Which shocks to buy?

[daibevan]

Hi All
I've been looking at replacement rear shocks for my W203 & I'm getting more and more confused. For example on the autodoc site there is the massive selection of brands below. I know I can get the best by going to Merc Grangemouth, but I'm trying to keep the cost down.

Are any of these worth buying? any other recommendations?

Thanks.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

 

[Gazwould]

 

[onefortheroad]

Mb will sell you sachs.

 

[rayhennig]

Bilstein or Sachs.

RayH

 

[AnthonyUK]

Sachs here too. I replaced mine earlier this year.

 

[pgh13]

I'm for Bilstein. Just replaced the rears on w211 and they were the only ones with the additional reservoir like the ones I was replacing. Probably the most expensive on autodoc at about 80 each, but confident in their

 

[daibevan]

Thank you all. Bilstein or Sachs it is when I get around to it.

 

[Mr Greedy]

I did the same springs and shocks etc on my w203 coupe and it transformed the rear grip, especially in the wet. Before it used to be so twitchy.

Anyway, I took the Merc number off the shock, and put it into the Sachs/ZF website to get the Sachs number. Searched ebay for the shock via thr Sachs number (which also matched something odd like an Astra van as it happens) and found Mister Auto ebay store shipping them from France for something stupid like £20 a side including delivery. I wouldn't usually use eBay from random sellers, but mister auto, ECP etc will do large volumes and are unlikely to have issues with fake stock.
I bought one just to check, and when I swapped it, it looked and fitted identically. So I ordered another and did it the next weekend. I could see the part number by using a torch and crawling around by the rear wheel having jack up the car a little bit (wheel still on floor) and putting some wooden sleeper chunky offcuts under the sill near the rear wheel in case the jack went. These cars have good access to crawl under from the rear, so I hardly needed to raise the car to squeeze my gut under there.

Another option.
I've just gone on to the ZF aftermarket website, put in the reg (it's the 3.2 V6 engine I had) and it shows the Sachs number as 553 870 for the rear shocks. That sounds familiar and the pictures look the same as what I got, but that is now superceded and no longer manufactured. Replacement part number is 317 268.
Some 553 870 shocks are available, but they are considerably more expensive than the 317 268. On eBay currently for £46 each. Not too bad. Autodoc for £52 not including any codes you might have, and with the volumes Autodoc do, fakes must be a very low probability.

Apart from reading the part number off the shock, the other option (probably more certain) is to get your VIN number and go on 7zap, and do a VIN search. This will pull up your model and usually when you click through to chassis, then suspension, then shocks, it will only show you the shocks (or whatever other part you're interest in) that were actually fitted to your car, and any replacements due to NLS (no longer (in) service).
Take a note of the Mercedes A number, and put that into a website like Autodoc, and you will usually find a good few options for replacement shocks. You can do this to find OEM style spare part numbers e.g. Lemforder for loads of bits for your old cars. Has saved me a fortune!

I went with Sachs because they were what were originally fitted on the car, but with Merc part numbers instead of Sachs numbers.

If you really need to shave the pounds off, the other manufacturer that seems pretty decent in my experience is KYB. Find the part number an maybe a trustworthy seller on eBay has them around £35 each for example RTG Automotive. The link below is just an example and might not be exactly the correct KYB, you will need to check using the methods outlined above.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KYB-Kaya...066671&hash=item2857bfcd40:g:DqkAAOSw8Pda0mD-

 

[daibevan]

Thanks for this. The best I've found on the bay is £90 for a pair for "genuine "Sachs. Will take your advice when I have a more serious look.

 

[Wighty]

I did the same springs and shocks etc on my w203 coupe and it transformed the rear grip, especially in the wet. Before it used to be so twitchy.

Anyway, I took the Merc number off the shock, and put it into the Sachs/ZF website to get the Sachs number. Searched ebay for the shock via thr Sachs number (which also matched something odd like an Astra van as it happens) and found Mister Auto ebay store shipping them from France for something stupid like £20 a side including delivery. I wouldn't usually use eBay from random sellers, but mister auto, ECP etc will do large volumes and are unlikely to have issues with fake stock.
I bought one just to check, and when I swapped it, it looked and fitted identically. So I ordered another and did it the next weekend. I could see the part number by using a torch and crawling around by the rear wheel having jack up the car a little bit (wheel still on floor) and putting some wooden sleeper chunky offcuts under the sill near the rear wheel in case the jack went. These cars have good access to crawl under from the rear, so I hardly needed to raise the car to squeeze my gut under there.

Another option.
I've just gone on to the ZF aftermarket website, put in the reg (it's the 3.2 V6 engine I had) and it shows the Sachs number as 553 870 for the rear shocks. That sounds familiar and the pictures look the same as what I got, but that is now superceded and no longer manufactured. Replacement part number is 317 268.
Some 553 870 shocks are available, but they are considerably more expensive than the 317 268. On eBay currently for £46 each. Not too bad. Autodoc for £52 not including any codes you might have, and with the volumes Autodoc do, fakes must be a very low probability.

Apart from reading the part number off the shock, the other option (probably more certain) is to get your VIN number and go on 7zap, and do a VIN search. This will pull up your model and usually when you click through to chassis, then suspension, then shocks, it will only show you the shocks (or whatever other part you're interest in) that were actually fitted to your car, and any replacements due to NLS (no longer (in) service).
Take a note of the Mercedes A number, and put that into a website like Autodoc, and you will usually find a good few options for replacement shocks. You can do this to find OEM style spare part numbers e.g. Lemforder for loads of bits for your old cars. Has saved me a fortune!

I went with Sachs because they were what were originally fitted on the car, but with Merc part numbers instead of Sachs numbers.

If you really need to shave the pounds off, the other manufacturer that seems pretty decent in my experience is KYB. Find the part number an maybe a trustworthy seller on eBay has them around £35 each for example RTG Automotive. The link below is just an example and might not be exactly the correct KYB, you will need to check using the methods outlined above.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KYB-Kaya...066671&hash=item2857bfcd40:g:DqkAAOSw8Pda0mD-

Very interesting thanks , I may do my rear shocks as well at some point .
Another vote here for RTG group ,they honoured without question a Bosch Lambda sensor warranty failure after 2 years (5 year guarantee on the part )

 

[Wighty]

Thanks for this. The best I've found on the bay is £90 for a pair for "genuine "Sachs. Will take your advice when I have a more serious look.

Might be worth a crawl under to get the shock numbers as @Mr Greedy says

 

[daibevan]

I did the same springs and shocks etc on my w203 coupe and it transformed the rear grip, especially in the wet. Before it used to be so twitchy.

Anyway, I took the Merc number off the shock, and put it into the Sachs/ZF website to get the Sachs number. Searched ebay for the shock via thr Sachs number (which also matched something odd like an Astra van as it happens) and found Mister Auto ebay store shipping them from France for something stupid like £20 a side including delivery. I wouldn't usually use eBay from random sellers, but mister auto, ECP etc will do large volumes and are unlikely to have issues with fake stock.
I bought one just to check, and when I swapped it, it looked and fitted identically. So I ordered another and did it the next weekend. I could see the part number by using a torch and crawling around by the rear wheel having jack up the car a little bit (wheel still on floor) and putting some wooden sleeper chunky offcuts under the sill near the rear wheel in case the jack went. These cars have good access to crawl under from the rear, so I hardly needed to raise the car to squeeze my gut under there.

Another option.
I've just gone on to the ZF aftermarket website, put in the reg (it's the 3.2 V6 engine I had) and it shows the Sachs number as 553 870 for the rear shocks. That sounds familiar and the pictures look the same as what I got, but that is now superceded and no longer manufactured. Replacement part number is 317 268.
Some 553 870 shocks are available, but they are considerably more expensive than the 317 268. On eBay currently for £46 each. Not too bad. Autodoc for £52 not including any codes you might have, and with the volumes Autodoc do, fakes must be a very low probability.

Apart from reading the part number off the shock, the other option (probably more certain) is to get your VIN number and go on 7zap, and do a VIN search. This will pull up your model and usually when you click through to chassis, then suspension, then shocks, it will only show you the shocks (or whatever other part you're interest in) that were actually fitted to your car, and any replacements due to NLS (no longer (in) service).
Take a note of the Mercedes A number, and put that into a website like Autodoc, and you will usually find a good few options for replacement shocks. You can do this to find OEM style spare part numbers e.g. Lemforder for loads of bits for your old cars. Has saved me a fortune!

I went with Sachs because they were what were originally fitted on the car, but with Merc part numbers instead of Sachs numbers.

If you really need to shave the pounds off, the other manufacturer that seems pretty decent in my experience is KYB. Find the part number an maybe a trustworthy seller on eBay has them around £35 each for example RTG Automotive. The link below is just an example and might not be exactly the correct KYB, you will need to check using the methods outlined above.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KYB-Kaya...066671&hash=item2857bfcd40:g:DqkAAOSw8Pda0mD-

The 7ZAP website looks like a great resource. Thanks very much.

 

[ThinkPad]

Wow such great info, thanks for that detailed post.

 

[Wighty]

Just bookmarked the 7zap site as well , it does look good