I understand struts to be long planks of steel that were not used on my car. As far as I know, my car (the wrecked SD) uses Bilstein shock absorbers and metal coil springs.

Now does the term "struts" have a generic usage that may refer to (up/down) shock absorbers and springs.

Based on my non perfunctory observations over the years, struts were never used on MBZ past at least 1977...I have always seen shocks/springs.

I know this is a potentially silly topic but I wanna clear this up. Thx.

oops, meant to post this in Open Disc. Another blunder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacPherson_strut not sure if there are buncha different types of struts but that is a good place to start.

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

Leaf springs and struts are not the same thing

Just for others reading

Technically I believe a "STRUT" is a load bearing suspension component, in other words supporting the spring. It's also a convenient place (for the manufacturer) to house a shock. Personally I dislike having to replace a shock on a strut suspension.

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'83 240D with 617.952 and 2.88
'01 VW Beetle TDI
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD
'89 Toyota 4x4, needs 2L-T
'78 280Z with L28ET - 12.86@110
Oil Burner Kartel #35

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b1...oD/bioclip.jpg

A strut is a suspension-locating component, that controls movement of a component along the strut's length. It is typically implemented as a piston, that is designed with sufficient strength to withstand the twisting forces imparted on the end of the piston (that attaches to the hub).

As such, its function is typically combined with others: shock absorbers that are used as struts (i.e., the shock absorber IS the strut) are heavily fortified to resist twisting forces. A spring is also typically integrated into this component, as in a Macpherson strut.

One advantage of the strut design is that the suspension location points on the chassis are located relatively far apart, which results in lower stresses at those points, and hence the opportunity to use relatively softer bushings. A Macpherson strut also presents a compact package, especially for front-wheel-drive cars. One disadvantage of the strut design is limited camber control, since the hub is forced to travel along the length of the strut.

As an aside, the Benz front struts on a 201 do not have integrated springs. On a BMW Macpherson strut, the (integrated) springs are offset from the center to counteract the twisting forces imparted by the hub, which would normally cause "stiction" on the strut.