Just shy of 80,000 miles on my '05. The information here is great and I used it to perform the Service C this past week.


Oil change. Easy.


Inspection from stem to stern. Wow! Going over the car with a fine-tooth comb I was surprised at what I found. Attention to detail pays off.
-Found a front suspension sensor wire harness support bracket had come loose and the harness was bouncing up and down with potential failure of the wires at the connector. Fixed that.
-Found rear suspension pneumatic line bracket broken and line was abrading against a metal line. Potential failure point. Fixed that.
-Rear air bags bellows to protect the interior of the shock were broken in multiple places. I repaired using vinyl shower liner wrapping the liner around the bellows and sealing the top. I'll let you all know if it works or not.


Flushed the brake fluid. First time to use the Motive Pressure Bleeder. I should have purchased one of these years ago! Maintenance records show the brakes were flushed at the Las Vegas MB dealer back in 2009. I was dismayed by the amount of air that flushed out of the two rear lines! A little over a liter of DOT4 fluid and it was looking better...


I've had a slow leak in the driver's side rear tire (~3 psi/day) since I purchased the car a short time ago. I held off on it until this service since I was going to replace the rear tires during the service C. Pulled the wheel and checked the tire for a finishing nail but instead found the rim had been previously damaged, improperly repaired, and I had four(!) cracks through the rim wall. All cracks were right through the welds that had been used to improperly repair the rim wall. I want to *****-slap the stupid ******* who did this to the rim. See photo below for just one of the failures.


Moral of the story? Inspect your car. Especially if you purchased it used.

 

Very true!


Craking on these wheels sems to be very common as they age.. I also had my rear craked and I know several others who have had the same issue

 

Wow man, glad you caught it all! Enjoy in good health

 

No matter how much I drive or how hard I drive. She goes on the lift every month for a look over. The Atlanta streets are full of pot holes and debris from contractor trucks. It never hurts to take a peak.

Nice job catching those issues.

 

fractures on the inside of the wheel are a common issue. Most of the time you will never notice them since the since will still hold air.

 

Cracked wheels are a pain. That's why I changed from 20" wheels to 19" ones. I just couldn't live with the constant repairs.

 

Do you guys think its because of the materials of these alloys or just the amount of torque going through them that makes then crak over time?

 

Of all the problems one could possibly have with a car, it would kinda strokes the ego a bit to have to ask yourself if your car makes enough power to rip the wheels apart.