Harsh ride. Struts?

Joined
Jan 3, 2020
Messages
984
Location
Brittany
Something i notice with my 93 W124 is that it doesn't ride like it should. Low speed driving is ok, highway speeds are ok but the ride is harsh between let's say 50 and 100 kmh. The weird part is that it seems almost worse when the road is nice. The asphalt on half on the roads in my area is completely new and my car rides terrible bad on those. It's like there's a very slight bounce going all the time but in a harsh way. I've had cars with shot struts and usually it feels very vague and way too soft.

I put new struts in the back since i already bought them for another W124 and never installed them. I thought that the old ones would be very soft but it was the opposite, they were extra hard to compress by hand. In fact i almost had to cut to shaft to get them out, they were extremely stiff. I wonder if the front ones are like that. It's hard to notice, they seems fine when i push the front of the car but of course there's the weight of the car etc.

The front control arm bushings don't seem bad or collapsed but i also suspect i have one or more bad diff mounts or rear subframes bushings. I can't confirm that the rear end has nothing to do with the issue but the shocks are new, things are slightly better but it feels to me like it mostly have to do with the front suspension of the car. Of course i could (and should...) rebuild the whole front and rear suspension but the parts cannon approach is not what i like the most, neither does my wallet.

PS: I am positive that the full front suspension is original.

Tell me what you think!
 
Harsh ride is usually from hard/deteriorating rubber parts. Bushings is my guess
 
Bushings. Subframe and suspension arm. Time for a rebuild.

Go with good quality parts, like
Lemforder, or Mercedes Benz.

No cut-rate knockoff junk. No Amazon or eBay sellers with “amazing” prices. Don’t put counterfeit junk on your W124. You will regret it.

Big improvement in my S class when I did a complete rebuild with control arms, ball joints, etc.

It was smooth before, and wonderful afterwards.
 
open your wallet VERY WIDE for a quality COMPLETE suspension rebuild!!
I did the S class for well under $1,000 in parts. I did everything, including upper control arms, lower control arms, torque arms, ball joints, inner tie rods and outer tie rods and the subsequent alignment.

Key point: I did everything.

Also - Ball joint press for the W220 works on the R230 as well.
 
I did the S class for well under $1,000 in parts. I did everything, including upper control arms, lower control arms, torque arms, ball joints, inner tie rods and outer tie rods and the subsequent alignment.

Key point: I did everything.

Also - Ball joint press for the W220 works on the R230 as well.
Front and rear suspension?
 
I did the S class for well under $1,000 in parts. I did everything, including upper control arms, lower control arms, torque arms, ball joints, inner tie rods and outer tie rods and the subsequent alignment.

Key point: I did everything.

Also - Ball joint press for the W220 works on the R230 as well.
How long ago, are these 2022 prices / availability? I lost count of all the things I did / bought in 2018-ish, a period of time that sometimes feels like "yesterday" that are more than double today.
 
How long ago, are these 2022 prices / availability? I lost count of all the things I did / bought in 2018-ish, a period of time that sometimes feels like "yesterday" that are more than double today.
Lemforder, when available, saves a lot of money over Mercedes.

I just did ball joints and torque arms on the SL600.

Prices are similar to the S class from years ago. $90 each for the torque arms. About $40 each for ball joints.

 
Thanks. For Bilstein shocks and Lemforder control arms i am at 400€ roughly to rebuild the front end. I don't see the point in replacing other parts, steering is very tight like a new car and tires show no abnormal wear at all. I'll check the dealer prices next time i go there.

What about the springs? They have a bit of surface rust but that's all.
 
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Thanks. For Bilstein shocks and Lemforder control arms i am at 400€ roughly to rebuild the front end. I don't see the point in replacing other parts, steering is very tight like a new car and tires show no abnormal wear at all. I'll check the dealer prices next time i go there.

What about the springs? They have a bit of surface rust but that's all.
Ah, you’re in Brittany, so the link I provided won’t work for you, but Lemforder is a good brand, as is Bilstein.

How many miles on this?

Because, when my wife’s Volvo hit 250,000 (miles, roughly 400,000 km) I did front and rear springs in addition to sub frame mounts, front lower control arms, ball joints, front and rear strut mounts, front and rear struts, and inner and outer tie rods.

It rides like new.

Also, for the record, I’m not a fan of suspension work, but it’s necessary when cars get older. Bushings in particular wear out but it happens slowly and you don’t really notice the slow, subtle degradation.
 
Also, looked at my order; torque arm kit (both arms) $245. Balljoint kit (2 balljoints) $45. $290 for that work on the SL600, this last week.

So, prices suspension parts are up a bit, but about what I said, and not a huge percentage from when I did the S600 a few years ago. That work included engine mounts. Cheap parts, crazy labor to do the engine mounts on the V-12.
 
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At that mileage, I would think springs are still OK. But front suspension bushings are done.
Do you think that front suspension items wear quicker than rear suspension parts? I drove a very high mileage Mercedes with a rebuilt front suspension but i assume most parts were original at the back, everything looked a bit rusty under here but the car was extremely smooth to drive.
 
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