I just bought a 96 E300, I am going to check the spring perches soon, I was wondering what I should reseal the coating with when I peal it off? Hopefully it is something I can just pick up a local parts store. I am going to cross my fingers that they are ok. 115,000 and its lived in California its life, but from what I have read that may not matter.

Then my question is if there is no service bulletin then why would a dealership inspect this item? I asked the service manager over a year ago about this and he told me that he had never heard of such a problem. Granted in my dealings with this person on prior issues I take his word with a few pinches of salt.

That's what I would do.

You can buy undercoating in a spray can in pretty much any auto part store. However, don't put undercoating directly on a rusted surface as it won't adhere. POR15 or a similar product would be a much better choice in that case. POR15 can also adhere to a non-rusted surface if it's properly prepped. That's probably what I would use to reseal the perch if it's still good.

My dealership told me the same thing. At first they were in complete denial that such a problem could even exist. A bit later they just said they'd never heard of this problem but they agreed to look at my car. Since I had already peeled off the undercoating, they could clearly see the problem, but they still didn't want to do anything about it. I think it took like a week or so before they agreed to pay for half of the expense of repairing this problem as a "good-will gesture". Grudgingly I accepted after unsuccessfully pushing them to cover everything since it is a safety defect and bad design with which they disagreed.

I think one day this issue will bite DC hard because someone's going to get injured or killed and prosecutors will show that DC had prior knowledge of this problem and failed to issue a recall.

BTW here's a part of that Canadian (I think) technical service bulletin on this issue.

MBUSA called my dealership and they are paying for half the repair of the perch.

What did it land up costing to have it done?

About $600 for parts and labor.

My 1997 E320 is still at the dealer picked body shop to have both sides done. I brought there on Tuesday (it is Friday now).

The Canadian recall is for 1996 - 2000 W210 except 4Matic. That does not mean others won't have this problem.

MBUSA is only paying 50% for my repair. The body shop cost is about $1400 for both sides. A front end alignment is needed after the repair for another $150 - 200. So I am looking to pay for about $800. They give me a lowner to drive for now.

I am not a "good" customer because I do not go there for service or repair. They sometimes pay 100% for "good" customers. Also I heard that if they completely fail (spring pops out), MBUSA also pays 100%.

They looked OK but once I peeled the sealer, there was a lot of surface rust at the time. The passenger side was much worse in my case.

I strongly recommend to have both sides done. They will eventually fail. I also believe MBUSA eventually will have to recall in the USA. At that time, we can ask the 50% back.

I assume that was for one side only?

Yes, the other side was fine.

I haven't visually checked but for a few years now there's been an audible "Clunk" from the driver's side wheel area when I make a left turn onto a downhill road on my daily trip home from work. My tech has looked all over the suspension system and can't find anything. Is it possible that the Spring Perch issue could be causing that? I've also got the "60 MPH" vibration and have had the lower control arm bushings replaced but it didn't fix it. It does lessen significantly after driving the car for a while but I've got a checking problem on the front tires. Don't know if any of this is related but figured I'd put all the symptoms out there.

Thanks,

I don't think so. Mine never had those issues and was tearing. check the perches and see if they are tearing off.