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#1
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Suspension wear - age or use?
I'm looking at a W201 with 73K miles. 1 owner, bought locally in '85 and was driven regularly throughout its life. Everything in the suspension feels fairly tight. Should I plan on having to replace all rubber and ball joints due to age or can I expect further service?
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You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime you just might find you get what you need. |
#2
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You could keep driving it until the rubber bits fall apart. And replace them as they fail. 28 year old rubber is due to fail from age. Or, you could replace everything now and not have to deal with it again. The additional benefit of replacing everything now is that the car will ride and handle as it was designed. |
#3
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Both wear and age are a factor with all rubber components. Its worse in dry climates.
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CENSORED due to not family friendly words |
#4
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Achtung - Das schweinhund baby benz thread Car has spent its life in Northern Europe
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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver 1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone 1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy! 1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits! |
#5
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Stretch, looks like you have more rubber than steel.
Charlie
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there were three HP ratings on the OM616... 1) Not much power 2) Even less power 3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast. 80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works |
#6
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I also would drive it till the one of the major Rubber Parts fails. At that point of Failure I would consider that the rest of them are neaing the end also and replace all of the Rubber Parts.
Best to repalce all the Rubber Suspension Parts aftar a Failure because normally you need to do an Alignment. More than a few Members have had an alignment done only to have anther Rubber Part Fail 6-12 months later ane mess up the alignment. The Ball Joints can be checked for wear and they don't usually suddenly fail. Why wait until something on the Suspension Fails. You can put a lot of Money into the Suspension and have something catastrophic like an Oil Cooler Hose leak and ruin the Engine or Flex Disc come apart (more Rubber Parts that need to be checked).
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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel |
#7
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Quote:
Sixto 87 300D |
#8
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Check for cracked grease boots and check the flex discs. Anything else failing will just feel weird, one of those failing could be catastrophic.
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1992 300D 2.5T 249k - Parked with a bad transmission 1981 300SD 142k - Daily driver |
#9
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Thanks for the advise. Like so many on this board, this isn't my first MB rodeo as I've done the front suspension and part of the rear on a different W201. I've never worked on one myself this age with this low of mileage so I wasn't sure what to expect. Was hoping to be able to drive a year or 2 to sort out the other odds and ins that always pop up before needing to jump into suspension work. Will be pulling the motor for a diesel rep owner and there's no easier time to access the steering components but if I can expect more life than 73K then I'll hold off.
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You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime you just might find you get what you need. |
#10
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If everything feels tight and there isn't any weird vibrations and you can visually see the the pays are fairly sound, then drive the $&#!? out of the car. 73k is really low. I didn't touch my ball joints until 230k+ or my lower control arm bushings. I'm now at 335k and once I get my transmission rebuilt I will do my rear suspension.
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1990 190E 3.0L |
#11
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The FSM should specify maintenance by mileage AND time. Plan on replacing all the rubber and do it up front rather than prolonging it. The entire rear end will cost lest than $500 with quality parts and is easily DIY requiring no special tools outside of the local autozoo. The front end requires a special spring compressor but costs substantially less. You may or may not find that you need shock/struts at such mileage.
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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg 1995 E420 Schwarz 1995 E300 Weiss #1987 300D Sturmmachine #1991 300D Nearly Perfect #1994 E320 Cabriolet #1995 E320 Touring #1985 300D Sedan OBK #42 |
#12
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Yes, one of my goals is to keep My Car from becoming a parts Car.
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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel |
#13
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Is that your new years resolution?
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