The wife hit a pothole...97 E300D
 

In a driving rainstorm, the wife hit a pothole. The car ahead of her lost a hubcap, the car behind her subsequently pulled over. It was a pretty deep pothole. Subcompacts or anything smaller probably would have showed up in Beijing.

After she got home, I took a look. It looked to me like the car was sitting a little low in the right front. I pulled the wheel, expecting to find a bent sway bar, and found this::eek:

I have a lower control arm on order, but my question is, do I need to compress the spring, or can I get it off the ball joint stud and lower it down to release the spring?

First of all, I would be calling the "city" offices and report this. They are normally held responsible for damages to your car because of potholes. At least they are around here....

Dang! I agree . . . and then call your insurance company . . . when they ask who the other party was, tell them it's your local municipality.

Yikes, it looks like that lower arm was very rusty in that spot where it failed....no wonder it did that. Either way, I'd try and get it paid for by the city. You should have seen some of the holes we had around here until they finally got to fixing them this spring. :eek: :dizzy2:

You can try to pursue the municipality for the damages. I would just have an estimate from your indy drafted to present to the municipality. Other than that the replacement is rather straight forward. You WILL need a spring compressor to do this task SAFELY. Others may say different, but after replacing both lower control arms, balljoints, etc.. on my w210 this is what I would recommend. How many miles on the car, as those lower control arm bushings wear out after a while and instill a 55mph wobble in the steering whell, illustrating that they need replacement. If you're mechanically ept, I would recommend replacing both control arms and the balljoints.

Just some friendly advise.

You def want the spring puller. I believe you also need to replace the LCA's in pairs too.

Take a long look at the perches too since you've already had rust and fatigue.

Wow, and I thought Houston's streets were bad! :eek:

Yup, watch out for those LCA's, they rust from the inside out. Have them replaced and inspect the spring perch area underneath the coating. I'd be surprised if there's no rust.

I'd go after the city, they usualy pay for stuff like this.

I think you can have the city pay for the one control arm that's broken, but that's probably it.

Not pursuing the town, for a variety of reasons:
1) It was not clear negligence on the town's part. I drove that stretch just that morning and it was fine. The bizarre weather and excessive rain have wreaked havoc in many areas.

2) No time to pursue litigation.

3) No time to take to a mechanic.

4) Don't even have an indy. I do all my own work.

5) $200 for a LCA is not too bad, I get the luxury of knowing exactly what is replaced, and get the chance to inspect my suspension in general.


You might think 3) and 4) conflict, but I can certainly get alot more done at home than I can waiting for vehicles at a shop, taking time off work, arranging transportation, etc

Don't let the perches scare you
 

As posted previously, make sure to check those perches. You will have the springs off anyway. It is fairly cut and dry as to replacing them. Search spring perches and there is a lot of info. Watch those upper control arms. I tried to remove one to gain more room for the perch job and broke the bolt and had to replace the hole arm. The passenger side UCA is a real bear. I had to remove the whole computer to gain access to the nut. Good luck Jim

I wouldnt go after the city either. Just deal with it yourself and it will be a lot less stressful.

Good Point with the UCA's... getting that rear nut into place and holding it there was a PITA!!!! nothing like masking tape on a woman's fingers to hold the nut in place while you screw it in..... that didn't sound right did it? :D But that's how I was able to complete the UCA on the passenger side.

I agree on the being able to get a lot more done yourself than waiting for a shop, its so true. Thats why I have less than average sympathy for people who say "I am selling my older MB because I don't have time to work on it"....etc....overall the amount of time they require is not that much, unless you work reeeeally slow. :D ;)