Doing ball joints on W211 E class/ W219 CLS ?
Discussion
Anyone know what the correct balljoint splitter is for the bottom balljoints on a W211/CLS219 ? got one that is creaking its last.
Also, the balljoint press kit, will a £30 odd quid one off Ebay/Amazon do the job ? dont really want to spend £130 on a decent one for a job I am going to do once, still cheaper than taking it in but want to do it as cheaply as possible.
So, will try and change the one balljoint, see if that stops it, then possibly do the arms if it doesnt, dont want to just throw cash at the issue like I normally do, could easily lash £130 on the kit, £50 on balljoints and £300 on arms, £30 on a splitter when it just needs one balljoint, pehaps do the other side for completelness.
Anyone done them ?
Any tips ?
Also, the balljoint press kit, will a £30 odd quid one off Ebay/Amazon do the job ? dont really want to spend £130 on a decent one for a job I am going to do once, still cheaper than taking it in but want to do it as cheaply as possible.
So, will try and change the one balljoint, see if that stops it, then possibly do the arms if it doesnt, dont want to just throw cash at the issue like I normally do, could easily lash £130 on the kit, £50 on balljoints and £300 on arms, £30 on a splitter when it just needs one balljoint, pehaps do the other side for completelness.
Anyone done them ?
Any tips ?
Had all control arms and front suspension components changed on 2005 SLK55 earlier this year.
Went to a place that does full chassis and wheel alignment, see here: http://www.jpswheelalignmentcentre.co.uk/
was a pig of a job, real b1tch for the guy to get the old arms and ball joints off, & broken.
The reason i went here was for a full alignment after, sure enough it was well out and needed adjustment. There are adjusters in most mercs of our age for camber/caster, but you need the kit from Merc. Look into this before undertaking any work as i needed a kit on each front corner, Was about £15 a corner.
Might be worth considering this appraoch as once you eventually get the parts on, it might need setting up after......
Once i was seeing how much was involved and the ball ache for him, i was glad i paid the labour for someone else to do it. Like you i normally default to doing myself, but not on this one!
Went to a place that does full chassis and wheel alignment, see here: http://www.jpswheelalignmentcentre.co.uk/
was a pig of a job, real b1tch for the guy to get the old arms and ball joints off, & broken.
The reason i went here was for a full alignment after, sure enough it was well out and needed adjustment. There are adjusters in most mercs of our age for camber/caster, but you need the kit from Merc. Look into this before undertaking any work as i needed a kit on each front corner, Was about £15 a corner.
Might be worth considering this appraoch as once you eventually get the parts on, it might need setting up after......
Once i was seeing how much was involved and the ball ache for him, i was glad i paid the labour for someone else to do it. Like you i normally default to doing myself, but not on this one!
I used a Draper scissor type splitter to do all the joints on the front of my CLS and then my wife's S211. I am by no means an experienced hand at DIY spannering, only getting back into it some 30 years after I last did any serious work, but I found it all quite straightforward. I used a Laser press for the ball joint swap - justified as I intended to do 2 cars and I read various warnings against cheaper eBay presses, but that said I have also read positive comments re the cheaper presses - I just did not fancy having to abandon the job when the press broke, so regarded the Laser item as insurance.
rgv250ads said:
Had all control arms and front suspension components changed on 2005 SLK55 earlier this year.
Went to a place that does full chassis and wheel alignment, see here: http://www.jpswheelalignmentcentre.co.uk/
was a pig of a job, real b1tch for the guy to get the old arms and ball joints off, & broken.
The reason i went here was for a full alignment after, sure enough it was well out and needed adjustment. There are adjusters in most mercs of our age for camber/caster, but you need the kit from Merc. Look into this before undertaking any work as i needed a kit on each front corner, Was about £15 a corner.
Might be worth considering this appraoch as once you eventually get the parts on, it might need setting up after......
Once i was seeing how much was involved and the ball ache for him, i was glad i paid the labour for someone else to do it. Like you i normally default to doing myself, but not on this one!
Yeah, I will get it aligned, this shouldnt knock anything that is "set" out but it is due doing and putting new parts on with old will change something one way or another.Went to a place that does full chassis and wheel alignment, see here: http://www.jpswheelalignmentcentre.co.uk/
was a pig of a job, real b1tch for the guy to get the old arms and ball joints off, & broken.
The reason i went here was for a full alignment after, sure enough it was well out and needed adjustment. There are adjusters in most mercs of our age for camber/caster, but you need the kit from Merc. Look into this before undertaking any work as i needed a kit on each front corner, Was about £15 a corner.
Might be worth considering this appraoch as once you eventually get the parts on, it might need setting up after......
Once i was seeing how much was involved and the ball ache for him, i was glad i paid the labour for someone else to do it. Like you i normally default to doing myself, but not on this one!
Stegel said:
I used a Draper scissor type splitter to do all the joints on the front of my CLS and then my wife's S211. I am by no means an experienced hand at DIY spannering, only getting back into it some 30 years after I last did any serious work, but I found it all quite straightforward. I used a Laser press for the ball joint swap - justified as I intended to do 2 cars and I read various warnings against cheaper eBay presses, but that said I have also read positive comments re the cheaper presses - I just did not fancy having to abandon the job when the press broke, so regarded the Laser item as insurance.
Am bidding on one on Ebay, a press, can spend more more but want to keep the cost down as part of a new policy of not throwing money at things, that and Christmas is here, just spent a grand on a new computer etc. Well, got all the stuff organised and gave it a go, came apart ok but the ball joint was fine, I moved the top arm and it made the noise so I thought I had found the issue and easy enough, order a top arm, started to remove it, took the airmatic sensor arm off and tried it again, top arm made no noise.
So, long story short the creak was coming from the Airmatic level sensor, it has had a coating of WD40 and is now not making a racket.
Spent £50 on tools and a ball joint and 10 ps worth of silicone spray appears to have sorted it.
So, long story short the creak was coming from the Airmatic level sensor, it has had a coating of WD40 and is now not making a racket.
Spent £50 on tools and a ball joint and 10 ps worth of silicone spray appears to have sorted it.
guitarcarfanatic said:
I had the same problem with the sensor arm. Changing the lower joints with Lemforder tightened up handling no end though!
Yeah, might still put the ball joints on, how did you cure the sensor arm ? For a tiny thing it makes a hell of a racket, its like Uncle Bucks car, I just sprayed it with Wd40 but not sure if it's cured it, easy enough to remove but I wasn't sure how the connector worked.I bet they are about 250 quid from Mercedes !
Gassing Station | Mercedes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff