126 Stabiliser bar busings
 

My 126, 500SEL has now a rather loud knocking from the front end under hard braking and cornering, time has come to get it sorted out. I have had the front suspension virtually rebuilt over the time I have had the car and have narrowed it down to the stabiliser bar bushings. I can see them from the wheel arch area and the bushings on both sides do look bad so I am now set to get them both changed, these are the oval shaped bushes that hold the bar to the chassis at 2 points. I looked at the service CD and there is 13 pages of removing and replacing the bar after removing just about everything in it's path ! I would be grateful if anyone has had any experience of changing these bushes without having to remove the stabiliser bar from the car, not a job i really look forward to . . .Thanks in advance.

I would be interested in hearing something on this, as well. I think that my stabilizer bar is transmitting too much vibration through the car, as well.

I'm hoping that there might be some semblance of a fix or softening/bolstering of those bushings without the incredibly major removal of everything to their innards.

Andy,

Knocking during braking is typically caused by a worn bushing at the rear end of the track rod. If it was recently replaced, maybe it's loose.

I haven't heard it suggested, but I'd cut a new sway bar bushing in half and install it that way to avoid 13 pages of procedure. It's got to be better than a worn bushing. Let's see what the experts think.

Sixto
91 300SE
81 300SD

Thanks Sixto, I had the track rod ends replaced on both sides so I know they are good. I don't really want to pull the stabiliser bar out so perhaps I could cut a new bushing into halves. Looks much easier than stripping out the front of the car . . . thanks