There is both a documented inspection and repair procedure in place for these. The inspection procedure involves the removal of the spring and all of the mastic covering, which I do not think any of the dealers actually do. That is one of the reasons that so many of them go undetected. The repair procedure calls for the new perch to be riveted instead of welded. It's a good fix but costly. If you like the car you can have it inspected the right way and if found faulty have it fixed. It won't break your bank.

The other interesting thing to note is not a single case could be found of any accident or injury caused by the failure of the spring perch. It seems most of the time they fail during slow speed turning, like turning into a parking space. I theorize that as the control arm bushings wear and the spring then twists slightly as the wheels turn is what causes the failure of the perch spot welds which are weakened by the rust problems. Plus, it is not like the wheel comes off or you cannot turn it...it is like a spring breaking, the wheel drops down but the upper and lower control arms are still attached to the car so it's not like it can come off or you cannot steer.

Personally I let my dealership inspect the car annually. So far my car has passed every time. How many more years will it pass? I don't know but I can't complain if I get to say 200K miles and need to spend $1000 or so to have the perches repaired. Right now I am over 150K and the car just passed inspection again.

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz