suspension collapse

slender7087

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This afternoon, after 2-3days parked without use, the front offside suspension on my C250TD collapsed. No one was near the car at the time , and I became aware of the problem because the alarm was triggered. I am awaiting some assistance and can see the front coil spring on the ground under the car. The car is serviced annually and I have owned it virtually from new. I bought it as a demonstrator with 10k miles on the clock. It is now 8years old with 100k miles on the clock, mostly motorway driving. Is this a common fault with these cars? I have not seen the drawings of the front suspension assembly, but I am astonished that such a failure could occur in such a manner. There seems to be no redundancy in the system. Does anyone have experience of this type of failure.? It was serviced a few days ago and given an MOT a few days before that.
 

bigasotonuk

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Hi,
I have heard of this fault with the W210 E Class but never with a C class w202.
Rusty Spring perches are the cause on the E class and as the suspension set up is similar on the C class this is probably the cause on yours.
Have you got full MB history as I have heard of warrenty repairs on this fault, even without history it still maybe worth approaching MB.
 

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It depends on whats failed, as mentioned, never seen a c class top mount fail but have fitted hundreds of springs, which have cracked. Mainly on the bottom rung but i have done a few recently that have failed in the middle???
 
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slender7087

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Thanks for your replies. What has happened is the the coil spring has fractured. There is no corrosion at the fracture point and the fracture surface appears to be a clean helical shaped fracture. What astounded me was that it happened out of the blue while the car was stationary with no one near it. You live and learn.:)
 

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