m3tpe

Hello,

Just went to a shop in San Bruno, CA.
They gave me a quick quote for ball joints repair to be $650 parts and labor + tax. I forgot to ask them what parts they were using. And I'm assuming they didn't include anything else in the quote such as control arms.

Does anyone have the part numbers for the ball joints and control arms? I'm trying to fix the famous squeaking issue coming from the front.

Plutoe

I'd go to Blimpy's and ask the bartender---wada he think!!

m3tpe

huh, that doesn't help

DrDoe

The ball joints part number is 2113230068
I believe it's universal. The control arms are vehicle specific depending on suspension options.

tusabes

It depends exactly what parts they are changing , just bell joint or entire control arm ? Uppers and lowers or just lowers ?

Whats the name of the shop? I'm local and know most of the shops around here

mercy-me

Welcome to the community. What year is your car? What model, rear wheel drive or 4Matic? All w220's are not created equal. A vague query will receive vague ambiguous responses.

All that aside, a cursory look at book time for installing the Lower Steering knuckle joint left and right is 4.2 hours.
That includes R&I the knuckle and joint.

With all due respect to DrDoe, part number 2113230068 (#47) is not the correct part number for the lower joint. It is the joint pressed into the Traverse or Spring control arm for the Anti-Sway bar. The correct part number is 2203330727 (#10). List price on that part is $104 but can be gotten for < $75.

This is based on my '01 W220 rear wheel drive.

mercy-me

m3tpe

Hello,

i'm asking for a 2004 s500 with Sport AMG pkg.
At this moment, I didn't get a paper quote. The guy gave me a verbal quote for $650 for the ball joints.

m3tpe

European Car Service & Parts
San Bruno, CA

sakodik

Control arm - front right lower #215 330 07 07 - $200
Ball joint front lower - #211 330 04 35 $35
Total cost to me was $375 for a 2005 S55 in San Jose. It fixed the squeaky noise coming from the front right.

m3tpe

labor seems cheap

Archmetal

Are the parts in the pdf the same for a 2003 s430 2wd?

m3tpe

should be the same 1999-2006

Archmetal

I need to replace pretty much everything in this parts diagram. What brand do you all recommend? There seems to be a big price spread.

m3tpe

Ok, so I went to another shop today. Had the car jacked up and the technician looked at the front.

He's telling me the following:
There's 2 Front Lower Control Arm on each side (driver & passenger side) both needs to be replaced. He's stating that there are cracks in the plastic pieces and that I should replace all 4 of these. He says that the parts are $700. The labor to install them are $600. He also says that because my car is 90k miles, I should replace the air suspensions int he front as well. Is this true? He's stating that if I don't replace the air suspensions and only do the control arm, the squeak will come back after a year when the suspension starts failing.

tusabes

Second shop sounds like they are recommending unnecessary work. Which shop gave you that second opinion ?

european car service is an honest shop. Ask them if they're $650 estimate will guarantee no squeaks

m3tpe

Guess I should go back to European Car Service and have them jack up the car and take a look at what needs to be done. They should be able to verify if the two control arms on each side needs to be replaced or just the ball joints. If they are charging $650 for just the ball joints, that seems a little overpriced since the parts are only around $100 bucks. Best to go back and get detailed opinion before i settle on which shop.

tusabes

So they didn't actually look at the car ? You just got a verbal estimate ?

The squeak comes from ball joints/control arms . Your airmatic struts are not going to cause the squeak over bumps, not even a year from now -so that second recommendation concerns me that they are recommending extra work .

Of course it's nice to change everything, at this age , but changing working struts isn't necessary or cost effective

m3tpe

The shop that raised the car on a rack was called California Auto Center in Millbrae. They looked a the car and said controls arms are bad, replace 2 on each side (4 total) and recommended to replace the strut because they said weak struts would mess up the control arms and ball joints again.

W220benzs500

I recently fixed the same problem. I replaced the sway bar end links lower control arms, torque arms and ball joints. I got a quote for $200 at Mercedes of rocklin for each balljoint but I did it myself for $70 all I had to buy was the balljoint separator. And ball joints. My lower control arm was making noise so I replaced all of those at the same time myself. If your looking for help to DIY let me know

wallyp

"The shop that raised the car on a rack was called California Auto Center in Millbrae. They looked a the car and said controls arms are bad, replace 2 on each side (4 total) and recommended to replace the strut because they said weak struts would mess up the control arms and ball joints again. "

I would run away from that shop.

Joseph Magsalay

First off, that 2nd shop is trying to rip you off. The squeak isn't from your struts.
If you are entertaining the idea of DIY, I highly suggest that you replace all of your front end arms & ball joints at once.
I've done this for 2 cars & piece-by-piece is a horrible waste of time. You will save a ton of time if you remove the steering knuckle & all attached arms. It's soooo much easier to get the ball joints out of a steering knuckle, & pressed back in, on a bench than on the car.
If you call Autohausaz, they'll work out a deal for a full package that was less than $450 for all parts to me. It was probably $525 to do piece-by-piece. You'll need a ball joint press & separator plus male & female TORX wrenches/sockets (not sure if there's a technical name for those). Jack stands & a big *** hammer are the only other things I can think you'll want outside of a regular toolkit.

Doing an arm/joint at a time will take at least 10 hours. 3 hours total work if you remove the steering knuckle & work from a bench plus you'll have a like new ride.