For the past few months i've been knowing that my suspention system has been going bad that's why I decided to stop driving it...

About a month ago I needed to get to work real bad and had no ride because of how early it was. Well I figured my 300E could take one more trip. WRONG

The drive over on the highway was the most scary thing I have ever encountered. The whole car was wobbling and I rejoiced when I got to work!

Lets just say that was a one way trip, when I got done, I hopped in my car ready to take on the drive home, i backed out of my parking spot turned the wheel back and started to drive. At that time the front right end of my poor 300E dropped to the ground and started to tear up the parking lot.

Lets just say I knew exactly what happened, my balljoint had rusted thru and couldn't hold the force of the spring anymore.

The way I see it is that the Mercedes wanted to break down before I got on the highway (which was 50ft away). Smart Car

Dumb driver for not having the money in time. But I just got to watch my poor baby being towed off the the shop about 2 hours ago and I'm looking forward to having her back in a few days.

Now that I explained my story, could anything else have been damaged in the accidient? The control arm is a little scrapped up, but it seems like it's going to be fine. Also I have many linkaged is the back that need replacing (metal on metal), could history repeat itself in the back end? It seems like the only way I could keep that car up is if I won the lottery!

Anywho, thanks for your help and I hope this story made you laugh a bit

I think you need to sell that car and buy something you can afford before you kill someone. You took a great risk driving that car on a public road and exposing innocent drivers when you knew the car was unsafe. You commented on the tuned sport muffler and how great it sounded. In my opinion you should have spent the money on safety items.

Peter

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Auto Zentral Ltd.

Hey, I had the balljoint pop off as I was backing out of my garage in my 190e. I think that when you are turning the wheels while driving slowly, or not even moving the car puts alot more stress on the suspension parts then if you were on main street going 35mph when you turn. The bottom of the control arm was resting on the inside lip of the wheel. I ended up replacing the whole control arm and balljoint though, as the bushings on the lower arm were deteriorated and rusting

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1986 Mercedes 190e 2.3

A car in the condition you describe should immediately be taken out of the road until proper repairs are carried on.
Can you only imagine what would have been the consequences of your breakdown if it had happened on the highway. Get that car off the road before something very bad happens.
JackD

Pete:

While I understand your thinking, I can assure you that the stresses on suspension "in motion" are exponentially greater than those experienced in a parking lot. A wheels that "weighs" 15lbs at rest will "appear to weigh" about 100lbs at 100mph... (Remember, E=mc2 - mass isn't as important as velocity, which multiplies mass...)

-David
92 500sel
93 ZX11

E=mc^2 has to do with mass converted to energy at the atomic level???

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I love my cars to death but my wallet sure doesn't.

If you notice in his first post- he already said that the automobile was towed to the shop for repairs.

Perhaps you can sell the Sable and use that money to make some of the necessary repairs that this car requires at this time.

Good luck.

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2004 Toyota Sequoia Limited 4wd
1991 Lincoln Town Car Executive
1991 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1988 Mercedes 300SEL
1972 Chevrolet Caprice Kingswood Estate 9-passenger wagon
1973 Pontiac Grand Ville
(Prior MB's: 1974 240D, 1985 380SE, 1984 190D, 1993 400SEL)

Why is it much more harder to turn a steering wheel of a car without power steering when it's parked then when it's moving? I would expect the harder the wheel is to turn, the harder it must be on other components of the steering, as well as the lower balljoint that has broken. unless I'm over looking something........

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1986 Mercedes 190e 2.3

For simple reasons of physics, most steering components fail at low speeds, often in parking or just starting out. Good thing, too, visions of tie rods coming off at highways speeds gives me nightmares.

Stress on the steering components is a factor of the pressure needed to move them. At low speeds, considerable movement is needed to change directions, so, and more force is needed when the wheels aren't turning. More direction change = more leverage, too. Quite common for the W108s to "pop" the bolts on the steering box through the frame parking, almost never happens on the road since you aren't prying hard on it. Much more force applied turing the wheels stationary that hitting a pot hole, much more so if the steering damper is in good shape.

Never drive a "wobbly" car -- fun things like the wheel falling off (which DOES happen more at high speed!), springs falling out, ball joints separating, etc can ruin your whole day.

No one ever said a Benz was cheap to maintain. I still believe they are good value for the money, and worth what I spend on them, but cheap, no. You want cheap, buy a Toyota about four years old, drive it to 150,000 miles a dump it. Nissan too, maybe Honda. Maintenance on those cars is oil changes, you may not even need brakes, but they are NOT a Benz in any way, shape, or form.

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

[QUOTE=Chris17H]
Now that I explained my story, could anything else have been damaged in the accidient? The control arm is a little scrapped up, but it seems like it's going to be fine.
[QUOTE]
Been there, done that. If you were going really slow (like my wife was), odds are good nothing was damaged. It can only pop out when the end of travel is reached, and spring pressure is transferred to the balljoint. That is why they tend to pop at low speeds. Speed bumps got mine.

If you were going fast enough, it could have bent the control arm and/or CA mounting brackets, among other things...

Anyways, get both sides done, including CA bushings.

Just another warning note to anyone listening: Check your balljoints! If they are worn, do not wait around for them to kill you. Learn from our mistakes. Imagine if this happened cresting a hill at speed...

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1986 300E 5-Speed 240k mi.

I am not trying to defend myself, but this was the only way I could have gotten to work in the amount of time I had. Good thing is, it was a quite Sunday morning.

The Sables transmission blew last year (cracked piston I believe), I havn't updated my info in awhile. The car can only be used for parts, which just means I need to get it towed to a junkyard and get some money for it.

Oh and about my muffler, I got it over 2 years ago when the car was in good shape.

Also, I have been looking for a new/used cars, mainly looking at new Mazda6 s. I want a new/used car that I can rely on and right now I'm getting the Mercedes fixed and giving it to my younger brother (it will be safe when he drives it!)

I'm just taking my time to make sure I get something i'm going to like for awhile.

Thanks for all the responses, even the negative ones...