SL/R230: R230 500 SL ABC front shocks ball joints replacement and upper control arm
06-02-2014, 06:44 PM
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2003 SL 500 AMG / 2006 S 500 AMG / 1992 560 SEC / 1998 CL 500
R230 500 SL ABC front shocks ball joints replacement and upper control arm
Hi,
Sorry for my weak language at first, I am writing to you from Estonia.
I am a lucky owner (at least so far) of a 02 SL 500 with ABC suspension.
Car has driven 110 000 km and when the regular inspection was held, I found some problems.
First, the lower ball joint of front shock (which helds the shock connected to lower arm rod) was in very bad condition.
As probably the majority of SL owners know, it is not replacable by Mercedes, still it is regular/common ball joint. Dealers can offer only new OEM shocks. You know the price....
I started to search the web during days and nights and I found one seller in Germany, who claims to have the original ball joints (somebody has to produce them for Mercedes).
They asks 200 EUR/each, but comparing to the price of new shock, it is ok.
I also considered to let them restored, but new ones made me more sence.
Cause I know how hard they are to find, I decided to write about my "story".
Replacement was easy, can be compared to the replacement of lower arms ball joints. You do not have to remove even the shocks from the car or un connect ABC connection.
Seller in Germany: http://www.exclusiv-automobile.de/ww..._Fahrwerk.html
Those ball joints can be found from Ebay.de as well.
Now I have another problem - ball joints in upper control arms
There are a lot of distributors for that part, but they all claim it to be the same as CLS W219/E W211/SL R230 so I trusted Lemförder and bought the arms....
But...when they were both together on the table, they are everything else than similar...totally different from each other.
Again a lot of Googel, when I looked for them from the LMR part catalog, it would not offer control arms for R230, it will offer only the replacable ball joint (with screws and nuts).
OEM costs around 500 EUR/each.
My car has still factory installed control arms, in where the ball joint in non-replacable. When I order new OEM parts today, they will come with changeble ball joints (with screws and nuts).
TRW should be the OEM manufactor, but I am not able to find their codes/parts.
I assume that somone of you has gone trought the same process, so if anybody knows any non-OEM control arm that will fit for R230, please let me know!
Thank you!
Roland
Sorry for my weak language at first, I am writing to you from Estonia.
I am a lucky owner (at least so far) of a 02 SL 500 with ABC suspension.
Car has driven 110 000 km and when the regular inspection was held, I found some problems.
First, the lower ball joint of front shock (which helds the shock connected to lower arm rod) was in very bad condition.
As probably the majority of SL owners know, it is not replacable by Mercedes, still it is regular/common ball joint. Dealers can offer only new OEM shocks. You know the price....
I started to search the web during days and nights and I found one seller in Germany, who claims to have the original ball joints (somebody has to produce them for Mercedes).
They asks 200 EUR/each, but comparing to the price of new shock, it is ok.
I also considered to let them restored, but new ones made me more sence.
Cause I know how hard they are to find, I decided to write about my "story".
Replacement was easy, can be compared to the replacement of lower arms ball joints. You do not have to remove even the shocks from the car or un connect ABC connection.
Seller in Germany: http://www.exclusiv-automobile.de/ww..._Fahrwerk.html
Those ball joints can be found from Ebay.de as well.
Now I have another problem - ball joints in upper control arms
There are a lot of distributors for that part, but they all claim it to be the same as CLS W219/E W211/SL R230 so I trusted Lemförder and bought the arms....
But...when they were both together on the table, they are everything else than similar...totally different from each other.
Again a lot of Googel, when I looked for them from the LMR part catalog, it would not offer control arms for R230, it will offer only the replacable ball joint (with screws and nuts).
OEM costs around 500 EUR/each.
My car has still factory installed control arms, in where the ball joint in non-replacable. When I order new OEM parts today, they will come with changeble ball joints (with screws and nuts).
TRW should be the OEM manufactor, but I am not able to find their codes/parts.
I assume that somone of you has gone trought the same process, so if anybody knows any non-OEM control arm that will fit for R230, please let me know!
Thank you!
Roland
Robert
06-12-2016, 09:19 AM
#4
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Estonia
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2003 SL 500 AMG / 2006 S 500 AMG / 1992 560 SEC / 1998 CL 500
I ordered a set of new ball joints from Germany, they fitted perfectlyand are probably the OEM parts, altough they are not sold separetly/only with ABC shocks.
According to the upper control arms - ONLY OEM parts are available. The information that W219/W211 will fit, it totaly wrong. They are totaly different from each other.
According to the upper control arms - ONLY OEM parts are available. The information that W219/W211 will fit, it totaly wrong. They are totaly different from each other.
