Hello,

I have a 93 400E and have noticed that I have lost the tight, no rattle under the car ride that I had back in 96 when I bought the car with 44k miles on it.
I now have 158k miles and would like to know if there are some bushing or suspension parts that could be replaced to make the car ride better.

I will give you an example of the feel. I drove a 2001 BMW 330Ci with 64k miles on it and it felt so solid and quiet over bumps. Now this car had 17" wheels on it where as mine is stock 15"s

You guys have driven new cars before and felt how tight and "put together" they felt. I would like to get that back on my car.

What parts can replace to acheive this as I know it can be done as the car felt this way before. My shop says that the shocks and strut are fine and are not in need of replacement. All I can think of are maybe bushing that act as cushions between part.

Please lend me your expertise on this.


Thanks,


Duron

Short of a complete suspension rebuild it's tough to point out any single cause, however, worn tires loose their ability to damp out high frequency road input and the car slowly becomes more harsh as the tires wear and harden. Bushings also slowly harden and degrade, but a complete suspension rebuilt is a very expensive proposition.

If your tires are well worn a new set will often noticeably improve ride quality by reducing harshness. Since the original fitment was 65 series touring tires, lower profile high performance tires will almost always cause increased ride harshness.

The deCarbon type shocks usually maintain their damping characteristics until end of life as evidenced by oil leaking.

Duke

Thanks Duke, but it is not so much of a harsh ride, but a loose clanky feeling ride. You think bushings could be the culprit or shocks/struts?


duron

What make, model, size tire? OE wheels? What are the current alignment settings, front and rear?

Duke

I think you'd get the most and economical "bang for your buck" from a new steering damper and a tie rod ends.

__________________
Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

If you haven't done your front and rear sway bar bushings, do those. Easy and not expensive.

Not a direct ride quality improvement, but when taking a corner or negotiating road transitions, the improveent is quite satisfying.

Haasman

__________________
'03 E320 Wagon-Sold
'95 E320 Wagon-Went to Ex
'93 190E 2.6-Wrecked
'91 300E-Went to Ex
'65 911 Coupe (#302580)

I'd start with the shocks. Even Bilsteins don't last forever! The only factory-approved method for testing them involves removing them and doing a number of measurements on the bench. You can't tell by bouncing the car up and down, and the absence of oil leaks doesn't really prove anything either.

If that doesn't do it, replace the subframe bushings.

__________________
Steve
'93 400E

Thanks guys for all of the responses. I feel great because they are different thing that I can replace and help the handling of the car as well.


Duke, I have a 400E with OE wheels and tires. I do not know the alignment numbers, but would imagine that it is based on factory spec.

Duron

I was trying to make a point, but I think you missed it. You have a relatively high mileage car and probably have no idea what the alignment is or when it was last checked. This thread has offered at least a thousand dollars in recommended work, but not one red cent on diagnosis.

Find out something about the tires installed on the car - make, model, size, speed rating. Are they a quality tires suitable for a 400E or Pep Boys specials? Do they exhibit any abnormal wear?
All you have to do is bend down and look at them!

Find a quality alignment shop and have the four wheel alignment checked and corrected as necessary. A good alignment tech should check for abnormal tire wear, deteriorated bushings and any other problems in the steering and suspension. Figure on spending about $75-$150 for the alignment and inspection. Any other necessary repairs will add to the price. Pay particular attention to the front and rear anti-roll bar bushings as they are known to deteriorate, but changing then is not a high cost job.

I haven't got the foggiest idea what a "clanky ride" means. Try to give the alignment tech a bit more understandable explanation of the symptoms, and also have him drive the car so you can point out the problems.

Duke

It is impossible to diagnose your car via the internet. I do fully expect that you need to replace the shocks with a new set of Bilstiens. Beyond that, you need to get underneath the car and exercise the four P's, Push, Pull, pry and prod. Do this on all suspension members and joints to look for looseness.

Replacing parts just because this might be the problem, or others have had those parts replaced with good results is a poor approach. That is like the doctor giving you medicine based on his examination of another patient.

Diagnose before replacing parts. Even if you have to have this done by a professional (what a novel idea) it will save you money because you won't be replacing parts unnecessarily.

Also, don't try to compare your car to some other make and model. They are different animals. Even when driving two different cars of the same make and model they will feel different.

I have recently done a few things to my 124 car and had a four wheel alignment. The car now drives as good as it did when I bought it 200,000 miles ago, so I know you can be successful.

Hope this helps,

My guess is a good part to replace and its fairly cheap would be the steering damper and new tie rod ends..

While i agree you should get a diagnosis before trying to fix something, just for the record, someone posted an article recently where they replaced all of the bushings, and I think, but am not sure, also the shocks on their 400e. the cost was about $1500 and they had the job done by a tech. If you really want “as new” that would be the way. If you wanted to go one better, you could employ a variety of nice enhancements, such as using the sway bars (and bushings) from a 500e along with Bilstiens HD shocks, as opposed to Bilstiens comfort shocks, which are standard. Adding these would be about $200 for the mix (for the sway bars and bushings) and you would be thrilled with the results. I think this also included a 4 wheel alignment. Check with the local indies. You can buy the parts at a substantial savings here and have your favorite tech do the work.

__________________
...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

Thanks guys.

Duke, I did miss your point. On the car are Michelin MVX4 205 60 15s. I will get the four wheel alignment as I am not sure when that was last done. The clanky ride I have is whenever I go over a small pot hole or speed bump, there is a dampened "bump bump" sound under the car near the wheels as if something is bumping another part.

Trust me, my shop will be the one to look at this as I am not mechanically inclined under the car or the hood.

Larry,

It is good to know that you were able to get your car back to glory at 200k. That lets me know that with the proper parts that I is possible.


Thanks again guys,


druon

Your description sounded just like mine did before my work during the holidays. Even the smalles pothole or speed bump rattled the car and sounded like it was at the wheels. I did the bounce on the fender test and the shocks felt fine.

However as my car had almost 150,000 miles and with the suggestions of members on this site I replaced all four shocks/struts. Out of the car - the shocks had almost no compression - so much for the test noted above. It took me most of a day (this was my first job on the 300E) but what a difference it made. If you do it yourself - spray the bolts a day before to make the removal reasier.

I have since replaced the brakes and am about finished with replacing the rear suspension parts (need a tool for the rear tie rods). But the shocks alone made a big difference - the rest is to bring the suspemsion back as i am giving the car to my daughter in another year.

Guys,

I went through ALL of my service records and found that I HAVE NEVER HAD SHOCKS OR STRUTS REPLACED!!! I have 158k on the car.

Now, here is the big question. I have seen many post on this site as well as others that mention going with Bilstien shocks. I have spoken with a shop out in cali that does nothing but repair and upgrade mercedes and they recommend sticking with stock shock and strut which I think are a bilstien brand.

Let me know what you guys think as I also would like to go with H&R springs to lower the car a bit. With that in mind. What do you suggest for shocks and struts?


Thanks again. needless to say new shocks and struts are in the near future!


Duron