Anyone out where you live give free inspections? Or free alignment inspections? Take the car in to see if you can get an alignment. If anything needs replacement, they won't be able to align the front end and will tell you what needs to be replaced, if anything.

For ball joints (lower), I found a mechanic at a tire shop who knows how to change them, and said if bring the parts, he will change them for $60 per side. They have the pull/press, and he is used to working on MBZs, so, I'll probably go that route when I have the $$ to replace them.

There are other threads on how to do it in the DIY Articles.

__________________
1983 300D, the "Avocado"
1976 240D, 4-spd the "Pumpkin", SOLD to Pierre
1984 190D, 2.2L, 5-spd, my intro to MBZ diesels, crashed into in 2002