209 broken spring nearside rear

grahamcol

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My recent purchase has had a clanking from the rear despite passing the mot just a few days ago. I've found the cause which l suspected, broken nsr spring. Now the car will go to my indy on Monday to confirm and replace the spring and in order to save time l wanted them to order a spring in advance from the VIN. However, when l went there today they said they needed the colour code. Fair enough but l can't see one on the broken spring. I can however see 2 yellow blobs on the offside spring. Two questions please. 1) will the nearside be the same? 2) if not, how can the correct spring be identified without colour code?
Thanks
 

AnthonyUK

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They are both the same but there is a bit more to it.

Have a look at the parts catalogue and specifically the 'Text Footnote' under spring which vary depending on equipment levels and engine type - http://benzcat.com/1/fg/clk/69m/209308/0/32/154

It is worth changing them in pairs and also changing the rubber mount together.
 
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grahamcol

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Thank you for the replies. Interesting info.
As I said, car going in on Monday so we'll see where we go from there.
Just goes to show how good the Mot is these days. Unless the spring broke since, but somehow l doubt it as the section ends where is has broken look rusty to me.
 

AnthonyUK

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Unless the spring broke since, but somehow l doubt it as the section ends where is has broken look rusty to me.

It a pretty common issue but thankfully significantly easier than the front.
It can be done with basic tools and a jack.
 

umblecumbuz

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When I had to hunt down a replacement spring, LK was good enough to help me through the process, which involved the spec of the car, including such variations as to whether it had auto or manual box, electric seats, sunroof, etc. More than just checking the colour coding.

Rouse him, say please with Southern Comfort, and you may get similar pointers.
 

JBell

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Very common issue, they should always be replaced in pairs on an axle
 
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grahamcol

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A couple of very well respected garages in my area replace individual springs rather than pairs. This includes my Merc indy as long as the “other” side is a genuine Merc spring.
 

JBell

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I never replace in pairs either , but if we are talking shock absorbers then that's a ' must'

I would never put a new spring on one side of a car with a 13 yo spring on the other, if one has gone then it is likely the other is on its way out and the compress over time
 

LostKiwi

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I'm another for doing in pairs. Springs soften over time so an old and new spring will behave differently.
 

steveq

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The offside front spring snapped on my previous E220 CDI and I replaced it with a genuine Merc spring -- using the paint codes on the spring to get the correct one. I took a photo of the paint codes on the old spring and showed it to the parts guy as he was about to order the wrong one.
I just replaced one side and couldn't see the difference in ride height or handling in the following 2 or 3 years that I had the car.

You could always do one and if you notice anything wrong do the other side. There is no additional cost in parts or labour by doing them at different times.
 
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rf065

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I had my CLK for 13 years and replaced single springs when they broke, never made any difference to the handling or anything else.
 

EmilysDad

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But it's still best practice to replace both sides with anything suspension wise.
 
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grahamcol

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Opinion divided then on whether to replace as an axle set. When this last happened to me, again the car (C280) had just passed an mot and was new to me, a different but again well respected Indy replaced just the one corner and there were absolutely no issues with this. I do accept however that best practice would be replacing in pairs but in the real world l feel it doesn’t usually make a great deal of difference.
 

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