cfoster

I have the ABC hydraulic suspension on my 2003 SL500 and over the last few weeks noticed a slight knocking noise from the front right hand corner. Only noticable when pulling up on the driveway, manouvering slowly etc... Feel kinda loose and I can feel it through the steering wheel as well.

I had it serviced at Mercedes last week and they advised that it could be the lower suspension ball joint, but what they are also saying is that the bush is not available as a seperate part, I have to replace the whole shock?!!! - which obviously isnt cheap!!!!!

Can anyone shed some light into this or are they correct? I'm hoping that perhaps even though a main agent cannot supply another company may be able to help, as the shock itself is absolutely fine!

Does anyone have a diagram of the front suspension setup so I can see what they are talking about?

Thanks

alx

ask them what "8" is.

i am not sure, but it might be the shock lower bush as a separate part

cfoster

Thanks that looks promising, I was quite shocked (excuse the pun!!) that they said a bush cannot be bought seperately?!

is this a common thing to fail or could it be anything else?

alx

any of the oil-filled bushings can fail on such a heavy car.

it could be other things though.

does the knock changes with temperature? (ie knocks less when the car warms up?) if it does - it is a bushing. if it does not and always sounds the same- it is very likely the lower balljoint which is a separate part...

also have them check the tightness of the big nut on the top of the shock. those become lose for some reason and then there is a knock that when you plug the chassis ears sounds like it comes from the bottom of the shock for some bazaar reason.

cfoster

I have heard there are a few bushes and joints under there!! The knock happens probably all the time i'd say when moving slowly, as above its mainly when i pull onto my driveway when the front right wheel goes up, can feel it through the suspension. If i'm driving at normal speed all feels perfect! I imagine they should have checked the top nut as they checked the fluid etc and topped up where needed. Worth checking again though! Happy that the parts are available seperately though, the shocks are around $2000 (£1350) in the uk each to supply only!