advice on renewing 20 year old suspension

[John R. Boyce]

Our 1983 280SL is now over 20 years oid, and I suspect that all of the suspension pieces are original. The car drives ok, and has only 85,000 miles, but I'm thinking that it might be a good idea to have some parts replaced before spring to bring the ride and handling up to spec.

I would appreciate any advice or suggesions from other 107 owners on what to do (and what not to do). I don't think I'll try to do any of the work myself.

Certainly four new shocks would seem appropriate, and I want to replace the differential mount, to try and quiet some of the noise we hear on light throttle application.

Is there a list of the rubber suspension/steering bushings that should be replaced on a car of this age? That would help me in ordering parts.

Is this the kind of work that a good independent shop can do? The shop works on all kinds of imports, but we're a long way from any kind of MB specialist shop.

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

John.

[lawrenceR]

I just did subframe mounts and engine mounts and they made an appreciable difference in my 86 560sl. 15 hours labour to drop the front subframe though. I did the oil pan gasket and oil level sensor oil ring at the same time. Might be hard to do yourself unless you have a hoist and transmission jacks etc. I also did ball joints and upper A arms which were expensive.
Because of the difficulty getting at these parts, I would just bite the bullit and do every thing at once.
Upper A arms, ball joints, tie rod ends, subframe bushes, engine mounts, shocks, spings, lower control arm bushes, steering shock, oil pan gasket, level sensor o ring, and have a look at the rear main seal while you are there.
It's a lot, but they will all need attention eventually, and it is way more efficient to do it at once.
Cheers, Lawrence.

[cbdo]

At the age of your car, and assuming nothing's been touched yet--
what he said.

You'll spend a bundle but it won't need anything more like this for years.

[Steve Gutman]

I agree with lawrence. Repalce all the rubber. I have been doing so and although most of the parts look okay, they are now hard as rocks.

Some things should be replaced together. eg: rear differential mount and rear sub frame bushings, engine mounts and transmission mounts.

I doubt the noise you hear is a differential mount. Have you ever changed the fluid? Therer is a special additive for limited slip to keep it quiet. Or it might be something else.

Ask Phil at partsshop to give you a list of the "body rubber"

[dpatterson]

Agree totally with all of the above. If you are looking to do only the minimum then replace the shocks, the subframe bushes front and rear and the engine mounts. These will give you the most noticeable improvements for the least amount spent - bang for your buck so to speak.