Paragon1970
Member
I think I have had enough of Mercedes cars.
2008 Mercedes E280.
Headed off for our annual camping vacation to the South of France on Friday.
Caught the Dover to Calais ferry and headed off down the autoroute at 80MPH / 130KPH reached Reims 2.5 hours in. The car felt great.
Passed a vehicle in the slower lane when I heard what sounded like a bottle cap tapping down the motorway, I actually cursed the driver, to myself, in the vehicle I passed thinking they had thrown something out of the widow.
Car had no indication of trouble and was planning on stopping for a rest break at next service station 10 kilometres further when five kilometres later an almighty bang occurred and the vehicle pulled violently across lanes, managed to steady it and bring to controlled stop on hard shoulder but this could have been disaster if there had been any other vehicle beside or near us at the time.
Checked the front wheel and instantly noticed the plastic hub cap and inner metal cap was missing, so pretty sure that was what popped off under pressure 5k back and there was a flame burning from inside the hub presume grease caught fire due to extreme friction.
The car was MOT'd two days prior to leaving and no issue was picked up.
There was no indication of pending failure, in the past I have had vehicles were bearings could be heard when they are failing.
So we are now back in the UK, two nights hotel, 5 very expensive taxi rides and two hire cars later one of which nearly 3 hours to hire, which was longer than it took to drive back to Calais! We cancelled holiday as injured back in the process and have no idea when car will be fixed. AA European breakdown are dealing with it.
Did make it to garage the following day just before closing to pick up some clean clothes and gain an update. Noticed grinder on the floor along with gas torch next to car so knew there was a bigger issue than straight forward bearing replacement.
Mechanic advised that at least a new stub axle was required and maybe a hub but that brake calipers and disk seemed ok but who knows. Waiting for an update from AA on Monday (tomorrow)
Have more to this story which I will share in time but will hold off for now depending on how events turn out.
In all my years of motoring I have never experienced such an event and I have driven some old dogs in my time, my confidence in Mercedes quality is at a very low ebb, in my mind I would not have expected such a failure on vehicle from such a prestige brand.
Cheers.
2008 Mercedes E280.
Headed off for our annual camping vacation to the South of France on Friday.
Caught the Dover to Calais ferry and headed off down the autoroute at 80MPH / 130KPH reached Reims 2.5 hours in. The car felt great.
Passed a vehicle in the slower lane when I heard what sounded like a bottle cap tapping down the motorway, I actually cursed the driver, to myself, in the vehicle I passed thinking they had thrown something out of the widow.
Car had no indication of trouble and was planning on stopping for a rest break at next service station 10 kilometres further when five kilometres later an almighty bang occurred and the vehicle pulled violently across lanes, managed to steady it and bring to controlled stop on hard shoulder but this could have been disaster if there had been any other vehicle beside or near us at the time.
Checked the front wheel and instantly noticed the plastic hub cap and inner metal cap was missing, so pretty sure that was what popped off under pressure 5k back and there was a flame burning from inside the hub presume grease caught fire due to extreme friction.
The car was MOT'd two days prior to leaving and no issue was picked up.
There was no indication of pending failure, in the past I have had vehicles were bearings could be heard when they are failing.
So we are now back in the UK, two nights hotel, 5 very expensive taxi rides and two hire cars later one of which nearly 3 hours to hire, which was longer than it took to drive back to Calais! We cancelled holiday as injured back in the process and have no idea when car will be fixed. AA European breakdown are dealing with it.
Did make it to garage the following day just before closing to pick up some clean clothes and gain an update. Noticed grinder on the floor along with gas torch next to car so knew there was a bigger issue than straight forward bearing replacement.
Mechanic advised that at least a new stub axle was required and maybe a hub but that brake calipers and disk seemed ok but who knows. Waiting for an update from AA on Monday (tomorrow)
Have more to this story which I will share in time but will hold off for now depending on how events turn out.
In all my years of motoring I have never experienced such an event and I have driven some old dogs in my time, my confidence in Mercedes quality is at a very low ebb, in my mind I would not have expected such a failure on vehicle from such a prestige brand.
Cheers.
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