I don't know if its possible on the W210 or not but on a W123 you can drive the rear of the car on ramps and then you have enough room to remove the shock from below without bothering to remove the wheels. Much safer and easier than pitting the car on jacks. Again I am not familiar with the rear suspension on the later cars.

I don't know how the rear shock can be removed while the wheel still on the ground.

The shock keeps supporting the weight so how you remove the nut and bolt mounting the shock to the lower control arm?

On my W201 I don't think there is enough room (slightly more modern suspension than my W123) to remove the old let alone struggle with a healthy new one (putting it in)!

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

The spring supports the weight, not the shock.

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Prost!

That is the case for struts but not shocks.

vr2whf, drive the rear wheels onto ramps or jack up the rear wheels and place several 2x6 pieces of wood under rear wheels so the rear tires are bearing the weight of the car, and the car is elevated sufficiently so you can work on the rear shock attachment to the control arm.

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Fred Hoelzle