new tires vs new fe suspension
 

had the front end of my 88 300e inspected, and the mechanic perscribed replacing all the rubber consumables such tierods ends, bushings, sway bar kits etc. for a reasonable amount ($800 canadian) but also said that new tires would be a better investment as its such a heavy car, should have excellent tires.

Sinc then i talked to a friend who works at dupont (chemist) who cliams that the quality of the rubber is very high in the mb; that in fact the rubber compnents in the front end were deteriorating by expanding, not crumbling and that this maintains a tight suspension that also increases the life of the rubber materials used

therefore, i should have matching rubber on the road. however, im tempted to do both suspension and new tires.

Mercedes Fred:

You do not mention the mileage that you have on the car or if you have any problems with the suspension/steering or if any of these parts were changed before.

But, what I can tell you from a personal perspective (not technical) is that I recently changed the tires on my 88 190e with 150k miles on it. From what I have read on this forum, the age and mileage of my car made it a prime candidate to get all of this done. The difference is very noticible. I started with the tie rods and the sway bar bushings. Then this past week I noticed that one of the ball joints was bad so I had both replaced. While there, I had the bushings on the control arm replaced also.

If you are looking into this also have the stering dampener (?) checked. What I can tell you is that I now feel that the car is more stable at higher speeds and the feel of the steering is back to what I feel a Mercedes should feel like.

Iggy