Ball joint failure on W124 - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Tasma · #16 03-10-2012, 02:52 PM

You are lucky you found the problem before it snapped. Mine ruined the fender and tire.
This post confirms my thinking that this design can potentially cause problems for people that are taking care of their cars and are concerned about safety.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shertex

Memory steer....exactly! I was going round and round trying to figure out why my 91 300D, less than 100K miles, would not self center. All kinds of suggestions: alignment, steering damper, etc... Turned out to be ball joints, even though there was none of the typical creaking and even though, upon visual inspection, they looked fine.

Renntag · #17 03-10-2012, 03:00 PM

Wow. So glad nothing worse happened.

Compu 85: Shame there appears to be body damage on your very clean looking W124.

After reading this, I will now check our records to see when our last Ball Joint replacement was on our 87 TD. I seem to remember a similar service in the last couple years.

This seems to be something worth checking annually. Thanks for sharing Tasma.

balge · #18 03-10-2012, 03:53 PM

I am wondering about the efficacy of adding another 'boot' of some kind to protect the ball-joint seal? Any thoughts from the house?

cheers!

btw I believe the problem is that if a ball joint goes, the only thing holding the wheel on is the shock absorber, which isn't true of all cars?

compu_85 · #19 03-10-2012, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Renntag

Compu 85: Shame there appears to be body damage on your very clean looking W124.

It was a friend's car I was borrowing for the week, and yes, it did screw up the mostly clean fender

It made a fun BANG when it let go

-J

shertex · #20 03-10-2012, 07:27 PM

My indie swears by the actual MB part on this....$50 a piece, but I'm glad to pay it. Although I'm sure Lemforder, etc. are good.

shertex · #21 03-10-2012, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by engatwork

This is an interesting thread. I have two E300's. One has 240k and the other is around 290k. The boots look good on the ball joints and there is no noise or other operational issues. Is there any warning prior to failure? I'm thinking that cars from the dryer, no salt climates don't present as many issues like this as cars from up north.

My only symtom was that the steering would not self center.

pawoSD · #22 03-10-2012, 09:15 PM

I've only used Lemforder joints and other suspension parts exclusively and have had 0 issues. Its the cheap china or off brand junk that fails rapidly.

diesel friend · #23 03-11-2012, 12:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pawoSD

I've only used Lemforder joints and other suspension parts exclusively and have had 0 issues. Its the cheap china or off brand junk that fails rapidly.

bought the lower ball joints from a MB dealer and they were made by TRW,
hopefully not in China

Tasma · #24 03-11-2012, 01:15 PM

You are quite right viewing it from this perspective. Mercedes is not to blame really other than by default. These cars are built so well they last long enough to fall into the hands of people that can't really afford the best service at MB dealers.
When looking at this from a purely engineering view where things need to be optimized it makes a lot of sense. The ball inline with the upper strut shaft keeps the wheel orientation correct as it turns. This design also reduces the unsprung weight which is also good. Both of these things improve handling.

Now many years later these cars are still in sevice and aftermarket companies that have no interest in the Mercedes engineering details come along selling parts that I am sure do not meet the MB specification.
So it just boils down to something nobody really has control over and that is a shame.
There are plenty of examples of ball joints failing this way from other car makers as well. The lower right ball is the one that fails most often.

Quote:

Originally Posted by raysorenson

I'm sorry this happened to you.

Your argument that typical ball joint orientation on a modified strut front end, which is also typically shared by Mcpherson strut front ends, is inexcusably unsafe does not square with the track record of the bazillions of vehicles on the road with like ball joint setups.

Tasma · #25 03-11-2012, 04:48 PM

I got the car to a position that I could work on it today. After taking off the wheel I could see the ball and socket and found no grease that I could feel.
The ball had flat sides on it and the socket had straight edges. I dont' understand how this could not have made noise. Perhaps soft metal doesn't groan.

Defective workmanship for sure.