Hi guys,

I have a 2012 C200 CGI here in shanghai with 26k kms on it. Bought the car new and lowered it on HR sport springs at around 5000kms, shortly after the car developed a 'creaking' noise from the front suspension area when turning the wheels to full lock at a standstill. The problem got worse as the weather got colder and the creak can be heard going over a speed bump. Only visible issue I saw without dropping the suspension was the shock boot covers were not attached at the bottom. I brought the car back to MB and they diagnosed the problem to be the strut tower and claimed was replaced under warranty. They told me the problem might be caused by lowering the car and in the future will not be covered. Noise was gone after repair, also the boot was reattached.

Fast forward 1 year, and the same noise is back again, the bottom of the shock dust boot was again unattached from the strut. I drive it around for a few weeks and a new noise turns up. Now when I go over slight bumps at a certain speed applying a certain amount of brakes, there is a thumping sound with the sensation of the abs kicking in. This is especially noticeable while going over a speed bump while applying the brakes. Feels something like a mix between abs kicking in and a loose tie rod. Everything is normal when no brake is applied.

Brought it back to MB and they said this brake noise might be caused by the strut tower as well as there appears to be an oil leak in the bearing and told me to fix that issue first before digging deeper. However this time they will not cover the repairs as it was again caused by my lowering springs... Their advice for me was to swap back the stock springs, bring it to a different dealership and hope they don't notice and can get it done under warranty

My question is, has anyone experienced this before after lowering your car? I doubt lowering 30mm with stock shocks will cause the strut bearing to damage so quickly, twice. I'm thinking if the initial damage was caused by negligence by the mod shop, MB didn't replace the part like they said the first time and just temporarily remedied it causing it to re-surface a year later

If it is indeed the strut bearing, I'd rather just buy the parts myself and have my idie mechanic replace them, than have to pay to swap OEM springs back on, take it to MB warranty and hope they will fix it, then pay again to swap in lowering springs.

I have 2 part numbers for the bearings,

Bearing, spring strut to body: A2043201273 66 euros ish
plain bearing: A2043210083 15 euros ish

any thoughts? thnx!