Just wondering how difficult it will be to replace the front struts on a 95 E320 wagon? The shop tells me my tire wear is bad because of bad struts and want ~$550 to replace the struts. Is this doable without a spring compressor or risk of getting beheaded by a spring (e.g. can the struts be removed without the spring coming out? Thanks!

Sorry, I forgot where I was. I am used to posting my 300D stuff in the diesel area. Anyway, if you have thoughts on the E320 strut repair I'd appreciate it.

well if you have blown struts your car is sitting essentially on springs and you may have tire wear on the inner fender well. get a flashlight and look behind the tire to the wheel well and if there is significant scraping to the well that's where your tire is touching it. or your tire could be touching the fender where it meets the bumper, which could be fixed using the amg fender spacing kit available from the dealer, or just use your own washers to space the fender out.

those are the only two places the tire could be worn due to sagging suspension, unless your wheels offset is wrong and it's touching the strut. later model 201/124 had indented struts to fit different offset wheels so this is probably not an issue. youc an tell if your struts are blown by pushign the fenders down and observing how quickly the car pushes down and rebounds, or by removing the struts completely, and pushing the piston down onto the cement and seeing how long it takes to expand out to the original position.

if you did this to one front strut and to one rear and took a video of it, i can tell you if your struts are blown or not

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The tires won't touch the fenders if they're original size, Mercedes is a little beyond automotive 101.

Yes, you can change the struts yourself. They are not MacPherson struts so the struts are not inside of the spring, which makes it much easier. You can do it with the lower control arm on blocks/jackstands and lifting the car once the struts are disconnected, I've done it several times and it isn't too complicated if you're careful.

As with anything that involves lots of weight, and compressed springs, you can be hurt so take precautions.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_W124

by the way, if you have a blown strut with stock mercedes tire size, you can easily rub the tire onto the inner wheel well.

mercedes 101?

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Sorry, I should be more clear. The struts are not blown by any means. Some minor tire wear issues. I hadn't even noticed. Took it in for my annual NC state inspection and the inspector said to have it aligned as there is some chaffing on the inner half of the left front tire. It looks sort of like the tread surface of the tire isn't wearing evenly as you go around the tire (not like a camber problem or anything). Sort of a very odd wear pattern. So I took it for alignment today and the guy told me I need new struts that it was in good alignment. No tire hitting anything as one of the posts is mentioning. No ride problems or noticable response of the suspension. Maybe the guy at the tire store is giving me a line. Not an emergency. The car has 114K on it and rides and drives like new. The tires are not being eaten off or anything drastic. I just want to do the repair myself and not pay the guy 250 bucks for labor if the job is straight forward.

very straight forward. it's just a torx wrench and a 19mm wrench to remove the strut on the bottom end, and an allen bolt and an adjustable wrench to remove the nut on top, and of she goes. course you'll need new strut mounts and bumps stops along with the new struts themselves

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Not bad at all, did front bilsteins on my '87, not hard.

Awesome, thanks for the encouraging news.

The strut dampens SEV doesn't support the vehicle. The spring supports the vehicle, bump-stop limits upward travel from touching the plastic inner fender.

Read up buddy.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff