New Cats required on E55 W211... Or not...!

[andyb4.5]

My W211 E55AMG started making strange exhaust noises - much louder and throater than before. Took it into a Mercedes Specialist in St Albans who promptly diagnosed it as the primary cats breaking up, and gave me a price of £3600 for MB genuine parts & labour to fit.

Funnily enough I decided to do some research before proceeding, and I'm glad I did. Having phoned round different garages (isn't it amazing how helpful some can sound, and how unhelpful others are), I went over to AA MercTech in Hoddesdon.

They popped it up on a ramp, had a good look at it, and pointed out the engine mounts were completely shot, which may then have caused a crack in the exhaust system. So I left it with them, they gave me a courtesy car free of charge. The engine mounts were fitted the next day, the exhaust was welded up nicely and refitted, and the car runs beautifully again. Total cost was £3k saving over the 1st quote from the other garage - and that option wouldn't have fixed the problem!

Have to say the experience at AA MercTech (Mercedes Specialists in Hertfordshire | AAMerctech of Hoddesdon), from Tony and his team was first class, the best I've experienced in 23 years of dealing with garages. So if you are looking for an Specialist in Hertfordshire, I'd definitely recommend them, he seemed like a genuine enthusiast who wanted to fix cars properly at a fair price.

Oh and I did get an apology from the original garage for the incorrect diagnosis. Pretty scary how close I came to wasting £3600 though...

 

[paul73mt]

I have used AA MercTech to program my NTG4 to my car and they were very helpful should me around the workshop whilst we waited for Mercedes head off to open to get my data card updated would alway try them first for fault finding

 

[H20 MRV]

Result!! : )

 

[BespokeAutomotiveDynamics]

My W211 E55AMG started making strange exhaust noises - much louder and throater than before. Took it into a Mercedes Specialist in St Albans who promptly diagnosed it as the primary cats breaking up, and gave me a price of £3600 for MB genuine parts & labour to fit.

Funnily enough I decided to do some research before proceeding, and I'm glad I did. Having phoned round different garages (isn't it amazing how helpful some can sound, and how unhelpful others are), I went over to AA MercTech in Hoddesdon.

They popped it up on a ramp, had a good look at it, and pointed out the engine mounts were completely shot, which may then have caused a crack in the exhaust system. So I left it with them, they gave me a courtesy car free of charge. The engine mounts were fitted the next day, the exhaust was welded up nicely and refitted, and the car runs beautifully again. Total cost was £3k saving over the 1st quote from the other garage - and that option wouldn't have fixed the problem!

Have to say the experience at AA MercTech (Mercedes Specialists in Hertfordshire | AAMerctech of Hoddesdon), from Tony and his team was first class, the best I've experienced in 23 years of dealing with garages. So if you are looking for an Specialist in Hertfordshire, I'd definitely recommend them, he seemed like a genuine enthusiast who wanted to fix cars properly at a fair price.

Oh and I did get an apology from the original garage for the incorrect diagnosis. Pretty scary how close I came to wasting £3600 though...

£600 is still very expensive to what you paid, I would have got that done for half of that if not still a 3rd off the price.

I get my custom exhaust work done from St Albans but engine mounts are not that expensive & the garage probably got them from Merc main dealers with a possible 25% discount so charged you full retail part money and then labour to fit them and welding which would cost no more then £40 probably drink EMP/Top Gear I would have paid.

You paid a lot in my opinion.

 

[Auto-mobile]

£600 is still very expensive to what you paid, I would have got that done for half of that if not still a 3rd off the price.

I get my custom exhaust work done from St Albans but engine mounts are not that expensive & the garage probably got them from Merc main dealers with a possible 25% discount so charged you full retail part money and then labour to fit them and welding which would cost no more then £40 probably drink EMP/Top Gear I would have paid.

You paid a lot in my opinion.

Heaven forbid! Full retail? Do you mention that to tescos with your weekly shop? It's there livelihood not a charity.

You will be paying for the mounts at retail, labour to do the job and then removal/welding and refit of exhaust.

 

[BespokeAutomotiveDynamics]

Heaven forbid! Full retail? Do you mention that to tescos with your weekly shop? It's there livelihood not a charity.

You will be paying for the mounts at retail, labour to do the job and then removal/welding and refit of exhaust.

mind you I owned an e55k which I recently sold so I know what I am talking about when it comes to prices.

I suppose I am trying to help the people on the forum then to them getting ripped off.

example on my c36 I got last year this list done as follows.

* Rear coil springs
* all 4 discs & pads
* gearbox oil & filter
* engine oil & filter
* auxiliary belt
* front bearings

all parts I supplied myself so the labour I paid for all of that was £160

Now I think that is a good earner for a garage for a job that comes in and out within 5 hours. Do you think that the gentleman paid £600 is a good price seriously?

I get automatic gearboxes taken apart and put back together by my guys, the part on my C220 cdi electronic selector module was gone anyway long story short the part was £1200 from Mercedes main dealers, I got it for £200 from main dealers and by the time it was fitted by my guys at Eco Torque they only charged me £650.

I think the engine mounts cost no more then £160 tops and the welding on the exhaust no more then £40 labour to do.

Now work out the labour rate to fit the engine mounts? £400? thats what I would be doing.

 

[Auto-mobile]

example on my c36 I got last year this list done as follows.

* Rear coil springs
* all 4 discs & pads
* gearbox oil & filter
* engine oil & filter
* auxiliary belt
* front bearings

all parts I supplied myself so the labour I paid for all of that was £160.

Seems legit, circa £15 an hour labour?

 

[andyb4.5]

Engine mounts were £75 x 2, plus £31 x 1. Plus VAT. So that's £220ish for parts alone.

They took the exhaust system off completely, and had a specialist welder fix up the exhaust, so I paid for the weld, and the labour to remove & refit the system.

I'm happy with the work they did, the customer service & good attitude, and courtesy car as well. So the price for me was fine (it was £500-£550 - I took off the price of some other work they did that wasn't relevant to this topic!).

I'll be returning to them next time

 

[jamesfuller]

Engine mounts were £75 x 2, plus £31 x 1. Plus VAT. So that's £220ish for parts alone.

They took the exhaust system off completely, and had a specialist welder fix up the exhaust, so I paid for the weld, and the labour to remove & refit the system.

I'm happy with the work they did, the customer service & good attitude, and courtesy car as well. So the price for me was fine (it was £500-£550 - I took off the price of some other work they did that wasn't relevant to this topic!).

I'll be returning to them next time

Seems reasonable to me!

 

[H20 MRV]

and I though we scots were tight!!

 

[cj440]

£600 is still very expensive to what you paid, I would have got that done for half of that if not still a 3rd off the price.

I get my custom exhaust work done from St Albans but engine mounts are not that expensive & the garage probably got them from Merc main dealers with a possible 25% discount so charged you full retail part money and then labour to fit them and welding which would cost no more then £40 probably drink EMP/Top Gear I would have paid.

You paid a lot in my opinion.

25% discount from a main dealer, yep you clearly no what your talking about

 

[astamir]

mind you I owned an e55k which I recently sold so I know what I am talking about when it comes to prices. I suppose I am trying to help the people on the forum then to them getting ripped off. example on my c36 I got last year this list done as follows. * Rear coil springs * all 4 discs & pads * gearbox oil & filter * engine oil & filter * auxiliary belt * front bearings all parts I supplied myself so the labour I paid for all of that was £160 Now I think that is a good earner for a garage for a job that comes in and out within 5 hours. Do you think that the gentleman paid £600 is a good price seriously? I get automatic gearboxes taken apart and put back together by my guys, the part on my C220 cdi electronic selector module was gone anyway long story short the part was £1200 from Mercedes main dealers, I got it for £200 from main dealers and by the time it was fitted by my guys at Eco Torque they only charged me £650. I think the engine mounts cost no more then £160 tops and the welding on the exhaust no more then £40 labour to do. Now work out the labour rate to fit the engine mounts? £400? thats what I would be doing.

More details for Eco Torque please