300TD Rear End

[DFisher]

Several years ago I purchased a 1987 300TD wagon. This is a great car, and I use as my primary vehicle.

One problem -- It took the car about a year to rip up a set of rear tires (worn out the insides of the tires). I took it to dealer, who told me to replace the rear springs and the self-leveling mechanism. The cost quoted was about $1600.

Due to the high cost, I took it to a local independent Mercedes mechanic for another opinion. He agreed that the rear springs were worn out and that the rear self-leveling mechanism was totally shot. He also said that he thought that the rear wheels needed a little aligning (by a frame shop). He suggested that (in light of the fact that I do not use the car for heavy loads) I take a "wait and see" approach with the rear self-leveling mechanism, thinking that was not contributing to the tire problem.

So, at a much lower price (like $500), he replaced the rear springs and had a frame shop adjust the alignment. Since then, I have driven the car for about a year and put maybe 10k miles on it. The repair seems to have done the trick and fixed the tire-wear problem. However, it seems to have affected the handling of the car. That is, sometimes when I hit bumps in the road, the rear end of the car feels like it pulls to one side or the other, like I was towing a trailer that was starting to fishtail.

The issue does not seem bad enough to cause a loss of control, but feels just a little squirrelly and I would like it fixed. Before I throw $600 or $700 into fixing the rear self-leveling mechanism, I would appreciate opinions as to whether the broken self-leveler could cause or contribute to the handling problem? Any other ideas of how to address it?