Mercedes 280TE W123 front suspension/brakes
 

Hey folks,

I'm doing a little maintenance on my 1982 280TE wagon, and had a couple of questions...

Firstly, I noticed when taking the wheels off that the car has Bilstein shocks. Are those standard? I wasn't expecting to see the Bilstein logo when I took the wheels off. I know the previous owner piled a lot of money into this car before I bought it...

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7200/2...f63e7c8d_z.jpg

Secondly, a couple of weeks ago the brake pad low level warning light started flickering. So, my plan was to replace the pads (of course!). However, when I took the wheels off I noticed that the pad still have about 8mm left on them (see below). Is that really in need of replacement? Seems like a fair bit of meat I thought, although I admit I'm no expert. Any thoughts?

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7032/2...a4135fa7_z.jpg

The final thing: recently, I've started getting a bit of a knocking noise from the drivers' side front suspension/steering. It seems like it's knocking when steering and also sometimes over bumps. Probably more the former issue though. I'm assuming it's a bush somewhere. Is that a fairly straight forward job if one is handy enough with tools? Any commonly failing bushes?

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7407/2...4d313644_z.jpg

Thanks :)

Your car probably came with Bilstein shocks however they didn't have that sticker on then. Those shocks have been replaced.

For your brakes, check the wire for the wear indicator from the wheel up to the inner fender. They commonly deteriorate.

Your knock could also be caused by a bad ball joint. It looks like the boot doesn't have much life left in it as well.

...and I'll add that quite a bit can be repaired by DIYers but you need to be careful of the front springs if you end up removing them / having to remove them. Get the inner / disc type compressor for this job.

It's been awhile since I looked at W123 brakes, but the W124 has sensors on all four front pads. (I'm thinking the W123 has just one per side.

Make sure you look at the inside pad as well. If the caliper is frozen, or if one cylinder is frozen, you can have wear on one pad and not the other side.

The front end, you need to jack up the the suspension, get the weight off the wheel and shake it in both axes, and use a pry bar to check ball joints.

At this age, pretty much all the bushings are suspect, and tolerance stackup can give a loose feel.

Jim