2013 C250 Front Strut Renewal - Preferred Product?
 

2013 M-B C250 (204.047) base model, 119K miles; used for routine city transportation.

Vehicle presents with sloppy handling, suggestive of the need for a left front shock absorber strut renewal, at the minimum. Physical inspection of the suspension components reveals no gross faults.

A shock-strut replacement from M-B (part # 204 323 26 00 64) retails for $320 and requires, according to Xentry Operation Time, 1.7 hr to remove/install the suspension strut and 0.83 hr to renew the suspension strut once removed from the vehicle.

Arnott Industries offers a complete Suspension Strut Assembly (Arnott Industries SK-3889) for a fraction of the cost of the Mercedes part; as the unit comes assembled, complete with coil spring, spring perch pads and ball bearings, no disassembly/reassembly time is required to renew the strut; the .83 hr labor is thus waived.

Anyone have experience with use of this Arnott suspension strut assembly? Given the vehicle's mileage, replacement of both front struts would be prudent but how is the overall ride quality once the factory components are renewed with Arnotts?

Who manufactures the Mercedes strut - Sachs? Bilstein? Should Bilstein be the preferred fallback?

Go with the Arnott assembly.

For OEM replacement I would go Bilstein. Arnott is fine but keep the receipts for their warranty. They are well established for air shock replacements for airmatic cars. Their quality (like many) seems to have slipped a bit on the air parts but a standard McStrut is kind of hard to screw up.

I had a similar problem with my 1988 190E 2.6 five-speed.

After visiting a friend in the mid-nineties he reported finding a puddle of oil on his driveway. My inspection revealed the right front strut failed. At the time mileage was in the mid-50,000 range, so off warranty in terms of both miles and time.

These deCarbon type high pressure gas shocks usually maintain their damping characteristics until end of life and then fail completely, and loss of gas pressure and oil is an obvious sign of failure.

A couple of years earlier at the MBCA Starfest event in Phoenix, I met an executive from Bilstein USA, had his card and gave him a call. He gave me the part number for the OE replacement strut, exactly the same as the MB part including the semigloss black color. The only minor differences were the lack of the small die stamped three point star on the MB replacement version and a Torx machined at the top of the strut rather than a metric hex. This has to be held firm with the correct tool while torqueing the retaining nut.

I don't know the details of your car's front suspension architecture, but my W 201 has what is called a modified MacPherson strut. Rather than the spring surrounding the strut it is located between the frame and control arm, like most upper/lower control arm designs. That means the strut can be changed without dealing with the spring.

So I ordered the Bilstein part and changed it by jacking the front end up, then resting it on jack stands under the front control arms, which allowed me to simply remove the strut nut and, I recall, just two bolts that attached the strut to the front steering knuckle.

The job didn't take more than an hour and for an experienced pro likely no more than 30 minutes.

So, assuming your OE shocks are Bilstein, or whoever the original supplier is, contact them for the OE replacement number, and if you don't feel comfortable with doing the job yourself get quotes from some independent Mercedes repair shops. This is likely a common job.

Here's another shout-out for Bilstein. Back in the early 2000s one of the Bilstein Sport Shocks I installed on my Cosworth Vega back in 1979 failed. I recalled they had a lifetime warranty, and I still had the receipt, so I gave the Bilstein office 120 miles south a me in San Diego a call and explained the situation.

They said send us all four and a copy of the receipt and we'll rebuild all four. I explained that I had a business reason to be in the San Diego area in a couple of weeks and would deliver them myself.

About a week later they arrived back at my house via UPS, no charge whatsoever. Now that's what I call a great company!

BTW the original LF front strut and the two rear shocks on my W201 along with the RF Bilstein replacement strut are still in place at 87,000 miles.

It's normal to replace common twin-tube shocks in pairs since they slowly deteriorate over their life. However since deCarbon type high-pressure type gas shocks typicaliy maintain their original damping characteristics until they complete fail at end of life, it's usually okay to replace them singly.

Duke

Yea, for some reason I was thinking air struts. Go with the Bilstein if available for application.