Leaky damper - change as pair?

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Sp!ke

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My nearside rear damper gave up the ghost completely a couple of weeks ago in the cold spell.

The offside damper is still fine and is operating normally, despite it being nearly 20 years old.

While I was looking around for prices, I stumbled across a single damper on Ebay, a new original boxed Mercedes part - with the right part number for a mere £30.

This got me thinking about whether I could get away with fitting just the one damper instead of doing the pair (which would normally be my advice).

To cut a long story short, I thought the Ebay damper was too good a price to ignore so I bought it and fitted in on Saturday (took about half an hour to do) and the car is now handling how it should once again. So I'm pretty chuffed with such a cheap fix.

I did notice that Mercedes sell dampers separately and wondered if it was indeed common practice to replace only the defective damper rather than as pairs?

anyone?
 
FWIW, I would always replace as a pair to keep the damping the same across the car. However, Autolease and other fleet companies have a policy of only replacing the one that's actually failed.
 
If it's anything like springs, the mechanics advice is to replace in pairs, until one has to be replaced under warranty
 
I guess you know the ideal approach is to change the dampers in pairs, as despite the other side perhaps being leak free, it's damping ability will be well past it's best at 20 years old/200k :)

I think most dampers are pretty worn by 50-100k miles, new ones can transform the driving experience - less diving under braking, less squatting when you accelerate, smoother on rough roads, less body roll when cornering etc.

Up to you of course, I think I'd have done a pair together but if it's an old runaround I can see the temptation to only change stuff as it's broken.

Will
 
That was pretty much what I thought. I changed just the one as a bit of a test, the surprising thing is that the handling seems just fine with no discernable difference either side.
 
the surprising thing is that the handling seems just fine with no discernable difference either side.

The rear suspension is less compliant than the front. So I imagine if you did the same to the front you may notice that difference more.
 
True, but there was a very marked difference each side with the failed damper still in place.

I was driving the car around in the snow with the damper completely shot and it added a new dimension to things - it certainly focussed ones mind. :crazy:

I think I'll leave it as it is for a bit longer before swapping out the other, especially as it is my intention to replace the car at some point.
 
In general it's pretty easy to detect that one damper has completely failed in normal driving, but much less easy to detect that one is pristine and the other on the same axle is, let's say, past it's prime. The time that it shows up is when it's pushed to the limit, say under emergency stop conditions, which can and does add unnecessary excitement to an already stressful situation :crazy:
 
I'd say replace it when e-bay turns another one up. i wouldnt worry about it meanwhile. MB actually say its ok to change the estate type hyd cylinders 1 at a time, so why not these.
 
Common practice on trucks to just change the duff one on its own i realise slightly different dynamics at stake, but if it handles fine leave it be.



Lynall
 
I'm not convinced that the 20 year old damper is behaving any differently than the new one. On my daily commute I have to go over at least 80 speedbumps of all shapes and sizes, giving me ample opportunity to put the suspension through its paces and I have a pretty good feel for the way the car behaves as I've been driving it .... seemingly forever.

If there is a difference its so marginal that I've yet to spot it anyway. Mind you, its likely that the old damper isnt far off failing too so I'll keep my eyes peeled for another new bargain damper on Ebay.
 
mb docs state it is ok to replace one damper for non sportline chassis on 124.

there is actually a big leeway in damper force figures between 'new' and 'needs replacing'
 
I replaced both sides but kept the good one as a backup in case of any future " incident" induced damage [pothole/ sunken drain cover] which caused the demise of the first one. Surprisingly at the time they were on back order from Germany at my local dealers so got Bilsteins from ECP
 
MB actually say its ok to change the estate type hyd cylinders 1 at a time

That's because they're not shock absorbers

Nick Froome
 

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