Shock longevity: mileage Vs age ?
 

My C280 1997 has around 48K miles. (mostly on highways)
Despite the relatively low mileage it has been manufactured 10 years ago.
I wonder if this fact is relevant and how it combines with the mileage.
Besides curiosity, the reason I am asking is that I really like its ride and think of improving it to a "like new" feeling by changing the 4 shocks + steering shock.
I would hate do discover later that nothing changed and that I wasted my money.
The shocks clearly have a long way ahead. My doubt is the degree of degradation of their specs as compared to new ones.
Comments and real experience are most welcome.
Jorge
PS: My plan is to replace stock shocks for stock shocks. (no HD, Sport, lowering, etc)

Answer:
 

The industry standard is ten years or 100000 miles.

Today an engineer who designs products that last longer is generally demoted or fired.

Between 60k and 90k is when most fail in hard service, ten years and they should be junk regardless of miles.




Have a great day.

Do the bounce test to verify things, but, even though I didn't know the "industry standard", I always said 10 years or 80k miles should about wear a shock out. There's a lot of bang for the buck when you change your shocks - ride will be like it was back in 1997.

"Bang for the Buck?"
 

That's for sure: had Les Schwab replace the shocks on the '88 420SEL with their house brand (= Gabriel Gas Supreme) for $175, Lifetime Parts & Labor Warranty.

What a difference! Couldn't really tell if the old ones were actually the OE, but @ 19 years & 174K it is not going to keep me awake.

Cheers!

Does the 10 year 100,000 miles life expectancy apply to the rear shocks on the TE ? They are not leaking and the ride is still pretty good. Those shocks are big bucks.:eek:

Good question. I'm thinking they can last much longer if they don't leak and still work fine with new accumulators. I've installed new bellows on mine as well as new bumpstops. My 92 TE has about 147K miles on it.

Thanks for the quick & precise support.
This forum is outstanding.
Now I am totally decided to do the replacement.
The cost/benefit of it became clear and is VERY attractive.
Jorge

i would be surprised if they are worn out.

unless they are not as good as bilsteins on th 123 and 126s.

now the tires are another matter. i would suspect them before the shocks.

tom w

OEM Sachs do not last like you would think. The post about 80-90k is correct. I did mine with new Bils. HDs at 140k, and 3 were leaking. I realized after changing them that, aside from the stiffer ride with the HDs, some general shock-dependent ride characteristics were corrected, issues that I had experienced since - you guessed it - about 80k.

I should have done them 60k ago. They weren't horrendous, but new ones made me realize what I was missing

I might add that I didn't think the rears were an issue like the fronts, but the rear sits an inch higher now, and looks like it should. They were obviously failing.

also........bounce test doesn't apply to 202s. Ask a tech. If it bounces, you're probably 100k overdue for shocks!

Mine didn't bounce at all from my test, though 3 shocks were leaking

hmm, at first i thought most of you guys are throwing away perfectly fine shocks at 80-90k miles!! well it's your own money so more power to you if you think they are shot that fast. i mean, i see so many non-german cars (with undoubtedly far inferior shocks) go over 200k on factory shocks.

but reading these posts makes me think otherwise?? i might consider getting new shocks on my car soon

if they are sachs shocks i have no experience with them.

only bilstein and boge.

what i said only applies to bilstein. i had poor experience with the boges.

tom w

all the standard 202s (not sure about AMGs) come with Sachs. I would imagine this applies to 210s and any of the same-era card as well. I guess MB got cheap in the 90s. I don't plan on replacing these Bilsteins for the next 20 years, based on what I know about them!

Oh you can run the original shocks 200k-300k miles. They won't cause the car to be unsafe to drive for a very long time, in that case you can use the bounce test. But ride quality will have started to go down hill dramaticaly after about 100k miles, but most people either don't notice or care. Since you guys seem to be talking about the newer cars, the PO on my friends W210 had all four done at just over 100k miles.

My 92 300E with 168K miles still has the original Sachs on it. My mechanic says they're fine. I haven't driven another 300E so I don't have a point of comparison.

At any rate, I've been studying suspensions for 2 months now and finally decided that the Sportline upgrade was the best bet. I decided to start with the Sachs replacements.

This UK thread on a W202 Suspension Setup helped me make up my mind to go this route. Check it at:

http://mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=11872&page=3&highlight=sachs

I'll find out in a week or so.