bzliteyear

my bad for not getting the car inspected prior to purchase, but i can't believe this S55 which has been MB dealer only serviced did not previously find these problems in the past 6 yrs(starmark expired aug 06). by way of background, car had 82k miles at expiration, and currently has 91k miles. Do you think the prior MB dealer should have caught these?

My friend just took a look and gave me these observations:
1) Front control arm struts are shot: 2 pieces + 1.5hr labor
2) Lower ball joints has play on both sides: 2 pieces x 2, + 4hrs labor
3) Lower control arm joint where the strut sites has significant amount of play..Special order item, but only about 0.75 hrs of extra labor if you do the lower ball joints.
4) Tie rode ends has play- x2 and about 0.5hr of labor
5) Front wheel bearings needs to be adjusted. I can repack the front bearings and adjustment.
6) Upper control arm ball joints have very minimal movement...it can be left alone for a bit.

ndabunka

Actually, no. Not surprised. The prior owner may not have had them do any specific "due diligence" prior to selling. probably just got to the point that he was like..."I better dump it before it gets to 100K". Since those are "normal wear and tear" items, I doubt if they would have replaced them anyway.

bzliteyear

i was surprised because when we had our starmark MB wagon, right before the warranty expired we had the service adviser and their mechanic go over the car to make sure anything that was faulty or showing signs of problems would be repaired. some dealers are better than others about what is normal wear/tear in sticking up for their customers toward MB warranty.

now...if i could figure out where i could get the parts online cheaper than dealer?

CynCarvin32

All the listed items are covered by starmark. ABC cars get to the strusts covered under warranty due to the fact that they are a combined system vs just a independent strut.

The car could have been serviced but a dealership is not allowed to add lines to a service order once the customer has signed off on the servicing. So say the customer takes the car in for work but fails to mention that the front of the car feels like is about to fall off the dealership can not just start replacing things it thinks are worn out. The only time they are allowed to add a line to a service RO is when it is a safety item. So maybe the dealerhsip should have done the ball joins or tire rod ends (if they were really worn).

If the service tech had the right to always just do work they thought the car needed the warranty claim on just one car could be more than the cars value!

Sadly that S55 will likely cost 6k+ to get back to being healthy. Good Luck!

I had all those items replaced under warranty right before my S55 passed 49k miles. The heavy car wears parts quickly.

bzliteyear

nice move getting covered.

surprisingly, i just took the S55 to MB dealer for their winter inspection special. contrary to indie, MB tech says everything's fine on the front suspension. i still hear the ocassional thump when i go over big bump and turn my wheel to either extreme, but it doesn't seem like starmark would have paid for this if the MB dealer themselves think nothing's wrong.