*Update*Front & Rear Shocks $1,200, deal?
 

A local benz repair shop quoted me $1,200 to replace the front and rear shocks (w/Mcpherson) includes labor.

Just curious as to whether that quote is fair?

The vehicle is a 1992 190E 2.6

Thanks

What do you mean, "with McPherson"? Early MB's don't have McPherson strut assemblies.
Front struts from the dealership run about $450 a set. Rear shocks run about $340 a set. $790 in parts, $410 in labor. I don't know about fair. You'd be saving a boat load of money doing it yourself.
What you could do, is buy a set of Bilstein comforts front and rear and you'll be spending about $450 in parts and then the rest on labor. The comforts by Bilstein are essentially the same exact thing you'd be buying at the MB dealership, only cheaper.

bsmuwk- I called the shop and said I need front and rear shocks. The guy said he didn't have Bilstein in stock and McPherson is essentially the same thing. I don't know man, that's just what I was told. Personally, I'd rather do it myself but I lack the experience.

If this is a DIY job that a newbie can tackle, and if special tools aren't required, do you know where I can find instructions on removing the old parts and installing the new?

I would insist on Bilstein or if you want to save $$ Sachs-Boge. Don't except KYB, Monroe etc.

Your car has struts on the front. Mcpherson generally refers to where the coil spring is over the strut. You don't have that.

The rears are just shocks- With a floor jack, and minor tools you can replace the rears easily. Fronts take a bit more care. Front and Rear you need to be careful as MB springs are strong and can easily kill you if they get loose.

The factory Bilstein's rarely fail (so I'm told)- you might get away with just replacing the rear shocks.

If you do the fronts, you should replace the upper strut mounts which are weak design with Meyle HD's. Replacing the struts (fronts) will effect alignment of the car....

Bilstein's it seems like Shoex.com has really good prices or there is a reputable ebay seller with them also. I would except something else as being equivlent... especially with the dollar amount of replacement.

heh, i'd do it for half that :P

They are super easy to replace..You can get brand new Bilstein Comforts/Sports for about $280 front and $200 rear and can be done in less than 30mins for the first side then 15mins for the other since you know everything.

This job is actually quite easy with the correct method and does not take long either. Start by loosing bolts on wheels, jack the car up and support it on quality stands.
Remove wheel and place new jack under the lower control arm. MAKE SURE to SUPPORT the weight of the car ON THIS JACK. You want the spring to not move when you release the strut. Once the lower control arm is supported, unbolt the bolt on the top of the mount in engine bay. Push shock down (should do if worn) and now remove mount.
PS: If your shock is worn a bit, you may not need to jack car up. You can do it all with wheels on ground. Just unbolt top mount bolt and push shock down. Now replace.

If shock is needed to be replaced continue. Undo the three bolts holding the shock in place. The upper mount will need a 19mm wrench to hold other the side from spinning. The bottom two are easy. Remove strut and support brake disk and associated items from hanging on the brake lines. Prop it up with a box or something....

Installation is reverse. My tip is to push the shock through the mount and secure using an old bolt to hold it in place. Now do the upper bolt FIRST because it holds it in the right place. Should be straight forward.

Safety is always #1 with anything suspension related, but as long as the lower control arm is supported, you should have no problems.

Pics:
http://www.ps2cho.net/downloads/phot...unt/strut1.jpg

http://www.ps2cho.net/downloads/phot...unt/strut2.jpg

http://www.ps2cho.net/downloads/phot...unt/strut3.jpg

http://www.ps2cho.net/downloads/phot...unt/strut6.jpg

http://www.ps2cho.net/downloads/phot...unt/strut7.jpg

http://www.ps2cho.net/downloads/phot...unt/strut9.jpg

Wow.

To me it is not a great deal due to questionable shocks. These cars are not difficult to work on and not worth keeping if you are unable to do simple maintenance such as this.

I prefer Bil HDs, not sure if available for the W124. Sports should just be internally shorter than the HDs, but valved about the same.

In any event, if you can change your oil you can at least change the rears. Procure a copy of the factory service manual so you can do the fronts. Spend the other $500 on something else like tires

I would make two additions to the tutorial above:

1. Be very careful with that jack if it is the only thing supporting the control arm. There have been lengthy discussions here about the likelihood of a spring coming loose and doing very serious impact damage to person and property if that jack slips. Consider renting a good OE type spring compressor if doing the fronts, the rears seem to have less risk of losing a spring.

2. For the rears at least, bolt the bottom of the new shock in place before seating the top. The shock, once allowed to extend, will push the lower mounting point past the hole in the arm, and it's a pita to get it back in place.

Didn't the 190E 2.6 come with hydraulic rear suspension??

Anyway, I think you should know that "McPherson" is a TYPE of strut assembly, not a BRAND. So if they are trying to say that they are going to install "McPherson" struts, then they either don't know what they are talking about, or they are just trying to cheat you.

That said...$1,200 is WAY too much for new shocks to be installed.

This should be a $600-$700max job including parts....

Good luck

I appreciate the advice everyone, and ps2cho, thanks for that awesome tutorial. I was not eager about dropping $1,200 for the job, but after reading some of your comments, that shop will definitely NOT be getting my business.

I'll be doing the work myself, but the off chance that one of those springs could come loose and mess up my pretty face scares the hell out of me :)

Just out of curiosity, have any of you ever heard of an upper strut mount completely failing and the strut coming up and breaking through the hood of the car?

Yes, strut mounts do fail in the method you described....new ones are recommended when changing the front struts....

as for the springs, use common sense and don't let the control arm swing all the way to the ground....you should be fine..

if you are worried, and i do recommend this, rent a mercedes spring compressor from the tool rental program on this website.

good luck, get belisteins and nothing else for struts

MB list prices are $220 for the fronts & $190 for the rears. MB flat rate is 3.2 hrs
You do the math.

I think you can buy the fronts for $150ea and the rears for $125ea.
You do the math & install yourself.

Where can I go for a good pair of strut mounts? I just called MB and they want $105 for each strut mount! That's almost as much as the strut itself.

Are the strut mounts sold through AllPartsExpress or FastLane good quality?

If you are nervous about the springs, an alternative to the tool rental route could be to buy the Klann clone spring compressor on Ebay and then re-sell it here for say $10 or $20 less than you paid for it. You get cheap use of the tool and someone else looking to buy one gets a bit of a deal.

I bought one and it's a well made tool and others on this site have spoken positively about it. They generally go for around $180 to $200.

No, in the US, the only W201 that had SLS was the 2.3-16

Get Meyle HD mounts, available online at different stores...

Do It Yourself!
1. Save money
2. Get to know your car better
3. Feel the sense of accomplishment

Great, thanks latief.

I agree with you 100% buddy

I think your having some dealership miss-communication.

The prices sounds like about right for a pair of factory mounts.. those will only have a 1 year warrentee. The HD's by Meyle are 4 years, but the best part is ppl say they work well and may fix a weak design.

If you buy or rent a spring compressor- you can replace the spring seats also. Not sure on W201 chassis- but that may have a replaceable ball joint- if it does they are dirt cheap and a snap to replace.

With all this work... check your rear suspension linkage pieces. Any sign of degraded rubber or wear- replace them at the same time. Check subframe mounts.. etc. Might as well make sure she's tight for a long time since you'll be spending $100+ on an alignment.
Make sure the idler arm is tight and the steering damper isn't shot at the same time.



M

Thanks for the extra tips, samiam. But yes, I think there was some confusion on my part concerning the price of factory strut mounts. I figured they were priced at a fair 30-40 bucks a piece, but the dealer retails them at $110 a piece.

Well let me politely disagree..


Your car takes a 201 320 24 44. The MBUSA suggested retail price as of TODAY is $74 each, wholesale is $57.
I was assuming it took the same part as a W124. Hence there probably isn't a HD Meyle available.
So then your looking at Corteco, Rein etc..


Michael

I have the Meyle HD strut mounts on my 260E. Cost me $29/side.

There are Meyle HD available for the 190. Same price as the 124...

So I ordered the front struts and mounts and will be doing the swap when I get the rest of the tools I need. Yesterday I looked under the hood and noticed how severely cracked the strut mounts have become.

I just want the opinion of someone who knows more about this, is it safe to ride around in this vehicle with the strut mounts looking the way they do? The picture shows how big the gap is- That's the driver side mount. The passenger side isn't as bad.


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/...4337a62a_o.jpg

Yeah, i would not drive that car, unless you want to change the hood after the it gets dented/ punctured by the strut.....that is actually quite severe ....

I thought my hairline crack was bad....I wouldn't drive that at all until its fixed. If it gives out on the freeway you could be in for a very dangerous situation.

:eek: and I still have to drive it to my friends house where I'll be doing the repair. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

If you live close to me I can "lend" you my ex-wife to help with your drive to your buddies...
Put her in the trunk... that will pivot the weight off the front struts...:D

To be double safe, hook a bungy cord from wheel arch to wheel arch... that will help hold the hood down...:P

Hey Merkey, that's hilarious. I needed some humor in an otherwise ****ty situation. It's like every time I peek under the hood, I find something new that needs to be replaced. Oh and thanks for the offer, but I'll have to pass. I'm sure your ex will be relieved.:)

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.