Hotsauce55

Went for alignment and mechanic told me 1 of the front thrust arms were gone. He said I needed the following:

Thrust arm
Thrust arm bushing
Bushing cover
Bolt

He said might as well replace both sides. Only caveat he won't install anything but Mercedes oem made in Germany.

I can find the thrust arms but is there an additional bushing & cover?

bbirdwell

First, find another mechanic.

Next order new thrust arms and control arms. They come with new bushings and ball joints installed. Cost is about $310 USD from Partsgeek.com.

Take these to your NEW mechanic and pay him to install.

You can spend the money (approx $12 USD each) for four each "eccentric bolts" from Pelicanparts.com or autohausaz.com and install those at the same time. Easiest to do so at this time and it provides room to adjust caster and camber in the future.

Did I say, "find another mechanic"? It is not his call to tell you what parts you want to install. You pay him to install. Period. If it doesn't work, it is on you, not him.

Hotsauce55

I was a little surprised he won't install anything non genuine Mercedes. He is a master tech gone solo but is very rigid in his ways. He believes that if it's not made in Germany its not worth installing. Especially suspension. He also warranties all his labour on oem parts for a year. Won't on anything else.

I am thinking about doing this myself. Doesn't seem too difficult if I put out for the tools.

bbirdwell

Here are the parts he is talking about. Just order aftermarket. If you are stuck on OEM, search factorymoparparts.com. Same parts. Same MB part number. Cheaper. Print out the price and take it to the local MB dealer and ask if they can match the price plus shipping. Worked for me everytime. I get a price break and my local dealer still makes a profit.

bbirdwell

If you plan to do it yourself you need to deflate the air springs. To do that, an SDS or Xentry system makes it easier. FWIW, I rebuilt the rear suspension on my '05 E55 (two days DIY), then took it to a local independent for the front suspension work (I was beat down at that point). For comparison purposes, the independent mechanic replaced the following for $1650 USD labor (parts not included):
-both front thrust arms
-both front control arms
-both front air springs
-engine mount
-transmission mount

So...this gives you an idea of cost. Now, there is an excellent thread on replacing the front control and thrust arms here on the Forum; you'll have to search because I'm lazy but it is a good DIY with photos. I almost did the work myself but time constraints worked against me.

Good luck to you. Enjoy your ride.

gjunon

I did this not to long ago was really easy took a couple of hours.

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...trol-arms.html

here is the DIY that I typed out hopefully it helps. It is for Thrust arms I made an incorrect title! Any questions feel free to send me a PM

gjunon

Doesn't the air suspension deflate automatically when the tires are up off the ground? I always find my suspension deflated when I lower my vehicle after having it up on the jack stands with my tires suspended in the air.

StarvingArtist

Only if you open the door or wake it up with the key.

StarvingArtist

Mercedes doesn't make many suspension parts, if any. They sub it out. Lemforder was the original manufacturer of the thrust arms. They had a plant in maine, but moved somewhere cheaper.

I can see where your mech is coming from, but an overpriced box isn't the only path to quality.

Pelican parts often lists the OEM brand and the one in the MB box, also a quality rating for your other options.

Hotsauce55

That helped a lot, thanks! About the bolts, do I need 4 or 2? The thrust arms already have the bearings, so that works out well.

Had a good read there, thanks for doing that. I'll start with the questions right away, what did you do about the air bags? Based on your post I am guessing you must have opened door or put key in ignition?

I think I'll go the Lemfoerder route. The Genuine Merc stuff is another $80 or so per arm. Not sure its worth it or if they are any differences.

Mechanic wanted the equivalent of $230USD for both thrust arms which could save me some headache & time but will have to pony up the Genuine parts premium. What can I do with the airbags given I don't have SDS yet. Don't want to blow anything up lol

thtguy

they are really easy to install. and you don't have to deflate really. I was lazy and my laptop battery was dead so I didn't hook up DAS. I did both sides thrust arms and control arms in 4 hours. 2.5 for first side, 1.5 for the second side.

Hotsauce55

Priced out everything, seems vendors (AutoHausaz, PartsGeek & PelicanParts) are pretty close low of $339 & high of $347 shipped. Any recommendations on who to buy from? I have purchased from AutoHausaz before with no issue.

Hotsauce55

Did you have a balljoint tool?

lseguy

if it helps

PelicanParts.com

Lemfoerder is a sufficient brand and the OEM supplier so you can't go wrong there. Plus, they come with a pretty good warranty from us. If you have any questions or need any assistance please do not hesitate to let me know.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/..._pg3.htm#item6

thtguy

yes Ball joint seperator from harbor Freight did an excellent job. I didn't do anything with my brake part either left all of it intact. oh did upper Ball Joints on both sides also, those were like 5 mins each.

Hotsauce55

Did you use a press to get the old upper ball joints out?

gjunon

No press needed for upper joints. The new ones come already pressed into the removable brackets.

gjunon

How to remove and press in the lower ball joints if you need to do them. It wasn't hard.

thtguy

Uppers have 3 bolts that hold them in the control arms

Hotsauce55

Guys do I need 4 or 2 of the bolts for this job?

thtguy

I used the original bolts just torqued to spec

bbirdwell

4 bolts like I wrote in a previous post. Just install in the "neutral position" (slot vertical). If you need to adjust the caster or camber, the bolts are already installed and you just rotate the bolt to place the slot in the 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock position. Since you have to remove the original bolts anyway, just install the eccentrics now. They won't hurt and they might help.

Hotsauce55

I asked because I only saw 1 bolt (part 165) in your diagram. I have not taken the time yet to actually look at the suspension on the car.

bbirdwell

You want something like this:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/..._pg3.htm#item6

Limited adjustability but better than nothing. Provides 3mm inward or outward movement which translates into +/-0.3 degrees of camber change. You can always trade caster for camber.