brass clip
 

Been a while since I posted anything on either car - putting the roof back on my house and hanging new drywall fills my spare time these days.

I did brake rotors and pads on all four wheels on the Mercedes this past weekend, and found the small brass spring clip inside the front wheel bearing cap broken off on both wheels.

What is the proper name for this clip? I was searching Fastlane for it, and have no idea.

What is the function of the clip?

Thanks for the advice!

560SEL front wheel hub - brass clip
 

Added a better title, maybe someone will reply and help me out?

If this clip has a point in the center my guess is that it is an anti-static clip, which grounds any charge around the bearing instead of having the current leak across the rolling members of the wheel bearing. Current leakage across rolling elements is quick death for bearings.

It is an anti-static device. One (if not the only) of it's uses is to prevent "disruption" in electrical devices - anyone else know of any other reason for these?

"Contact spring" is the name of the part.

http://catalog.eautopartscatalog.com/mercedesshop/sophio/wizard.jsp?partner=mercedesshop&clientid=mercedesshop&baseurl=http://catalog.peachparts.com/&cookieid=1CT0KPBN21DI152ZLJ&year=1989&make=MB&model=560-SEL-001&category=K&part=Contact+Spring

I though they were for damping of wheel vibration, noise...maybe? :eek:

To allow the rotor to be grounded? Seems brake lining light sensor would require this, at least to operate well. Just a thought...

MV

My 190e 2.6 was driven for over a year without them. I forgot to get them when replacing rotors or something like that. Car operated fine without them but there was some noticable feedback from the radio (the kind that increases with the engine rpm's). Once they were replaced the noise subsided.