Front wheel knocking

[piers putney]

I have a mercedes e320 cdi estate with c90k miles. I am getting a knocking sound from both front wheels when going over small bumps and it sounds bad - although it doesn't seem to affect the drive. Can anyone tell me what this might be before i get some advice from a garage. Thanks

 

[Ellsy Tanners]

Hello, is your car a 210 0r 211 chassis?


Lower ball joints or worn anti roll bar links are the most probable causes for both.

 

[wireman]

Could be the steering damper

 

[Aussie Nick]

Member Brandwooddixon is a whizz on these types of problems. He recently posted a DIY thread about ball joint replacement which you might locate by doing a search. Hopefully he will see your thread and provide some input.

 

[bigasotonuk]

Hi,
I would be looking to replace the anti roll bar links first as they are cheapest and easiest to do.

 

[brandwooddixon]

Definately lower ball joints and maybe anti-roll bar drop links.

As already mentioned I posted a thread on here about replacing them. If you're reasonably handy and have the tools it's not too bad a job, although I found it more difficult to release my drop link bolts than some have found.

Wear an tear wise I get through lower ball joints on my W210 E430 almost every other service, certainly they never last more than 18 months.

On a W211 I gather that the lower ball joints are a press fit to the lower wishbone rather than a bolt in job like the W210 so you'll probably need the help of a garage for those.

Use the timings in my thread to give you an idea of cost. Note that I am not a professional mechanic, so I would expect a full time mechanic to be quicker.

Found my threads:
For some reason it's not been added to the DIY section, but here's my thread on replacing those parts.
Lower ball joints
and ARB Links

 

[piers putney]

Thanks fellas - this is very helpful. I am not a DIY specialist so I approached the garage at least feeling like I wouldn't get rolled over. In the end they have replaced the ball joint units on both sides including all parts and labour for £200 cash. I think that this was OK as I was quoted that PER SIDE by my local Mercedes garage. And the knocking has stopped so that's a result.
(What a very helpful site this is!)

 

[BlackC55]

£200!!! Flippin heck.

 

[hmang]

nice work if you can get it.

those ball joints are about £15 each from gsf