W212 Front bushes

[paul_f]

Has anyone had to have front bushes replaced on a W212 estate?

What sort of mileage?

I seem to get a bit of vibration when braking and inner edge tyre wear so wondering of bushes need replacement.

Recent MOT was fine and no knocking so unsure

 

[AlexM]

I recently examined the front the front arms and arb bushes on my 13 reg E63. The bushes on the lower arms on both sides were quite badly cracked radially, and starting to peel away from the inner metal bushing. The arb bushes were also showing some signs of wear and tear. I am starting to hear a bit of a rattle on the driver's side over road bumps, especially when cold. I was expecting it to be the arb drop links or arb bushes, which it may be, but it isn't looking good and the whole suspension needs work as the bushes are or soon will be needing attention.

I'm pretty surprised to see them looking like that at 24k and such a young age. The car is going into MB Epsom for inspection - hopefully will be covered by my tier 1 warranty.

Btw, I have also experienced severe wear on the inside shoulder of the front tyres. I thought that fixing the toe in issue with the front alignment and a new set of tyres would resolve, but the new set of contisport contact 5 look to be going the same way - 5mm in the centre and about 2-3 on the inside edge.

 

[paul_f]

Thanks. Mine isn't an AMG, but it is a heavy V6 diesel with 7 seats.

Looking with a colleague you can see the N/S/F wheel move upon braking. I think I will replace the bushes in the torque struts anyway.

 

[st13phil]

Btw, I have also experienced severe wear on the inside shoulder of the front tyres. I thought that fixing the toe in issue with the front alignment and a new set of tyres would resolve, but the new set of contisport contact 5 look to be going the same way - 5mm in the centre and about 2-3 on the inside edge.

Both my E63's have done this (one pre-facelift, the other a facelift car), my wife's old R171 SLK350 did it and so does her R172 SLK55. All cars have/had no worn suspension components and wheel alignment well within spec. I've concluded that the wear pattern is a function of MB's choice of steering geometry.

 

[AlexM]

Phil,

Yes, apparently they all do that sir. I can't see why though from the static geometry.. The front camber is only -1deg 20' which isn't a huge amount and front toe is minimal (0 deg 11'). The rear is running -2 deg 20' with the same toe as the front, with wider tyres and the wear is pretty even.

I am interested to see how much bump steer there is in the MB setup - is there a lot of dynamic geometry changes?. I had bump steer pretty much dialled out on a previous car by shimming the steering rack and the handling of the car was vastly improved.

I think I might need a visit to WIM to see what can be done - I'm getting a bit fed up of throwing front tyres away when 60% worn...

 

[st13phil]

Yes, apparently they all do that sir. I can't see why though from the static geometry.

My guess is that it's down to the relatively high caster angle that Mercedes tends to use as it creates a pretty significant camber change as the wheels are turned.

 

[AlexM]

My guess is that it's down to the relatively high caster angle that Mercedes tends to use as it creates a pretty significant camber change as the wheels are turned.

I guess that must be it but the amount of time spent on lock is minimal compared to the time with the steering straight ahead.

 

[AlexM]

Had both lower arms replaced under warranty - on the E63 the bushes can't be pressed out and replaced, the whole arm needs to be changed. I'm glad I wasn't paying - £230 per side + five hours labour to fit and do full geometry.

I've got to say that I'm pretty impressed with the improvment - ride quality is smoother, turn in is much more eager and no noises.

Regards,
Alex