w210 Front Suspension Collapse
 

Well, it happened. Fortunately I was stopped at a stop light and not flying down the highway at the time. The front of the car just dropped like I had driven into a huge pothole. The front spring on the drivers side was lying on the ground under the car and the tire is now holding the front end up.
Got towed to the local dealer which was only about 3 miles away. I'll have to wait until the open on Monday to see what they say but I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this who might let me know what to expect re repairs, what's involved, cost (rough estimates), etc.

Thanks.

Some folks have gotten MB to pay part of the repair.

Repair is installation of a new spring perch attached using 4(?) steel rivits and resealing the udnercoating after getting rid of any rust present. Usually work is done by a good body or frame shop.

The other side should ovbiously be examined closely.

It's amazing how they always seem to go at slow speed. You still have a smiley face next to your E430. It's just beyond me how anyone could own a 210 chassis knowing that this is going to happen eventually.

Smilie face is gone, but I still like the car. I have not had to pay for anything other than regular service in the almost 5 years I've had it. Assuming this doesn't break the bank it won't have been a bad run with this car at all. I do realize what could have happened had this failure happened at speed and I am grateful to be OK.

I have found other instances on the web where MB Canada has covered half of the fix, so I will let you know how that goes. I do have the service receipt from 1.5 years ago where I took the car in and paid an hours worth of labour just to have the suspension checked over. They said I was OK at the time.

In Canada, it was an official recall.

It is in the USA where MBUSA only pays 50% to "bad" customers. Mine were replaced before failure and MBUSA paid 50%. I do not have the car service at MB dealers so I am a"bad" customer, according to the service advisor at the dealer.

so you were stopped at a light, just sitting there, and the wheel fell off the car? wow...that's worth noting...sorry about that

No. The upper perch sheared, the spring dislodged and the car settled down on top of the front tire.

That is exactly what happened. I had it towed into the MB body shop and they put it up on the lift. I wish I had remembered that my phone had a camera in it so I could have snapped a shot of it, but it was pretty nasty looking. The good news is that they will fix it by tomorrow afternoon and it will only cost about $300. I will also get the other side done. It is intact, but showing rust. That's another $300. The bad news is that MB says they will not pay anything given the age of the car. But at that price it is not too big a deal.

How many miles on the car?

Have an attorney send them a letter "requesting" they pay for the repairs.

+1 on this good advice.

Also you may need an alignment with all the work.