I just replaced one of the tie rods on my 220D today. The reason being that the rubber boot on an end I put on it ten months ago (December 2013) encountered total failure.

The tie rod end that I used was a Lemforder unit. I had two of them, and put one of them on. Here is a picture of the other (unused) one, next to the one that spent ten months on my car:



The metal is badly pitted and the rubber boot has completely rotted. It is absolutely the worst part that I have ever put on a vehicle.

[EDIT by CTD on 19 OCT 2014] Some members have credibly suggested that this could be a counterfeit part. With that in mind, I advise you to examine with extra care any parts you purchase from seemingly reputable companies. If there's no embossing/logo on the rubber, and no logo cast or stamped into the steel assembly, send it back!

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Some questions.

Do either of the Lemforder rod ends have an owl in a triangle on the boot and stamped on the rod end body?

Was this a inner or outer rod end that had a failed boot?

Was any of the area washed down with brake or other cleaner?

Were these parts purchased from a known vendor or e bay , craigslist or similar?

Most aftermarket steering parts are not painted no matter the brand, I'd hardly call what you are seeing heavily pitted.

Also, Lemforder is OE for Mercedes along with TRW.

You raised an interesting thought there regarding the presence of the Lemforder logo on the part. I could not find it anywhere on the tie rod end that I took off of the car. But then I gave the unused one a close look, and noticed that the logo had been laser-etched into the bottom of the metal part:


Here's a picture of an older Lemforder tie rod end (with a rubber boot that's still good by the way):

This tie rod end was painted, and the logo was cast into the metal part and embossed onto the rubber as well.

Also a few more pictures of the flaking rust on the failed tie rod end. Bear in mind that this part was in my car for less than one year. While this rust wouldn't impact the functionality of the part, it nevertheless speaks poorly of its quality. Just a few more salty winters and those threads would be gone.



And here's a close look of the rubber boot, which completely failed:



The older, orange-painted Lemforder part held up just fine. Same with the other Moog tie rod that I put on the other side of my car a year ago. But this newer Lemforder one was a piece of garbage. It seems they have made cost cutting measures that have substantially hurt the quality of these parts. I will never buy them again.

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Where did you buy the Tie Rod Ends From?
On the Box where does it say the part was made?

Bosch has even been putting Holigrapic Stickes on their Glow Plug Boxes due to the poliferation of fakes and the real Bosch Glow Plugs at abut $9 are a low cost part.

One of the ebay sellers ("the big babo" in one of the threads) has even been know to send a used Part in a Lemfoerder Box.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

It's looking like you got a counterfeit part in a legitimate box. Where did you get it?





I'm sorry.

Legit parts are stamped, not laser etched, and the boot has an emblem on it.

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Peach Parts W124.128 User Group.

80 280SL
85 300SD
87 300TD
92 300D 2.5 Turbo
92 300TE 4Matic

That's interesting. I never thought that folks would come up with the tooling just to make fake tie rod ends for these old cars, but I guess you never know. The older Lemforder tie rod ends were all stamped--and they had boots with embossing on them as well.

I was surprised at how low the quality of this part was though. I had thought that Lemforder was a good brand. Perhaps any other people on here who got Lemforder tie rods/ends within the past couple years can chime in?

that's not a real lemforder part. who knows WHAT that could be. i've never seen such poor quality, even out of a uro part, it looks like its been on your car for 30 years. lemforder IS a good brand, and real lemforder parts are one of the few things you should be using for such critical parts as suspension and steering...

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1981 NA 300D 310k miles

For the third time, where did you purchase this tie rod end from?

Is that the way it came in the box (the way you show it in the pic)?

Or was there a plastic protector covering the boot?

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Will you tell us where this tie rod end was purchased from?

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Earl F. Allen
Slidell, LA
1975 450SL
1982 240D daily driver
1984 300D new daily driver

I'm starting to wonder if the "failed" part is older than 10 months.

The rust is a non issue and will occur with any unpainted steering component regardless of manufacturer. Most replacement parts are not painted.

The rubber boot is very deteriorated to the point I think there might be an exhaust leak baking the boot it it is an inner. If not, I wonder if calcium chloride / brine / other stuff that has been mixed road salt will attack rubber, it makes a huge mess of steel.

It's a real part; it's just not Lemfoerder. It's actually more like a Yugo with a Mercedes star scratched on the hood. Yugo was already making a car and selling it as a poor quality item up front. Someone else had the idea of passing it off as something else to make some dishonest money off the deal. We're begging you to tell us who so we can hopefully limit how many more times it happens, and maybe even help get your money back.

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Peach Parts W124.128 User Group.

80 280SL
85 300SD
87 300TD
92 300D 2.5 Turbo
92 300TE 4Matic

One of the things that can happen is someone can simply buy an existing aftermarket Tie Rod and Laser etch the Logo on it.
There is also no reason why the Box could not be faked.

I was thinking about this as I was drivng.
If you put a Logo on a part you want it to be clearly visable. The Laser etched Tie Rod in the Pic the Logo is poorly defined.
The next thing is the orignal Lemfoerder Tire rod has the has the Logo stamped into part of the Tie rod when that circular Plate is made. There does not seem to be a good reason to change that.

If you make the circular Plate blank with no Logo you need to add a seperate operation to Laser etch the Plate. Why do that wen the Logo can be appled at the same time the Plate is made?

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Wow.....auto correct has terrible grammer

Where does this quoted reply fit AT.

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Peach Parts W124.128 User Group.

80 280SL
85 300SD
87 300TD
92 300D 2.5 Turbo
92 300TE 4Matic