Built in the factory next door to the Chinese tire company and down the street from the poison pet food place.

MB Cats are just as crap as aftermarket. I had one cat go on me at around 80,000 miles, so the tech replaced it with an aftermarket cat. 3 months later, the car ran like crap again and it seemed to be the cats. When the muffler shop pulled everything apart, they found that the pre cat (also MB part) disintegrated and destroyed my new one.

It turns out that the right side cat on these cars has a known issue and ofcourse, no recall.

I replaced them both with another set of after market and have had no problems in the last 30k miles.

[QUOTE=Zeus;1548781]
The main cat on my 300E lasted over 300,000 Kms. Don't think an aftermarket would have done as well.
/QUOTE]

Hmmmm,.... wanna see one with 400k + km on it, that still passes e-tests with flying colors? ;)

I just replaced mine after 320000 miles (approx 500000 kms). And, if it were not for oil burning, it would still be going.

Well the OEM exhaust on my 190E rusted through and went banging down Old Greensboro Road in Tuscaloosa after 120,000 miles, and we know that the cats on the 210's and 163's (if not others) have extremely high failure rates. So much for something magical about MB exhaust parts.

Much as I would like to keep my car 100% stock, I'm not paying a 700% markup just to keep some extra Swabians on the payroll if I don't have to.

You cruel SOB,......they brew the best beer in the world. :D