Arrie

After losing my 2013 model I finally found a replacement, which is a 2012 model made 8 months before the 2013 I had was.

The car s in good shape other than I need to replace the lower control arms for the worn out ball joints. I knew this when buying the car but for the lack of test driving it on bumpy road I did not know about the real problem.

The car is very unstable at rear. It gives sideways “shaking” when I hit just a slight imperfection on road. It feels the car leans a lot at turns and the “shaking” is scary at times on high speed.

Do I have just worn out air struts in rear or has my rear sway bar broken?

Shadly1

That could be a symptom of those ball joints. Get under there and start wiggling stuff.

Senecat

Somethin's loose.

BenzV12

My dad's car (not a Mercedes-Benz but exactly a same problem besides a sway when veering into lanes ) had a shaking as well. It turned out to be a rear struts were caput .
Hope you get it sorted out which I believe must be an easy one to diagnose

Arrie

Thanks.

I sure hope it is the struts snd not the sway bar. Struts is easy for me especially when I already have the parts. Was in process of changing all air struts on the ‘13 but never got to do the rear ones. Part should be the same between ‘12 and ‘13 models.

BOTUS

the bushes holding the diff in place wear out (special German designed to last 3 minutes rubber), its a 6 hr job and specialist tools or drop the whole axel

other than that, may be the wrong load rating or unsuitable rear tyres

Arrie

Im also wondering about tires. Michelin Pilot Sport 3.

I will get under the car and check it out. I will change lower load bearing control arms and rear air struts. Hopefully the sway bar is ok.

Senecat

Let us know.

Arrie

So, replaced both of the front load bearing lower control arms. The ones that the car had were new looking and I did not find any wear on the ball joints, but the arms looked weaker design than the Lemförder parts that I had already purchased. What was a very surprising and alarming find was the right-side tie rod ball joint being very loose. The nut was moving when shaking the hub. Obviously, this was not a very good and safe condition.

I did notice the squeaking sound from the front suspension went down a bit, but I still have some and I think this is the sway bar bushings. I kind of proved this as in a big parking garage driving both front wheels over a speed bump makes the sound but when I drive either side front wheel alone over the bump there is no sound.

I remember reading about re-gluing the bushings but would need direction where to find this instruction. Or should I use lubrication instead and let the sway bar rotate freely in the bushings?

I did not look at the rear suspension yet.

Shadly1

Here are the sway bar bushing instructions.

BOTUS

you can buy after market ARB bushes - gluing old worn ones likely won't be very successfully - you could lube for now whilst sourcing after market bushes and the right glue, then wait for better weather (if you can be bothered)

Shadly1

The bushings are bonded to the bar. I did it and it worked out pretty nicely. New sway bars are expensive.

Arrie

Thank you Shadly 1,

I will get the glue and do it as the instruction says. I just don't think the problem is between the outer diameter of the bushing. I think it is between the bushing and sway bar, but I will find out.

Shadly1

If the problem is the bushing is no longer bonded to the sway bar, the epoxy won't cut it. A new bar will be required. Really, the epoxy is just a space filler to make up for the decreased size of the bushing.

BOTUS

originally the car's were made with separate non bonded bushes - with the bushes available as an OEM spare - not long after they brought out a repair to bond them to the arm to reduce noise.... but this was to bond 6 month old bushes to a newish arm (as a cost saving warranty bodge up imitative)

what I said was gluing the old bushes wasn't a great idea. At 10 plus years, they will be old, hard, shrunk back, half failed bushes not worth wasting your effort on. Plenty of places sell non OEM bushes and it would be far more sensible to use new pliant, flexible std size non worn replacement bushes - in-between lube the junk that's left

Shadly1

When mine was in need of repair, I did look for just the bushings. All of the parts houses I normally deal with did not carry them or list them. At the time, the only place I could find them was Alibaba. I couldn't find an OEM part or OEM equivalent part anywhere. I figured, I would roll with the epoxy method until it failed and then get the OEM sway bar. So far the epoxy method has held strong for over a year. A year+ of functional bar is worth the $12 I paid for a tube of epoxy. I haven't seen any kind of review or write up about the grey market equivalent bushings. I'd imagine you would still have to bond them to the bar or use some kind of mechanical means to prevent lateral movement.

BOTUS

just now ebay.com typed

w221 front anti-roll bar bushes

alternatively type

w221 2213230060

interesting didn't know anyone made these

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224034391847

Shadly1

I think the seller went to jail. He's away until Dec 31st, 2030.

Arrie

Quoting my own here.

I replaced the tires and the stupid "sideways dancing" of the rear stopped. Those Michelin Pilot Sport 3 tires are just garbage. I cannot find any good word to say about them. How can some people recommend them to anybody?

This is yet another time I find Michelin tires well less quality than what their name should suggest. What a joke...!

BenzV12

I prefer Michelins but I have also heard that not all of them offer same quality as other Michelin products .
For instance : Michelin Pilot Super Sport Series should superior than Michelin Pilot Sport 3
Anyway, I'm glad you fixed it by just replacing tires