Hello everyone,

I am beginning to get quite stumped on troubleshooting my front end. I recently have replaced shocks, guide rod bushings, upper control arms, idler arm brushing repair, and steering shock. I’m beginning to think it’s tie rod ends, but would they make a “clunk” when traveling over certain bumps or deviations in the road? It’s almost a metal on metal clunk. I don’t feel much play if any at all on the ball joints, and everything appears to be relatively tight....just curious why it seems to have gotten worse after replacing several pieces.

Thank you,

Rick

Sway Bar bushings?
Lower Control Arm bushings?

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2008 E350 4matic / Black/Anthracite

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Gone but not Forgotten:
2001 E430 4matic, 206,xxx miles, Black/Charcoal
1995 E320, 252,xxx miles, Black/Grey
1989 260E, 223,00 miles, Black/Black

Sounds like ball joints to me. They carry the weight of the front end of the car, so not much clearance has to occur for them to make a lot of noise. Once you hear noise coming from them, they're done. They'll just get worse and worse as time goes on. Depending on how wet your climate is, their degradation can be fast or slow.

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Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

you left out lower ball joints when you did the uppers.

do it fast as fender can be screwed from over turning wheels

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran

Did you tighten up your shock absorbers?

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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).