Front wheels can fall off !!!!!!

[renault12ts]

See this::

www.benzworld.org/forums/mb-safety-testimonials/1364642-1995-c220-front-wheel-fell-rusted.html

 

[Howard]

Do they not have the equivalent of an MOT out there ?

I'd like to think that something like that would be spotted by a tech at a service or whetever ...

Olly would spot that i'm sure ....

Just a question of whether the techs are like robots and only do what they are told to do , or if they actually have a look round the car while they work ...

 

[Doodle]

The OP in the thread goes on to say he does his own maintenance.

The Yanks don't have an MoT in the same way we do, so you get some right buckets on the road that would have been scrapped years ago here. They're also great purveyors of unrealistic expectation, and "It's someone else's fault" - something that seems to have started infecting the UK now.

I think we can all see where the problem is here...

 

[Dieselman]

I think we can all see where the problem is here...

Yes, Bad design and poor corrosion resistance. A different posters problem.

I have recently had the same failure on the passenger side. It was fortunate that I encountered stopped traffic on the interstate and had slowed to about 5 mph when the combined force of braking and hitting an expansion joint in the overpass caused my right side lower control arm to separate into two pieces. The obvious cause (once it was broken) was internal rust. Prior to failure THERE WAS NO EXTERNAL EVIDENCE OF THIS PROBLEM. It was an entirely latent defect.

This occurred within a matter of days after state inspection of the brakes and ball joints by my regular dealership and only a matter of a few weeks after I had had all of the srvice parts in the front end replaced by an experienced Benz mechanic. The problem was not seen in either case and my high regard for these mechanics confirms that there was no visible evidence of this very serious defect.

As a registered professional mechanical engineer, I have a few comments to make.

1. In my opinion, a lower control arm should NEVER break. If it has a design life, it is incumbent on the maker to specify when it should be replaced. It is an extremely critical part, and failure could put occupants in mortal danger.

2. Mercedes Benz has not provided ANY maintenance guidance for this part of which I am aware, and therefore I am led to conclude that none was intended.

3. In my opinion, It is absolutely vital that owners of these cars immediately have their lower control arms checked by a competent mechanic. I have no doubt that failure at speed can kill. I hope that it has not already happened.

 

[Doodle]

I would agree; to keep prices down the LCA's now have what could be described as flawed design/manufacture that previously didn't exist.

However, given that we salt our roads which would surely make the corrosion issue worse, I would expect this to be even more of an issue here? To my knowledge it isn't (although I could well be wrong!)

 

[lynall]

Thats very heavy rust the sort you see on boats and very old machinery.



Lynall