W203 rear shock absorber replacement
 

Anyone can share the rear shock absorber replacement procedure?

What's the tricks to get the shock come off from the lower control arm and then get the new one into? It seems difficult to squeeze the new strut into the hole of lower control arm. The new strut should be very stiff.

Do I need another jack to support the lower control arm so to release the tension?

Yes I would support the arm with a jack.

if i remember, i had success jacking up the LCA to compress the shock. then I
used jute twine to tie the shock to prevent it from rebounding...while I lowered
the jack. the shock remained compressed which gave me a chance to maneuver
the shock out.

variation on a theme when fitting in the new shock: compress the shock and tie
it using jute twine. once it's positioned between top/bottom mounts, i cut the
twine, allowing it to rebound into place

How about the rear strut replacement without removing the rear spring?

"the shock remained compressed which gave me a chance to maneuver
the shock out..."

I don't quite understand why we need to keep the shock absorber compressed (by a jack) in order to maneuver the shock absorber out from LCA?

mmm, i'm going to have to look underneath to see if I mixed it up with the 210

The rear axle/suspension design should be the same as W203.

shock length/design would affect degree of difficulty of removal depending on overall length when uncompressed. r-

The shock absorber has arrived. I saw the "brief instruction" accompanying with the bilstein shock absorber saying:

"All rubber-mounted strut/damper attachments must not be fully tightened until AFTER the suspension system is loaded (wheels on the ground). Other mounting fasteners (for example brackets) must be securely tightened BEFORE load is placed on the suspension system."

Which fastner has to be fully tightened only after the suspension system is loaded? Is it the one at the top of the shock mounting inside the trunk? In other words, the suspension system should be loaded when I remove that fastener when removing the old shock?

Also, I found the new shock is quite stiff that quite difficult for me to compress it to shorten the length. Any better way to get the new shock into the place? I am afraid I need to compress it a lots to fit the new shock into the mounting place.

vr2whf, simply follow the instructions ... the upper and lower connections for the rear shocks should be tightened with the wheels on the ground (suspension system loaded). When removing the old shocks it makes no difference whether the suspension system is loaded or not.

how could we working under the car while the wheel on the ground to tighten the fastener at the lower control arm mounting the shock?

vr2whf, have something under the rear wheels like a set of ramps or several 2"x6" pieces of wood to give you room to work.