W203 broken rear springs

[ccp]

I've heard the occasional "boing" from the rear of my 04 plate C class estate lately. It went down to the dealer today and they confirmed my fears that the rear springs are both broken

They quoted £320ish to do the pair and I'm contemplating doing it myself. Having read a few other posts I wondered if anyone had managed to change the rear springs without needing the proper merc internal spring compressor? or does anyone have the proper tool that I could hire / borrow?

Charlie

 

[BlackC55]

The rears are a doddle. I did a set on a SLK on my back in the week.

£320 is a bit steep too. I do them for about £170plus vat.

 

[x332race]

Is this a common problem with W203 estates?

I have a facelifted c270

 

[ccp]

The rears are a doddle.

So can they be done without the merc internal spring compressor?

 

[Ian B Walker]

So can they be done without the merc internal spring compressor?

Yes as both ends of the spring are retained in cups. Put a jack under the lower wishbone, undo the inner wishbone bolt and remove, then lower the jack. Spring out Tadaa. Make sure that when refitting that the spring sits properly in the wishbone as there is a spring stop in there.

 

[BlackC55]

Is this a common problem with W203 estates?

I have a facelifted c270

Yes.

I get many in the workshop.

 

[kwakdonut]

Surely springs shouldnt go that easy on a fairly newish car??

I would expect estate ones to be a bit hardier as they are generally used for that purpose ie, filling the boot with heavy stuff!!!!

Are the saloons less likely to break then?

 

[crockers]

Mine is being done today - ns rear - under warranty -- lucky I have one month left -- should they be done in pairs or is just one ok to do?

 

[mxs]

Normally done in pairs

 

[Robbie T]

Mine is being done today - ns rear - under warranty -- lucky I have one month left -- should they be done in pairs or is just one ok to do?

They're not recommended by Merc to be changed in pairs, so under warranty they'll just change whatever is neccessary. If it were an older or high mileage car i would want both done as they tend to wear at the same rate (obviously).

 

[crockers]

Just been told it's not the springs but the arms ...and only one side needs doing - if it had been springs they would have done both....sorry for getting this mixed up

 

[A-AvantGarde]

Surely springs shouldnt go that easy on a fairly newish car??

I would expect estate ones to be a bit hardier as they are generally used for that purpose ie, filling the boot with heavy stuff!!!!

Are the saloons less likely to break then?

No all W203's are effected. I've had two broken springs (i.e. on two separate occassions). Now upgraded my suspension with the Bilstein B12 kit so should be fine now

 

[prc]

hmmm...Have never had spring problems on any of my other cars, even high mileage cars. Maybe best to check every once and a while..

 

[kwakdonut]

Maybe I'll give mine a cursory glance over the weekend.....

 

[ccp]

Thanks for the info about changing the springs, I'm going to see how the "goodwill" fund is at my local merc dealer, but if that's a no-go I'll have a go myself.

Cheers.

 

[jeremytaylor]

The rear on my C320 used to creak when cold. I thought it was the shocks - maybe it was the springs?

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Broken springs aflict many cars, not just MBs. W203 seem particularly bad though!!

 

[merc man]

I just replaced my rear shoks and springs, the driver side spring was broken and the suspension retaining bit that goes after the thread at the top of the strut had blown through due to the load with out the spring, The worst thing is that i took it to mercedes croydon and they said that it was all fine, but everytime in went over a small pot hole the car would wobble badly ad make a awfull banging noise, so i juat went ahead and got the whole lot and changed it myself, only to find the problem, the process took me 2 hours. Then i went back to mercedes croydon, who said they only did a visual check and that cost me £120ish but to me it was no good but they gave me a full refund after i made some noise. but in retrospect i should have got uprated or aftermarket set-up.

 

[HughJarse]

2 rear springs on my w203 done last month too.

 

[springer]

Front driveres side on my 2004 sport coupe broken and didn't even notice until I went for the mot in may 08
Had the car picked by mobilo to the local dealer and was supprised to get a phone call a couple of hours later saying that it would cost around £360 to do, by the way the would replaced both front springs and that MERCEDES would pick up the total cost due to mileage and full service history.

Couldn't fault the service this time.