Hello All
Just wondering if anyone knows of a decent on line parts place where I could get a strut for a 2013 sl 550 r231?
Are rebuilt struts any good. They are a fair amount cheaper.

 

I recommend FCP Euro. Their prices are competitive and most parts come with a lifetime guarantee.

Link: https://www.fcpeuro.com/

 

I have not been able to find R231 ABC struts anywhere other than at Mercedes dealers, and they cost a pretty penny. I'm not even sure where you're seeing the availability of rebuilt units. None of the aftermarket places (incl. FCP Euro) seem to carry R231 ABC struts as far as I can tell.

 

FirstBenz and ram-g

Curious as to mileage on your cars and failure mode/modes of the ABC struts

Also.....have you changed fluid/filter and pump pulsation damper and accumulators during ownership

Trying to assess failure modes and possible PMs to preclude issues as the ABC systems age.

On first blush thinking maybe fluid/filter change when first signs of color change and maybe accumulator swap outs at 60 or 70K miles but, trying to gather data as some of the R231s are building mileage

Tx, Steve

 

Oh I did not investigate this because of a problem with my car - just that as an engineer I like to plan ahead! (I have just jinxed myself and my struts will fail shortly, lol!)

 

It has 40,000 Klm on it. Hope this isn’t the start of ABC issues.
FCPeuro doesn’t carry struts for the 231. Only up to 230. Aerosus is the same. All I can find is MBPARTSWORLD.COM $1822.50 US. That about a kajillion Canadian Dollars.
Anyone?

 

Just curious if the strut has actually been diagnosed with a failure or if this a guess. Are you coming from a R230?

 

Hey Wolfman,
It has been diagnosed as a leaking strut.
This allowed air into the system which caused the hammering or pulsation noise. I thought it was just the pulsation dampener. I would like to tackle the repair myself but I’m under the impression that a “rodeo” needs to be done to bleed air from the system after the strut has been replaced.

 

I'm guessing that it was not MB that diagnosed the problem is this correct? My thoughts would be to take it to MB and find out what is required to repair it and then work backwards to assess if DIY is an option or not.

 

If what you hear is"hammering" it could be your strut, at least that was the cause of it on my CL..... The dealer did not have any clue about but I was told that one of my rear struts was slowly leaking, strut replaced, end of the story, it happened at less that 20,000 miles !

 

Anything’s possible but I was told it’s from air in the hydraulic system. From the looks ofnitmIll be buying a $2100 strut. 😣😙

 

When a strut is leaking the air goes into the system....
Have you tried Arnott ? The sell reman. struts with a lifetime warranty.

 

Arnott only sells ABC struts for the R230, not R231. For our R231s they only carry non-ABC struts.

 

Make sense since probably not too many people will pay for the ABC option ($$$$)

 

All Canadian R231 SL's came with ABC as a default...

 

Right, but how many when compared to the US sales ....

 

Here you are
Canada R231 2013 to date sales-1998 cars
US R321 2013 to date sales-29078 cars

 

Not sure how this is relevant. The OP is from Canada

 

It was about this....

 

Makes sense although I think it speaks more to the reliability of the improved ABC system than low production volume. There are thousands of R231 SL's with ABC in the US along with every Canadian SL.
Everyone just remembers the R230 and other models of that generation (S, CL)

 

All I know is that a new strut from the dealer is $3700. Anyone want to buy an sl550……needs some work.😢

 

Yeah, that is the beauty of having ABC, when it fails we are...I remember when my CL 600 strut went south, apparently the CL 600 has the AMG version, I was lucky Arnott has that in stock !

 

you may just consider buying a used one from EBay for less than $1k. Not ideal but given the low failure rates a potential option.

 

OK so here is the latest. The strut looks like its a dealer item only. The question is I found a couple of "middlemen" so to speak on line and they seem to have better prices. Has anyone purchased from mercedespartscenter.com or mercedesbenzpartscenter.com? Yes they are different places . Just wondering if they are legit.

 

Try https://www.mboemparts.com, they're legit.