Trust me, you would be the one feeling relieved....:o

Seriously, thats a really bad bad mount, so if ya gotta drive it go really steady!
Pscho is my son, and we have done a few of these... I did the fronts on my 190D in an hour, from wheel up to wheel down, inc making and drinking a coffee... Report back on how it went and which Gift cards you are sending us all for saving you a ton of money... without switching to Gecko..;)

Thanks :D I will make sure to keep you posted.

If you're in a hurry though...
 

I was going to do struts and springs myself- but never did get ahold of proper spring compressors. I went ahead and got struts, shocks, a set of springs, new strut mounts and shims. After I finally gave up trying to source spring compressors, I took it to a shop that charged me $90 an hour for 4 hours to do the job, and $75 for a 4 wheel alignment. I really needed the car and still saved some money. I think $1200 would be about right if you did EVERYTHING: Struts, Shocks, springs, strut mounts, alignment, labor etc., etc. But for just swapping struts and shocks it's a ripoff.

By the way- stay WAY clear of cheap strut mounts. I got some from FEQ, OEQ because the other brands (Febi and KYB) were out of stock. One cracked and broke- the strut came loose and I about lost my *ss. Luckily I was 2 blocks from home. Now I get to try and figure out how to get my money back, they were under warranty but I don't want another set....

Yesterday I finished rounding up all the tools needed to do the strut mount replacement. I worked on the 190E this morning and it was unexpectedly easier than I thought it would be. I used a 13 mm & 22 mm socet, 22mm box wrench & 7mm allen wrench & a jack.

I jacked the car up until both front tires were barely off the ground, and swapped the old boot mounts for the new ones. That's it. Total job was less than 45 minutes.

Now that I worked up some confidence, and as soon as I find a spring compressor, I'm going for the struts and shocks.

Just want to thank you guys again for all the wonderful advice.

Awesome!

Remember you technically don't need a spring compressor for the struts as long as the control arm has a jack under it. Just use common sense and you will be fine.

yes, that's right. I'm going to try my luck for a few weeks to see if I can find a cheap spring compressor to purchase, if not, not biggie and I can use the jack.

I found one on Craigslist not too long ago, and see them fairly regularly on eBay in the $150-$170 range.

There is also the rental program here on the forum, if you are patient enough to navigate the list to find who actually has the tool you want to borrow.

It was proven by babymog not too long ago that the front springs on a W124 will not pop out no matter how much you try to make them. The sway bar and suspension geometry prevent it from being possible. Still a good idea to use a jack under the control arm though. I am changing the front struts on my W124 this weekend....

If your sruts are "BAD" there is no need to lift the car.
 

agreed, I did my struts in about 30 minutes per side without lifting the car.
also *********.COM has all the name brand stuff fubi/bilstein for way cheaper than the dealer {thats scary} or even ebay. I paid $170 for a set of 2 new bilstein comforts. as far as strut changes go this one was a breeze!!:)

good luck and save your cash and do it yourself.

Right. I've also seen at the junkyard MANY a time the struts gone, nothing under the control arm and the spring still in place.