W211 Suspension Collapse

[05 E280 CDI]

The front suspension has just collapsed with a mighty bang on my 2005 E280 cdi luckily traveling at slow speed.

Looking on the web it seems this is an regular problem on the W210 model but it looks like they still have the problem on the W211 model.
Looking at previous posts mb replaced the springs on the W210s under the warranty even on high milage cars.

They have refused to replace mine under warranty because its done 107k. Not the best way to treat a loyal MB owner on his 4 car with them.

I am in the process of escalating the complaint with mb, and will post the problem on every MB forum and blog warning other owners to be aware.

I will let you know if I have any luck and post some photos of the broken spring.

 

[Sp!ke]

Is it a broken spring or a broken spring perch?

If the latter then this is truly shocking for a 2005 car especially seeing we're all told that 2004+ MB's are all galvanised and wiont suffer the dreaded tinworm.

 

[JasM]

Olly has previously posted about this problem.

LINK

 

[Rory]

They always seem to break either with car standing, or travelling at low speed.

The consequences of them breaking at high speed don't bear thinking about. I'm beyond staggered that Mercedes think this is acceptable on a car that is 4 years old. What's mileage got to do with it, springs don't wear out?

Even Renault replaced both rear springs FOC on my wife's Clio when they broke at 4years old, and that car was bought in the days of 1 year warranties.

 

[AndyPCD]

This is a very common problem on 211's i have done 100's of front springs on them.
As you contacting MB over it you may get some good will but i doubt they will pay the full cost you will still have to contribute to the costs though as MB have moved the goal posts to what they will pay for under good will.
What sort of price are they quoting you to do the job if you dont mind me asking.

If you get them to repair the car one thing to check is the front wings as these can be damaged by turning the wheel too far

 

[Satch]

This is not a Mercedes specific problem: Go on any car forum and you find somebody complaining about deceased springs and how this never happened so much in the olde days. And they are right, although car makers are playing dumb.

So, to rehash an old post, in the "real" 4x4 world we tend to be heavy on springs & dampers. Nobody really bleats much if their springs break as a result of off roading, but it actually happens quite rarely because the springs tend to be humungous and made in a different way.

In the not so old days coil springs on cars were usually formed by a hot winding process. A properly made and treated hot wound spring can tolerate a significant amount of rust before it becomes too weak and fractures. Might sag a bit, but will soldier on.

However, most of the coil springs on vehicles today are formed using a cold forming process. The advantage of the cold process is that the springs weigh significantly less and can still support the load.

Did I mention that they are cheaper to make? You can work out the rest.

Sadly, the stress in these springs is significantly increased over hot wound springs and the metallurgical structure (i.e the metal crystal pattern) from cold forming is such that a small amount of rust can lead to a surface crack that propagates in the classic way leading to a fracture, usually only discovered by an equally classic catastrophic failure.

So modern cold formed coil springs need to be properly made, stress relieved, surface treated and painted carefully so they do not corrode. And you only get that done properly by specialist makers because it is an expensive process.

Moral: clean those springs off and paint them with a wax rust treatment on a regular basis. Or get some decent springs.

Ah, progress.

 

[Rory]

This is a very common problem on 211's i have done 100's of front springs on them.

Have any of them broken at speed - if so, what happens?

Is this problem unique to the UK for some reason - perhaps lots of salt on our roads?
I was in a new W211 taxi in France recently and the driver (owner too, I reckon) made no concession to speed bumps - banging the car over them without any hesitation.

 

[BTB 500]

Have any of them broken at speed - if so, what happens?

I suspect not much. Having an entire wheel come off is not uncommon, and even that is usually a lot less dramatic than you'd think. I was narrowly missed by a stray wheel coming in the opposite direction once!

 

[Rory]

I suspect not much. Having an entire wheel come off is not uncommon, and even that is usually a lot less dramatic than you'd think. I was narrowly missed by a stray wheel coming in the opposite direction once!

I know on some cars (Ford Focus springs to mind) the broken spring end cuts into the tyre. I can't recall hearing of an accident resulting, but it's hard to imagine that's never happened.

 

[bpsorrel]

Would a dealer/specialist be able to tell before they break, if they're going to in the near future? Maybe changing to higher spec springs would be worth doing...

 

[05 E280 CDI]

Thanks for all your comments

Just to update you, I had no luck with mb customer service they say mileage is too high and out of warranty. I will check the broken spring for corrosion though if if its showing some try again.

The annoying thing is having phoned the mb recovery they did not say it was not covered under the warranty so it got taken to the local mb garage and then I am told they will not repair it under warranty and want £330.00 for both sides, by which time its too much hassle and cost to take it to another garage.

They have now told me its not necessary to replace both sides just the broken one so £165.00 I hope they are right on this? (any advice Satch or Willow132)

When my warranty ran out a few months back I had a number of mail shots from mb offering extended warranty but no option for a car over 100k so I get the impression that mb don't trust there cars once they have reached this milage which is not a lot for cars these days.

Lets see how long before the next one goes!!

 

[AndyPCD]

To be honest at that mileage i would replace both for 2 reasons.
1 you dont know how long it is before the other side breaks and
2 i have know in the past for the car to sit lop sided due to the other one being worn and weaker.
Its a shame its at a dealer and to much hassle/cost to get it moved as i could of done both sides for about the same cost as what you are getting charged for one side

 

[Rory]

When my warranty ran out a few months back I had a number of mail shots from mb offering extended warranty but no option for a car over 100k so I get the impression that mb don't trust there cars once they have reached this milage which is not a lot for cars these days.

Lets see how long before the next one goes!!

I suppose if you amortise the cost over the mileage it's not too expensive, but you must have spent a small fortune both on cars and MB servicing over the years. You'd think they'd offer some goodwill, especially on a component that isn't a service item - they really ought to be made to last the life of the car.

MB have chosen to save money by using cheap crappy springs so they leave you with the hassle of unexpectedly having the car off the road and the bill to pay.

 

[franey]

Buy an W220 S Class, the spring never ever ever break. Ever.

 

[kth286]

I wish somebody could throw some light on these spring problems.

A spring is supposed to compress and extend - so why do some of them die an untimely death.

Is it the quality of the metal or the manufacturing process ?

Can we not get some authority (spring manufacturer perhaps) to comment.

Are steel bridges still made - should we be very scared.

 

[Rory]

I wish somebody could throw some light on these spring problems.

There's a plausible explanation detailed above.

Another issue I heard as an explanation when both rear coils snapped on my wife's 1998 Clio was that they used to hang the springs up using a piece of wire while they're painted. This left an unpainted ring and they corrode there and snap - certainly on my wife's car they both snapped in exactly the same place with a vey clean break.

 

[AndyPCD]

Rory that is a very good explanation as if you took all the coil springs i have replaced over time have all pretty much snapped in the same place.

They all seem to be about the same age vehicle as well.

 

[Birdman]

Where did it fracture?

I had a W210 n/s spring break which proved to be near the lower tip where the cup support (perch) collected road water, so the spring tip sat in a salty bath throughout the winter, presumably.

I had heard the spate of snapping is caused by using cheaper untreated metal to fashion the springs from.

I replaced both because at its high mileage the car might not have been balanced. The two together cost about £100 to replace, including labour.

 

[Druk]

Where mine went. I did both sides.

 

[05 E280 CDI]

Pictures follow of my broken spring as you can see it was rusty at the point it broke
Any one know what's covered under the MB corrosion warranty