cal1

Last week, I took my SL to a new independent to try out. The car was making a metal to metal clicking sound when I would turn the steering wheel while not moving at all or very slowly. I noticed no handling issues and the sound seemed to disappear once I was at normal driving speeds. The indy looked at it for a while and then said it was bad control arm bushings and they had to replace the whole control arm on both sides. They quoted $850 for parts and labor.

So that was last Thursday morning and the car was supposed to be done that day. I called the next day and they said the car is making less noise but is still making noise. I got the sick feeling they really did not know what was wrong and they basically pushed the SL to the back burner. I waited until today to find out what the status was. No phone calls with updates from them of course. Now they tell me the rack is bad or at least that is what they think now. All I know is that sounds expensive and I am not feeling to good about these guys.

I have been on the boards a long time and don't recall ever reading about someone needing to replace the rack on an SL. Any help is greatly appreciated.

RoundTheBenz

I'd get it to someone else straight away. I hate it when they diagnose something, charge you only to see the problem remain. Then they say "you needed that anyway"... Get a second opinion.

cal1

I am about ready to just drive over there and get the car and leave. I'm going to give the owner one more chance to actually return my call before I do.

cal1

I did some looking around on the net and below are 4 common symptoms of bad racks

• Car wandering Nope
• Numb spot Nope
• Wheel Shaking Nope
• fluid leak Nope

I should have recorded the sound and posted it before doing anything else. The popping/cracking noise seems to be coming from the front suspension or maybe steering. it is difficult to tell. What is interesting is that the car handles fine and runs dead true down the freeway.

cal1

So I just found this.

https://mbworld.org/forums/sl55-amg-...ring-sl65.html

Could be it. I sent the thread to the lunkheads at the Indy. If it is the problem, how much should I charge them for the diagnose?

cnterline

I had same problem and found that bulletin,no more noise ,they should eat that bill ,it is a pain to determine where noise comes from ,but what they fixed was a guess IMO which turned out to be a mistake, which you shouldn't have to pay for.

cal1

I am not sure what I am going to do for certain at this point. At the very least I am going to make them give me the supposed bad control arm and post pics of it here to see what the members say.

I actually joined Star Tekinfo today so I could download a good copy of the DTB and send it to them. The owner refuses to return my calls, but I have talked to a few techs that answer the phone. Interesting how they think the rack is bad.

From the DTB:

i'm thinking I will give them one more day to either follow the DTB and likely fix the problem or do nothing. Either way, I am going to drop by their shop on Friday morning and tell them to give me my SL back.

RoundTheBenz

I honestly would not wait that long. If the owners not returning your calls, then what kind of place is he operating?

cnterline

Get your car back first,even pay the bill with a credit card and dispute it later but get your car out of there ,the guy doesn't call you back= bad news

rsr911

I have the clicking noise in my 2003 SL55. I am having the service done today according to the service notice.

rsr911

Problem solved for $135.00 not a bad steering rack.

cal1

Excellent!

Information is power. I love the way members on this board help each other out by sharing experiences with our cars.