lganski

Hi all, I have a 2006 S430 4Matic in need of new front ball joints. My mechanic tells me that I need to replace both my upper and lower control arms. I have been going to these people for over 15 years and have never been unhappy yet. The lower are over $600 each and the uppers around $120 and I don’t see much in the way of suppliers either. I have been looking through the threads and have found lots of good information but no one really addresses the 4matic configuration. I would like to avoid replacing the lower control arms and do the ball joints and bushings. My problem is that I know one of the ball joints is replaceable, but the one the strut sits on is a mystery to me. Can it be replaced and what does it take? Can the joints in the upper control arms also be replaced? Has anyone ever found instructions or a video on changing ball joints on a 4matic?

tower

I'm in the same boat with an 04S500. Just replaced the lower control arm in my 02S500 and it cost me a replacement strut. I managed to remove the offending element by taking the strut complete with lower control arm to a machine shop and drilling the set screw out with a vertical boring machine, so now I have a replacement strut should I need it. Just be careful with the separation. Use lots of penetrating oil a few days before to make sure that the set screws come out easy.

Anyways, on yours, are you getting clunks going over bumps in the road?

I've heard bad stories of people replacing just the bushings in the various struts/arms so you may be stuck with buying an OE part. To the best of my knowledge, no one makes a substitute for the formatic lower control arm, so if you can find one let me know as well.

Best price of gotten is about $501 from "parts.com", but I've never dealt with them and I'm not in the US.

So let me know if you find someone better..

Tower

tusabes

Parts.com is an authorized Mercedes dealership
You will get genuine mb factory parts

Quadcammer

you'll also get raped on shipping.

oediscountparts is the same thing, but shipping is free.

uppers are 220 each, lowers are about 520 each

tower

Thanks Quadcammer, I just ordered the lower from oediscoutparts, but you've got to be careful with them because they are really a marcedes dealership (sky something) and will happily tell you the official mercedes retail price even though you are inquiring or quoting a lower price. So if you are talking to them, make sure you have a reference to the website you are quoting from.

Quadcammer

www.oediscountparts.com

I just order from the website.

tower

I generally can't order from via the website, being a Canadian. In most cases, they don't deliver outside of the lower 48 states. When they do, the courier charges, most notably the broker charges for the duty payment side, are absolutely horrendous. Recently I have found how to declare the packages as self brokered, but that usually tags another 2 weeks onto the delivery and a substantial amount of time to follow the package and scream at the various idiots for doing it incorrectly.

I do have access to a US address, but it involves a 60 mile trip each way and a stop at Canada Customs anyways. With traffic I can usually bank on 4 hours of lost time. Additionally some of the vendors don't accept credit card that do not have the same origin as the shipping address. So it quickly becomes a nonsense argument.

But for an initial link of $500+ (for the lower control arm), I would think it would be economical to go south of the border for the trip.

Tower

Quadcammer

oh i see, didn't realize you were up in CA.