Broken Springs!!??

[RoyDavis]

My car is on for a service at the minute and the guy has just called me to say both rear springs are broken and the fronts are badly rusted, meaning all four need replacing. It recently passed an mot and he said hes amazed they passed it because it should of been a straight failure. Any rough ideas what this is likely to cost me? Hes going to get a price from mercedes, he's an ex mechanic for them. Are there any other good makes i can get cheaper? He said they are quite hard to find the right match but hes gonna have a look arounbd from prices for me.

 

[Bryann]

Just had 2 rear springs on my C270, £100 for springs and cups + £178 inc vat

Make sure they check colour coding on your original springs!

Bryan

 

[bigasotonuk]

The springs are ordered from your chassis number, and as Bryann says they are approx. £50 each, I have just ordered some for my C43 they were £51 for the fronts and £54 for the rears, approx. 3hours labour to change I believe.

 

[RoyDavis]

Yeah the guy said about the colour coding and thats why he wants to go for merc ones. Those rough prices dont sound bad at all!! When he told me i had a panic of £1k plus for some reason!! At most then im probably looking about £400 including labour from him?

 

[bigasotonuk]

Personnally speaking I would always go for MB springs, and from the prices for pattern springs from GSF & Euro's they compare favourably in price too.
If you allow £400 you,ll get change.

 

[5pares]

If the springs are only rusted i wouldnt worry about them until they break.

 

[Miffy]

I had my rear springs replaced, they were £55 each, £100 labour +vat total £241

 

[Bryann]

I had my rear springs replaced, they were £55 each, £100 labour +vat total £241

Actually I was quoted £140 Labour met with £178, didn't query it just glad to have the job done to my satisfaction it was worth the money

Bryan

 

[BlackC55]

No need to do the fronts yet. Just the rears for now.

 

[RoyDavis]

Well hes quoted me £440 to do all the springs, replace a ball joint and fit modified wiring to the indicators, apparently theres a fault with the indicators and merc have come up with a new wiring to them to sort it out. I dont think thats too bad to be honest

 

[DougCLK320]

I was quoted £430 to replace both rear springs on my 2004 CLK at Mercedes Benz Watford. I appealed to MB customer care and, within fifteen minutes, they phoned me back agreeing to pick up the entire bill - despite only one spring being broken.

The rest of the service still cost me a grand though...!!!

 

[RoyDavis]

Was that because of the age? I was wondering if my springs should of broken and the fronts rusted so badly considering its only done just over 70k and its 2001

 

[Miffy]

Well I had a broken nearside rear, and the cars only just on 61k now. I think the road bumps (sleeping policeman) have a lot to do with it

 

[AndrewIles]

I've also got to replace my springs to get it through an MOT.

My car is a 2002 and has only done 60k miles. I know that this is a fairly common problem with W203s.

I would be interested in knowing how recently Doug spoke with MB Customer Care or if anyone else has had any joy getting MB to foot the bill.

I appreciate that my car is almost 7 years old now but it has got a full MB service history and I have never had springs go on any previous car. One front and one rear spring have now broken hence all 4 need replacing.

 

[mikestrivens]

For my W140 I have just replaced one of the front springs as it was broken. The spring was £86.50 plus VAT. They didn't charge for labour as it was such a quick job.

However, I understand that if you have AMG sports suspension the springs are around £400 each!!!!.

 

[DougCLK320]

I've also got to replace my springs to get it through an MOT.

My car is a 2002 and has only done 60k miles. I know that this is a fairly common problem with W203s.

I would be interested in knowing how recently Doug spoke with MB Customer Care or if anyone else has had any joy getting MB to foot the bill.

I appreciate that my car is almost 7 years old now but it has got a full MB service history and I have never had springs go on any previous car. One front and one rear spring have now broken hence all 4 need replacing.

November 2008 I had a full service and MOT and the broken spring causes a failure. The car was four years old but has a complete FMBSH and had only done 32k miles.

It's not the sleeping policemen that do the damage, but the poor quality springs MB use. My hard used Toyota Previa, bought brand new 12 years ago, now showing 120k miles used on exactly the same roads, sometimes with eight-up is on its original springs - as is my commuting / 'teaching the kids to drive' Fiat Panda. In fact, in nearly forty years of driving , starting with 'bangers' - This is the first time I have ever "broken" as spring....
Doug

 

[The Rock]

My local MB dealer didn't charge labour for replacing my rear springs last year. I was having a full geometry setup (£170) and he noticed that one rear spring had broken. I said I'd like to leave it as it wasn't upsetting the ride and he offered to do it for free if I paid for the springs. I jumped at the offer. I'd only recently had the fronts done too because one had become a bit saggy.

Rock

 

[jberks]

I was all prepared to come on here and say that older mercs (pre 04) do seem to suffer from spring issues. My Dad's 2003 E class had the rear springs replaced a few months back.
Anyway I walked across the car park tonight and it struck me that she somehow looked a bit more sporty .... or at least she does from the driver's side.....front O/S spring's snapped. Bugger.


Anyone know how much a new one's going to be?

 

[Two-chins]

My 1998 clk320's springs are spot on. A little rust on the lower quarter at the rear but nothing to worry about. Just replaced the rear dampers so that's how I know they're ok. Good suspension friend confirms Merc springs are rubbish, worse than any French make of car. Also says many car owners are unaware dampers are on the way out causing springs to do more work than they were built for and then they break -- this led to heated debate about Merc damper units being top three of offenders for being rubbish. You only have to look at the amount of suspension traffic on this forum compared to others to see he has a point. Oh dear.

 

[mikestrivens]

The other front spring went on my W140 this morning.

I guess Mercedes must have designed them for German roads which may be in better condition than our atrocious roads. The springs cannot cope with so many potholes, poor repairs and sunken drain covers.