Over the Counter Tie Rod Bushings
 

So when I first got my W123 I had a loud clack that sounded off whenever I turned my steering wheel in turns. I promptly replaced all the tie rods and track rods and arms and whatever related to the steering assembly and that killed the noise real well. Unfortunately, being new to my 300D and for that matter buying parts, I was very naive and I bought URO Parts rods and arms with bushings. Its been about two years now and there's no clack, but two of my tie rod bushings are cracked and collapsed. I was at a local autowerk store and I found over the counter polyurethene bushings that I could just slap on in between, or so I think.

Has anyone tried these before on a W123? Are they worth my time and money or should I just replace the tie rod ends with new ones and go get alignment after? Also is UROPARTS as bad as some claim?

Assuming you mean the tie rod end "boot", sure polyurethane will work and last longer. Indeed, I routinely install them on new tie rod ends and ball joints, instead of the thin rubber ones that come with them (not just Euro brand). If the ball is still tight and you see no rust, I would just wipe out most of the old grease, re-grease, and reboot. I think the primary purpose of the grease is to keep out moisture, but it also lubricates.

URO (aka APA) items are generally what shops call "economy" parts. There are lots of economy brands on the market now, frankly it's more like a flood -- for all makes of car. Even brands that were once fairly reputable (e.g., Meyle) have fallen victim to the need for greed (Chinese manufacturing with no quality control standards).

"Economy" is a quality that a shop will spec just to get work (where they feel the customer is chasing price and will go elsewhere if they spec good quality parts for the job), or if the customer is fixing to sell their old car, will offer to save the customer money -- knowing the car may be back in as little as six months for the job to be redone.

I only use URO for non-safety related installs, where no other alternative happens to be available at the time and the dealer item is prohibitively pricey. For example I have installed two of their door checks strap assemblies. One is now making the early noises of failure after about two years (a quality door check would last at least five years or more).

That all being said, it's up to you to decide.

List member Diesel911 installed their upper control arm/balljoint assemblies on his w123 before he joined this group and I think they are still doing fine many years later.

OTOH, another list member installed their flex discs on his 560sel and they both failed, pushing the driveshaft up through the floor and setting off the airbags... thereby effectively writing off a car he had just put a pile of money into. Not to mention it isn't really good to have your driveshaft coming up to say hi while you are behind the wheel.

I would never, ever install any steering or brake components from URO or any "off" brand.

Even non-safety URO parts are to be avoided.
I bought an antenna mast just to try it out. After only one winter the center section was completely rusted and broke shortly after.
The originals have a stainless center section and therefore worth paying extra for.

I installed URO upper control arms (Boots have cracked on it), lower control arm bushingsm, rear stabalizer bar links (the plastic ones) and Mortor Mounts which after several years I needed to replace with Lemforder motor mounts.

While I have URO ball joints I never used them as my Car already had lemforder ball joints on it (don't know if they are stock or not) and are still OK. I did use the plastic boots frim the URO ball joints as the lemforder ones got damaged.

The reason I ended up with the URO parts is that the worn lower control arm bushings were causing fast excessive tire wear. I needed to get the car back on the road as fast as possible as it was the only car my Wife could drive as it has an auto trans.
I did not know what other parts I was going to end up needing so I bought a FPC Groton cmplete front end kit.
As it turned out all of the parts were URO parts.

Good god that is terrifying! Aye ay yai. I still have the original mercedes steering assemblies, but all their boots and bushings are cracked torn and smooshed. Shoukld I reinstall them with polyurethane over?

Hey what brand poly should I use? Does anyone know if they have specific sizes or specs too?

I got some cheap Tie rod ends a year ago. Not URO but some other cheap equivalent. They were so cheap I figured I couldn't lose. A year in the boots cracked and fell apart. I rebooted with these cheap poly urethane boots called Poly Boots that I found on eBay. They were cheap. I think I got four boots for $12 shipped. They shipped from Eastern Europe.

For my SD I suggest the 12mm X 27mm. I bought one size bigger and they were. Touch loose.