W210 Spring Perch
 

Last week I did the valve cover gaskets/breather reseal along with new plugs on my 01 E320 with nearly 240K miles. Today I was going to get the car finished up with a tire rotation and new brake pads on the rear. On 210 cars when I have the wheels off I always take a look at the spring perches. Today this is what I found on the drivers side. About a year ago I did notice some corrosion starting and never did anything about it. It looks like I need to take the car out of service until I address this. It appears to be separated from the leading edge to about the middle. I went ahead and removed the spring to get a better look (photos attached). Does this look like something that can be cleaned up and welded, or should I cut the old one out and just replace it (this is what I am leaning towards). The factory repair procedure is to pop rivet in the new one. What size rivets should be used?

I'd plan on replacing it. You need to remove all the undercoating/sealer from the area so you can get a good look. I bet you'll find it's worse than it looks now with all those coatings covering the area up. Could be damage to the surfaces the perch is attached to as well. And while you're at it take a good look at the other side. You might be doing both sides. To do the rivets you need gorilla pop rivets and the proper tool, not ordinary Home Depot stuff. I welded mine.

I went through this with my '96. Somebody had attempted a half-assed patch up repair but that only made things worse. Not a terribly difficult job, and the replacement perches don't cost a lot. I had to patch up the areas under the perches before welding the new ones on. I did it while rebuilding the suspension, so the spindles, control arms, and brake stuff was out of the way for the perch repair. When done I painted everything but did not apply sealer so the area can drain and dry out.

Search the forums. There's more information from other folks who've already been there done that. I found a lot of useful information about the repair on this site and others. Try searching "W210 spring perch" and have fun reading up on it!

Here's a good thread to look through:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-parts-reference-library/182420-w210-spring-perch-%3D-front-spring-bracing.html

Spring perch recall
 

I'm pretty sure Mercedes had a recall for this problem. You should call a dealer to confirm.

I have never heard of a recall on this. I removed the old perch last weekend and have the metal prepped for me to rivet in the new one tomorrow.

No recall in the USA though Canada dealers have demonstrated a more proactive response and repair. US dealers only went as far as a rare, "good faith" repair, gratis, if they felt your patronage was worth it, but for the most part, no free repair.

Right on. I'm curious about the rivets you're using, the tool for installation, and how bad it was under all the coatings/sealers. Got some photos of the job we could see? When I researched the job for my car most of the information I found was from folks who welded theirs in, so seeing how you go about it with the rivets would be interesting. Difficulty coming up with the right tool for the rivets was the main thing that led me to welding.

Did you examine the other side closely?