W124 Balljoints (320CE)

[turnipsock]

I've started to replace the ball joints on my 320CE and I had already got the new ones from the dealer.

The dealer said he had trouble finding the correct ones, but I think he has got the wrong one.

The part supplied is MA124 333 03 27.

The one on the car looks like it has an angled part and the one the dealer supplied is clearly the wrong part.

Does anybody know the correct part number?

 

[television]

Good morning

I know that the ruskie site is an old EPC and 65 and 71 are the ones, though there are two variants of those,see left in link

http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb2.as...GM=717.450&CT=F&cat=15T&SID=46&SGR=120&SGN=06

There are members here that have the new EPC and this is something that I must get

 

[Juddian]

Ah Turnipsock, the 24v petrol engined coupe does not have replaceable bottom ball joint, its part of the wishbone.
Unless i'm much mistaken you should find this to be the case.

Now off the top of my head, new ones from MB are a eye watering 225 + vat a side.
I sourced mine from Eurocarparts at approx 125 + vat a side.

They are made by Febi if i remember correctly, or Lemforder, memory's shot to pieces....and are doing the job fine.

 

[kth286]

Very poor service by the parts person, unless you did not give them the VIN of course.

Was that the case OR did they ask for the VIN?

You have to replace the complete wishbone as per previous poster BUT at least you do get new wishbone bushes as well so will last for another 15 years.

The wishbone bushes do wear especially on the nearside wishbone. It is the front bush that wear and can indeed seize and often has to be sawn off to get the whole wishbone out from the car. The result of the seized front joint means that the rear joint of that same wishbone suffers excess wear and become loose which will end up knocking when driven on rough surfaces.

It also puts the tracking out with excess tyre wear on one side as a result.

The problem with alternaive suppliers is whether they differentiate between sportline chassis and non sportline chassis.

If that question is not asked when the enquiry is made I personally would only use Mercedes.

 

[Bolide]

Yes, that's the wrong balljoint. No, the wishbones are not easy to find

To save you grief I will point out that GSF do not have the correct part, nor do most of the breakers in the UK

You will need new camber bolts for the wishbone and the car will have to be aligned after fitting

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[turnipsock]

Very poor service by the parts person, unless you did not give them the VIN of course.

Was that the case OR did they ask for the VIN?

I did take in the VIN (I always do). The parts guy did say that he had trouble finding the part. I guess he has just gone and looked at another W124 model and gone for that part number.

The problem is that I have been left without a car now and I'll have to go to Europarts for a wishbone (I could have it sent out, but I would rather see it first).

Thank you all for the info though.

 

[Ian B Walker]

That is a sportline wishbone. A replacement wishbone (non OEM) is available from Firstline for the pricley sum of £110

http://www.firstline.co.uk/

 

[television]

That is a sportline wishbone. A replacement wishbone (non OEM) is available from Fastline for the pricley sum of £110

Nice to have you back posting Ian with all that 124 knowledge

 

[turnipsock]

How can you tell it is a sportline wishbone?

To be hosnest, I have never been happy with the handling of this car, could it be that the wrong wishbone has been fitted in the past?

 

[television]

How can you tell it is a sportline wishbone?

To be hosnest, I have never been happy with the handling of this car, could it be that the wrong wishbone has been fitted in the past?

Is that wishbone thinking, Ian will say tomorrow

 

[television]

Any good

http://cart.euromercmercedesparts.co.uk/index.php?p=product&id=3073&parent=1

http://cart.euromercmercedesparts.co.uk/index.php?p=product&id=3071&parent=1

http://cart.euromercmercedesparts.co.uk/index.php?p=product&id=2820&parent=1

 

[Ian B Walker]

How can you tell it is a sportline wishbone?

To be hosnest, I have never been happy with the handling of this car, could it be that the wrong wishbone has been fitted in the past?

The normal non sportline wishbone features a shorter ball joint that is removable. The angle of yours and the depth of the joint tells me that it is sportline. To be honest the sportline version gives far better handling that the standard ones. The car will be more posative in corners with very little roll. If your car is miss behaving I would look at the spring setup. Do you have springs matched to your chassis? They are chassis specific. Springs from suppliers such as ECP or GSF are generic. They fit ok but are not matched to the chassis of the said vehicle. Are your shock absorbers matched to the springs? Sportline ones tend to be a little shorter that standard ones. What size tyres are you using? Any greater that 16inch and you are asking for tramlining. What width and profile are they. Optimum wheels for a 124 are 16 x 225 x 55 with an ET of 44. I may just be shot down there. Each to his own.

 

[Juddian]

The normal non sportline wishbone features a shorter ball joint that is removable. The angle of yours and the depth of the joint tells me that it is sportline. To be honest the sportline version gives far better handling that the standard ones. The car will be more posative in corners with very little roll. If your car is miss behaving I would look at the spring setup. Do you have springs matched to your chassis? They are chassis specific. Springs from suppliers such as ECP or GSF are generic. They fit ok but are not matched to the chassis of the said vehicle. Are your shock absorbers matched to the springs? Sportline ones tend to be a little shorter that standard ones. What size tyres are you using? Any greater that 16inch and you are asking for tramlining. What width and profile are they. Optimum wheels for a 124 are 16 x 225 x 55 with an ET of 44. I may just be shot down there. Each to his own.

Ian, i'm no expert, far from it and you know your 124's.

Mine is a standard 320ce registered in 96.

One of my bottom joints received an advisory MOT before last, so being the belt and braces chap i am it had a pair of front wishbone's, disappointed to get an advisory as i pride myself on the way i look after my vehicles.

My car is not sportline spec, but the ball joints were definately not replaceable, which i have gathered should be the case from your post.
Apologies if i have got the wrong end of the stick, it won't be the first or last time.

On the subject of wheels, i have 16" for my winter set.
They came with 215/55 x 16 Goodyear F1's fitted, half worn and they caught very easily on the front arches, i planned to ditch the tyres anyway as they are not of any use until warm.

Now i know Goodyears can be a problem due to their very broad square shoulder, but i can't see how you could run a 225 x 55 x 16 tyre of most makes and get clearance on the front.
As i say, i'm happy to be proved wrong, as it gives me more tyre options.

Just to confirm the Goodyear problem, my summer set of wheels 225 x 45 x 17 Goodyears catch, same size tyres with new Toyo's no problem at all.

 

[Ian B Walker]

Apologies it should have read 16 x 225 x 50. There is 1/4 of an inch clearance between the shocker and the tyre. As for the wishbones, it would look like someone has fitted the wrong wishbones to your car. Being so it would upset the handling quite a bit. Cambers and toe in's would be miles out, unless they did a 4 wheel alignment on the chassis after fitting.

 

[Juddian]

Apologies it should have read 16 x 225 x 50. There is 1/4 of an inch clearance between the shocker and the tyre. As for the wishbones, it would look like someone has fitted the wrong wishbones to your car. Being so it would upset the handling quite a bit. Cambers and toe in's would be miles out, unless they did a 4 wheel alignment on the chassis after fitting.

I don't think the wishbone's had ever been touched Ian, i've had the car for about 6 years it was a one company director owner car and no one except the Solihull supplying dealer had touched it that i'm aware of, can't imagine them getting that wrong and it had only done something less than 50K at the time, so unlikey to have needed suspension work i would have thought.

Are you saying it should have had replaceable ball joints?
I've just looked at the print off from the Russian site and it definately says nothing about sportline, how odd.

Handling wise the car is and always has been a dream, drives staright and true at any speed, but did roll a bit on bends on the original 15" rims, but all the ones i've had have done the same.

 

[Ian B Walker]

If the Russian site says nothing about sportline I would double check with your dealer. Your wishbones are definitely sportline. Given that the car is original, standard suspension set up. Somewhere down the line someone has retro fitted the current wishbones. Until we can determine the original suspension type, we cannot go further down the diagnostic route.

 

[television]

Juddian type your VIN into here and see how it came from the factory

http://old.mbclub.ru/mb/vin/?lng=eng

 

[turnipsock]

The wishbones are different from those on my 230TE. The tyres on my 320CE are 195/65/15.

I had a thread about my springs somewhere on here before. I got my springs from the dealer and did all the sums for them. I tried going up a spring size and using the smallest spacer, the car was sitting high at the front (but did feel a lot better).

From other peoples comments and the dealer having difficulty I would say that the sportline wishbones were standard for this model.

 

[Bolide]

I have a 320 Sport Chassis with those wishbones. I have another 320 and I'll check to see what balljoints it has

Unfortunately, according to Froome's First Law ("There is only one hard and fast rule for W124s - that there are no hard and fast rules") that won't tell us definitively whether the non-removeable balljoints are Sports Chassis only or not

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[television]

I have a 320 Sport Chassis with those wishbones. I have another 320 and I'll check to see what balljoints it has

Unfortunately, according to Froome's First Law ("There is only one hard and fast rule for W124s - that there are no hard and fast rules") that won't tell us definitively whether the non-removeable balljoints are Sports Chassis only or not

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

You are right on this Nick, the cars above prove that