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Last weekend, parked in my car waiting for an appointment, I hear a loud hiss and then see a Mercedes ML pull to the curb on the other side of the street. He's parked crooked along the street probably because his tire was going flat on him before he could straighten the truck out. At this point I come over to ask if he needed help. He said he called MB Roadside so he was OK. We chat about the issue. About 20-30 minutes later no roadside vehicle so he decided to do it himself. The guy unloads his truck and takes out the spare and the jack. He's cranking on the jack to raise the front passenger side and is able to remove the lug nuts and take the tire off. Now, the vehicle is raise with the front passenger rotor and brake caliper exposed. I walk back across the street to my vehicle and get back to listening to the radio. Then a few minutes later I hear this loud crash of metal on pavement....CRAASSSH. I look over and think WTF. I get out of my car to check on the guy and his ML. The jack had failed and now the ML is sitting with the front passenger rotor resting against the pavement. Luckily, the guy was fine and didn't get his foot or anything else stuck under his truck. He managed to slip the jack under the jack point and was able to raise the truck again. Then moments later, the ML crashes down again with a loud crashing noise, when the jack fails a second time. At this point, the guy gives up and waits for the MB roadside vehicle.
I've never seen a jack fail, but this is one time where I can say that if you have to change the tire or get under the vehicle on the road, don't ever trust the jack!!!
This has always been a pet peeve of mine about Mercedes. These cars are so expensive and they put in a POS of a jack!! I had one bend once while raising the front end of a 220. I'll never use one again. It may be fine if you are on perfectly level concrete but what happens when you have a flat on the passenger side and you pull on to the shoulder of the road that slopes down a bit?
2013 S550 4matic (AMG sport package), 2016 Corvette Stingray.
Funny how we had this same kind of thread on another site regarding the 7 series. They put so much emphasis into building these Vehicles that weigh 4-5 tons and ship them with Mickey Mouse spares. Well not anymore, now the spare is either optional or not available depending upon the manufacturer.
Last edited by wilassasin; Aug 2, 2015 at 09:51 PM.
Wow that looks bad. Never trust a jack on a 2 ton+ car. Was there any damage to the rotor?
From what I could tell, the jack was sitting on a flat surface. It was a scissors type lift and it collapsed along the jack screw. The jack screw threads appeared big enough, but probably not enough for a heavy ML SUV!!!
As for the rotor, I couldn't tell, but the part along the back edge of the front passenger wheel well was on the ground and it compressed the ML's airmatic shock with the rotor pushing against the pavement. It landed on the street twice with the weight of the truck behind it, so I'm not sure what kind of damage the rotor would eventually have.
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I look over and think WTF. I get out of my car to check on the guy and his ML. The jack had failed and now the ML is sitting with the front passenger rotor resting against the pavement. Luckily, the guy was fine and didn't get his foot or anything else stuck under his truck. He managed to slip the jack under the jack point and was able to raise the truck again. Then moments later, the ML crashes down again with a loud crashing noise, when the jack fails a second time. At this point, the guy gives up and waits for the MB roadside vehicle. 
