As long as I've had my '86 190d 2.5 5spd, the front suspension has bottomed out when I hit big bumps in the road. I recently had the tires balanced, and was told that my front tires had smacked the fender well so many times that they were out of round. They also told me I needed two new lower ball joints. Will replacing the lower ball joints alone help keep the front from bottoming out, or do I need new springs as well?

Off hand I would say springs to.
However, my only experience is with my Volvo that had a low ride hight with some bottoming out in the rear (going up driveways).
I replaced the rear springs and gained several inches of heigt and the Car Felt and handled better too.
Someone more experienced will have to tell you if the Ball Joints alone can cause your problem.
Also the FSM has specs for the Ride Height. If someone would post them this could give you a clue as to if the springs need replacing.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I would do a thorough inspection of the steering and suspension first, looking for any looseness. Assuming that the car seems to steer and brake smoothly, I would suggest zeroing in on the front struts. If they haven't been replaced that could be the problem. I would definitely recommend oem struts. Also, you will want to inspect the strut upper mounts. Pic attached.

Attached Files

201125 strut.zip (34.7 KB, 58 views)

Springs? Springs rarely need replacing. If your balljoints are effed, fixe them no matter what or you are just wasting your new tires. If someone did an alignment and you ball joints are effed I would demand a refund or atleast a re-alignment.

If you are bottoming out you need to start with your shocks. Are these stock wheels?

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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42

Sounds to me like an obvious problem of your shocks being worn out.

If you have put lowering springs or cut the springs it will greatly exacerbate the problem.

Stock MBs of this era have a huge amount of suspension travel.. too much really.

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

Bingo. Start with shocks.

The wheels can't hit the wheelwells unless something has been changed.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

The wheels and springs are stock, and no doubt, the shocks/struts are done. The questions is, buy new springs to go along with the ball joints, shocks/struts, and strut towers, or skip the new springs? How do I tell if the springs are shot?

I'm with 'mog - 185/65-15s on factory wheels can't hit the fender rim unless some suspension component is really messed up. If there's enough suspension travel that the tire is hitting the fender liner, you can't have proper control of the car. If the tire is hitting the fender rim, my guess is you have original looking wheels with the wrong offset. Pull a wheel and confirm a 201 prefix part number and 6J15H2 size. I don't know what the offset should be for 201 but probably 30mm or so.

Sixto
87 300D

I just put new shocks all around on my 240 and they lifted it up a good 3 inches.

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1981 240D 143k 4 spd manual -SOLD

2004 VW Jetta TDI 5 speed 300k -still driven daily