I had the lower ball joints replaced by someone who had the special tool.

Here is an interesting one I ran into: For the guide rod mounts, I used the Lemsförder OEM parts. When I torqued down the bolts going into the slide-in nut (the one that is in a bracket that slides into the body), the bolt would get stuck with a gap by the bushing. I then tried to tap the sliding nut, and in one case succeeded with great difficulty, while in another case I broke the vise holding the nut to the bench. I installed the nut with the bolt that was good, only to realize to my horror that when torquing down I was crushing the metal in the big rubber bushing holding the elbow in place.

So I got genuine real Mercedes parts, the gold colored ones. Tried the whole assembly again, and it worked correctly on the first try.

Be careful about what parts you use, especially with the guide rod mounts!

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Henry Bofinger
1989 560 SEL (black/black)
2001 Audi TT Roadster (silver/grey)