3 year old mercedes rattle rear offside

WellKnownSid

bungrefurb wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. I've booked it in with garage. It's still under warranty till end of September.

Mine was a C class - and was out of warranty at the time, four years old. I'd actually taken it to the local Kwik Fit - they had the car on the ramp (twice) and I even drove a fitter around for 20 minutes to prove I wasn't imagining it. No fault found. Insisted it was something rattling in the boot.

Car was due for a service shortly after, so it went in a month later to the main dealer. Mechanic picked up the keys, drove the car from the car park into the service bay (50 feet?) and walked to reception to find me. "I heard a noise when I drove over the road hump into the bay, one of your springs is broken."

Sure enough, it had broken at the very top.

Main dealers get a lot of stick for being stupid and expensive - but it goes to show they often know their cars...

colino

The Mercedes dealer tech would also be aware of the common faults and ridiculous cost-cutting that meant a four year old version would have needed such a repair, while a twenty-four year old one, would not.

WellKnownSid

colino wrote: »

The Mercedes dealer tech would also be aware of the common faults and ridiculous cost-cutting that meant a four year old version would have needed such a repair, while a twenty-four year old one, would not.

Probably true, but to correct you - my 300E is now twenty seven years old, not twenty four. Came with the original invoice - I was still at school when it was first registered - and it cost more than the house I was living in at the time. They threw in a 'free' cassette player apparently.

It's a small and light car in today's money, resulting in better handling, plus it's much smoother and quieter being a six cylinder. £125 a year to insure. Our local tester always laughs when it comes in and flies through its MoT, zero corrosion. Gets 29 mpg on a decent run.

But, hey, that's a different story...

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

My 1999 Merc was always breaking springs. You need to be careful apparently, because there are a lot of similar springs with different characteristics so best left to a dealer or specialist who actually understands how to order the correct one for your specific model.

colino

For a while Mercedes were stating that owners were fitting the wrong, aftermarket springs leading to breakages. Strange, they only for the most part had either a red or a blue version for each fitting. Turns out the QC for their springs was as bad as that of their sheet metal. All their and their accountants fault, but a well lubed PR team to divert the blame away to someone else.

bungrefurb

Just a thank you to all. It was the springs, rear pair replaced.