becareful when sourcing for parts.


Here is the major difference of C class vs E class, for RWD version, not 4-matic. FRONT SUSPENSION ARMS

E class RWD has the L ball joint, item 310.




W212
Strut rod #200 is the bigger one and the installation or bushing is in front of wheel carrier/knuckle, this is CASTER ARM
Cross Member #300 is the thinner one and installed perpendicular to wheel carrier, this is the CAMBER ARM.











New L ball joints at under 30,000KM of use. I ruined it at the track within 20 laps. It is decent but no more tight, as such 2 fingers can spin it easy.



===================



W204, should be the same with W207. No L ball joint.


Caster arm replaced at 70Kish KM. Camber arm at 93K KM. Both under 45,000 to 60,000 miles service life in my country bad roads.
Stabilizer link also replaced at 70K ish KM.


Do becareful when buying new bolts for suspension arm, you may end up getting CORRECTION BOLT instead of regular bolt. You can re-use the old bolts and nuts.
Correction bolt has a cut/groove at the thread like below and there is a proper technique and special washers to install this kit, otherwise it will damage the subframe bolt hole, which is special shape.

.





Subframe hole for arm bolt, damaged : Some idiot does not know that he is using correction bolt where he SHOULD NOT use it and not using the special lock washer for correction bolt.



The hole is made that way for adjustment of approx +- 0.3 degree camber or caster.






This is how the hole should look like if not damaged.



The special washer for correction bolt






Good luck..........

 

Well it is an E 550.

The 204, 207, 212 all share some of the same part #'s. When searching for cv axle part #'s for my 204 I even used the S-class 221 parts diagrams.

 

Not for front suspension arms, due to that L ball joint item 310.
Rear suspension arms W212 and W204 all the same....yes.



.




.

 

I am calling around to get a few more quotes. I may only be able to afford getting the control arms done at the present time. Interestingly, I took the hose and cleaned of the front suspension components this morning and no more creaking.

 

If you are looking to use genuine Mercedes parts I find mbpartsource.com has good prices.

Not sure what your sway bar links look like. From my experience when they are worn they produce a metal on metal clunking noise when going over bumps. Visually inspect the boots to rips and leaking grease. With the front end jackup up and both wheels off the ground grab the link and try to rotate it, if its solid and doesnt move its probably still good, if it easily rotates the ball joints are probably worn and thats whats banging around when you hit bumps.

Did you spray PB Blaster silicone lubricant or the PB Blaster penetrating fluid?

 

I have no way to get both wheels off the ground at the same time in the parking lot of my condo. I used pb blaster penetrating oil and wd40 on the suspension parts. I am going to take a closer look at the control arms tomorrow. I will probably only get the control arms replaced at this time. I find it interesting after I sprayed the suspension with water this morning the creaking stopped (so far). Thanks for all your insight.

 

Mine quiets down when raining, I can easily move them slightly when under car.
I’m trying to decide between Febi Bilstein and Lemforders, the later would be liken $150 more.
I changed my end links so they are new, was inspecting the bushings on the torsion bar last month, there is a bit of minor cracking on them, but after vigorously pulling and pushing on them they are would not move.

 

I did not have good luck with Febi sway bar links. I had one fail after 2yrs and now i think the other side is failing so will be 3yrs.

I made a thread on it here: https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...iled-2yrs.html

Even with buying them from FCP and the lifetime warranty getting the "free" replacements is still costing me more money since the prices have gone up a good amount.

I work on my car myself so replacing failed parts isnt really a big deal but if I were paying a shop to do it I would really only buy Genuine Mercedes or the OE manufacturer.

Below is the failed Febi link. Looks like hardly any grease was in there. And I had ripped the boot open to check so its not like the grease had leaked out.