W210 Spring Perch Failure...Looks Like My Number is UP! - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

nhdoc · #1 04-02-2008, 01:22 PM

:MODERATOR EDIT ADDING DATA LINK:
W210 DANGEROUS FLAW please read (crosslinked in post #1 to all on topic data)
W210 DANGEROUS FLAW please read (crosslinked in post #1 to all on topic data)
:MODERATOR EDIT ADDING DATA LINK:

While driving up my street this morning I heard a strange clunk from the left front followed immediately by a definite "spring pluck" vibration. I drove home and looked and saw my driver's side perch has started to separate from the body rail, luckily it didn't completely break off (yet). I emailed the S.A at my local dealer to find out my options. I may have some leverage in getting some coverage on it since I just ordered a new C300 from them and it is due in the end of this month...here's a photo of what a failing spring perch looks like.

Hatterasguy · #2 04-02-2008, 01:47 PM

That sucks, bet MB covers it though.

Buying new cars from them does wonders for these problems.

TMAllison · #3 04-02-2008, 02:11 PM

That sucks Marty. Glad you heard and then found it before it bacame a bigger problem.

Hopefully your prior purchases and dealings with your local dealer will gain you some assistance with the repair.

scott19_68 · #4 04-02-2008, 05:08 PM

Damn, that sucks! Could not have happened to a nicer '210 owner.

Is there any update on the whole spring perch issue? I don't have the will to comb through that monster thread again looking for updates.

PatricdeBoer · #5 04-02-2008, 05:57 PM

Man, that's scary business. Imagine if that had come undone at freeway speeds.

Lunagen Labs · #6 04-02-2008, 06:19 PM

Mine DID come apart, rather violently, at freeway speeds. I pulled over right away obviously, but really it felt like nothing more than hitting a small pothole then the car kinda leaned a little to the right. Still drove straight, nothing even like blowing a tire. And that was a total failure, the spring actually fell out and we had to go get it off the shoulder of the road. Not saying nothing bad could've happened, but it's not as scary as I expected.

Hope they take care of you. Might want to verify how they're fixing it, whether they'll weld or rivet it.

muleears · #7 04-03-2008, 07:28 PM

Marty,
Do you think this is primarily a rust belt issue?

bob_98sr5 · #8 04-03-2008, 08:18 PM

muleears,

best way to check is to look really carefully at the seam sealer. if its bubbled up b/c of rust growth, it will be very obvious because it looks a little different in color and will be higher than the non rusted seam sealer. best way to check is to remove the wheel, take some simple green to it with a brush, clean off the area really well and just inspect. you can prod it, but dont poke holes in it unless you have seam sealer to cover up any holes you make.

bob

nhdoc · #9 04-07-2008, 03:43 PM

FWIW mine was a southern car until 2005 so it has only seen 3 winters in the great white north. Also, I do look at the perch seams each season (at least) when I change or rotate tires and until this incident there was no evidence of any degradation. I think the water can penetrate by capillary action and cause damage over time and then, it just pops. The M-B inspection procedure calls for removal of the spring and all of the mastic sealant and then re-seal it when you are done. That's more than half the work to replace the perch! I doubt very much that many of them get inspected to that level...most are just eyeballed, passed by visual, and then they break apart once the unapparent damage gets bad enough.

I dropped my car off at the body shop today...when I get it back I'll know if they did both sides or not. Apparently M-B is willing to pay for both if the body shop determines that the other side is damaged too but, like I said above, in order to inspect it properly you have to remove all of the existing sealant and then re-seal it so I wonder how they will decide if it needs to be done or not...frankly it is in their interest to do both if, for no other reason, purely to avoid a future liability if it should break off in 3 months.

And yes, I drove it the 15 miles or so up to the body shop (though I stayed off the freeway and took local roads). I figured I had 163K miles on it...I thought I could squeeze another 15 out of it and luckily I made it without a problem.

DieselAddict · #10 04-09-2008, 01:10 PM

I'm surprised the failure isn't as dramatic as I believed it to be. I always thought when the perch rips off the affected wheel jams and you essentially lose control of the vehicle. Is there something in the suspension that prevents the wheel from getting jammed?

Toyota sure takes better care of its customers with problems like these. MB has a long way to go.

Here's my old post from 3 years ago with pictures of my old and new perch.
W210 Diesel owners: Spring Perch Failure - Please read
I believe my bodyshop did both rivets and welding. They certainly did at least rivets as those can be seen clearly. I did the initial peeling myself and that's how I discovered the problem in the first place. The bodyshop didn't apply any sealant after the repair, only paint and grease (which I should probably reapply). I don't know what's MB's official word on that if there is one, but I was against applying sealant after the repair (and the bodyshop was fine with that) as I still believe the sealant does more harm than good in an area like this because the sealant eventually cracks or loses adhesion and starts trapping moisture. By the way, my dealer wasn't as nice and friendly and I had to pay 50% of the repair cost after some negotiation.

nhdoc · #11 04-14-2008, 03:28 PM

Got my car back today and the perch has been replaced, free of charge as promised. They only did the driver's side, claimed the other side was fine...time will tell. Good to have the car back home...hopefully I won't have any trouble with the other side and won't go through this again.

lietuviai · #12 04-14-2008, 04:57 PM

That's really impressive that you got a free repair on a 10 year old car. It appears that not everyone gets your favorable treatment as noted by DA. This indeed appears to be a serious failure that could cause injury and why MBUSA would not issue a recall as done in Canada is pure negligence.

xp190 · #13 07-01-2008, 12:06 AM

Would anyone happen to have the details of the spring perch recall in Canada?

I happen to be in Canada, and I had a spring perch fail on me, the spring broke and the car bottomed out, it happened while on a sharp turn on a highway, nothing happened fortunately, but the car needs some TLC

I had it welded, and the springs replaced, but the springs are the wrong type and the car drives horribly. I have no confidence in the weld the guy did when he fixed the perch. I want to put in proper springs, but I'm afraid that the perch will fail again.

I want to take the car to a dealer and get them to put a new perch/es on, and at the same time replace the springs at the front.

If it's possible to get them to do the perch for free due to this being a safety issue, swapping the springs would be a part of the deal.

But will they do it on a 25 y/o car?

xp

DieselAddict · #14 07-01-2008, 12:20 AM

Why don't you ask your dealer? There was some recall campaign for the W210's but I don't know about your model.

nhdoc · #15 07-01-2008, 12:51 PM

I'd guess you are out of luck. The reason the W210 was recalled is they started to fail within a couple of years of being new and the oldest ones now are only about 12-13 years old. I'd guess at some point they will stop honoring the goodwill warranty on the W210 too when they get to the point that a "normal" car would start to see these kinds of failures.

Once a car gets to be 25 years old there's really nothing the manufacturer can be held to account for. I mean that's pretty good life from a car and if they rust away after a quarter of a century you really can't blame Mercedes for that.