Still quoting ky own post.

I ordered the center bearing holder from: "https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CMT4KLPY?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title" and it came with the bearing that I was not sure of. So, I separately ordered a bearing from FCPEuro, and I was lucky I did. as the bearing that came with the holder "with the rubber bearing housing" was for a 30 mm shaft. The shaft in the car is 32 mm so obviously this combo does not work. I changed out the bearing and all is fine.

 

With this level of deterioration, was there a play in the propeller shaft - like did it move up and down when pressed from underneath? Asking to see if one can diagnose this before embarking on a replacement for the flexi disks and the bearings…

 

they are all wrong at a early mileage..... just fit one

 

Yes, it was easy to feel the problem. Shaft moved up but not down as the rubber had sagged all corrugation built in the rubber. The new rubber holder also moves in all directions but with equal and much higher amount of force. My rubber did not move further down but went easily up.

About the flex disks: Just 3 weeks ago I had the differential oil changed at a dealer and they did inspection about brakes etc. and one item was that my flex disk shows some cracking, of course.

When I had to remove the flex disk with the drive shaft for the bearing change I had very good opportunity to check on the disk and it looked to be in as-new condition. I did not check on the disk at transmission end but I don’t think the dealer service guy did either as it requires removing some covers to get to it.

If you were told by the dealer about the flex disks needing work, don’t trust it. Inspect them yourself.

My car is 13 years old and the center bearing holder was totally collapsed. I had the same with my earlier W221 at about 10 years age. If you have vibrations and this part is 10 years old it is bad. As mine were so bad I think they must start showing vibrations issues way sooner, probably at around 5-6 years old.