I’m not familiar with the brand. All my cars that had level control just operated the rear.
The dealer repair shop diagnosed it to be the left (driver side) strut replacement. whole assembly. Waited all of last week for the part. REpair shop called to inform me that MB is not carrying the part but an after market replacement with warranty is available and would recommend it. I figured it would be much cheaper. To my disappointment the dealer informs me that it is only 100 bucks cheaper . How is that possible. MB parts are 3 times expensive. Any advise, comments?
Well , you need a strut but it only makes sense to do both sides at the same time . I don’t know where you have been but everything is more expensive now.
If MB is no longer supplying that part, it seems to me that you have no choice but to go with the aftermarket part.
If no genuine MB parts are available, then the aftermarket supplier is probably taking advantage of the situation by jacking-up his price. Then, the dealership has to make their profit on the part. All repair shops have to mark-up the price that they pay for parts, or they couldn’t afford to stay in business.
I really hope that the OP is having the strut replaced on both sides.
At 17 years old both front struts should be replaced. That is the proper repair along with an alignment. Not only is it the proper repair but failure to do so means you will soon do it again when the next weakest link in the chain (the other side) gives up. The only way one strut is replaced is if by some chance a strut fails on a lower miles car under warranty. In cases like that warranty will only pay for the failed component but odds are the other is and will be fine for a long while.
What I would suggest is go online in regard to the aftermarket air struts I mentioned, buy a pair of those (7 to 800 a pair), and locate a shop willing to install them.
When a car ages factory parts become obsolete and quite often in far less than 10 years although the perception is that they are required by law to offer them. That is not true.
You should also keep in mind that many times the factory original parts are manufactured by the same companies who produce the aftermarket ones. That is true of every car maker and for a plethora of parts.
Yes I realize no one likes to spend one dime on their vehicle but those air bags have lasted 17 years which is a good long lifespan for rubber and the bill on any car repair does come due at some point.
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The dealer is telling me that one strut (replacement part) costs 1000 and the after market is not too far from that price. Also he indicates his mechanic does not believe the right has to be replaced as well. I am going to suggest that I buy the part left and right and pay for labor . Please advise. This is a shop that has built good rapport with me and hence I tread carefully.
Are you sure that left an right have to be done???
His mechanic is an idiot.
I’ve only heard of replacing 1 shock/strut/spring if both were near new or just replaced and there was a failure.
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Both struts are 17 years old with 144k miles of wear on them. Replacing just one strut would be like having only one heel replaced on your shoes, even though both heels are the same age.
Just as your walking would be unbalanced by replacing just one heel, your handling would be unbalanced if you replace just one of the two struts.
+1
Maybe. It could be that the service advisor quoted an imaginary mechanic to soften the blow of an expensive replacement. Maybe a competent mechanic inspected the other strut and thought it didn’t need replacement. My daughter uses a shop near us. She was way overdue for a timing belt replacement on her 2012 Cruze. Her shop inspected it and said the belt didn’t need replacement at this time. Her in-laws have used this shop for decades and think they are terrific. That was about a month ago and she just bought a 2019 CX-5 and traded the Cruze last Saturday.
Maybe, I can only go on the info provided. And that info leads me to believe the mechanic is an idiot
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If that mechanic said the right does not need to be replaced then you should not have him touch your car at all. Ask them this. If the ignored air strut fails afterward will they agree to replace it free of charge as to both parts and labor AND put it in writing? I bet that ends that conversation.
Air struts usually fail because of dry rotted rubber. Why do you think tires and accessory belts fail or it is recommended that they be replaced after X number of years? For the very same dry rot reason.
My suggestion is to forget the dealer rapport you have and find an decent independent shop who would install the aftermarket air struts for you and at quite likely a lower rate.
And I am not accusing the Benz dealer of gouging. New car dealers have a different business model and their expenses (which are very numerous and involve things independents do not face) are vastly higher than independents.
Someone (the customers) has to pay for that vastly higher overhead.
I don’t see any listing for a Mercedes e5000 for 2005 model year. Do you mean e500? I understand this is about the left side. But is your the strut problem on the rear, or front? As far as I can see from the post above, you don’t ever actually say if it is front or rear in any of your posts. Suggest to clarify this point. Both the parts cost and hours of labor differ front vs rear. Does your car have either of the active or self-leveling suspension options?
I’m presuming your car is actually an e500 and the problem is the left front strut w/ active suspension option. If so I’m seeing $1300 for each oem Mercedes part, and 2 hours labor for one side, and 3 hours labor for both sides. Not sure why @Nevada_545 above expects it will take 6 hours labor for that job, front, both sides. Nevada’s a Mercedes expert, so if there’s a dispute, he’d know better than me.
As far as the cost factor, you might ask the shop if they can install regular struts (instead of the active suspension version). The regular struts go for about $250 each, so big savings possible if that swap is doable on your car, and you are willing to live with the reduced ride quality. If you really want the optimum ride quality of active suspension, I’d suggest you stick w/genuine oem Mercedes parts and do both sides. If you have to wait for the oem part availability, wait. You might be able to reduce the cost a little using an independent repair shop rather than a dealership. You seem to like your shop pretty good though, so overall, probably best just to bite the bullet, stick with them, and have them install oem components both sides. Will sting your wallet a little, but I expect you’ll like the result.
If you have doubts about the diagnosis, get another opinion from a qualified shop.
There’s some misc parts that probably will be replaced as part of this job, boots, strut mounts, shims, etc, so expect the total parts cost to go up a little for that. And as mentioned above, you’ll need to pay for a front end wheel alignment after the job is complete. While the car is on the alignment gadget, might as well do a four wheel alignment job rather just front, imo.
With AWD the labor is 6 hours for both front shock/air spring assemblies.
If converting to coil springs, all four corners must be changed, not as simple as replacing one leaking air spring unit.
Not disputing, but OP doesn’t mention the car has AWD. Maybe I just don’t understand Mercedes parlance. Are you able to tell car is AWD by OP referring to the car as an e5000 rather than e500? Or does “4matic” mean AWD?
yes…
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I though 4Matic meant it had a 4 speed automatic transmission … lol … seems I need a lesson on Mercedes lingo …
Its is e500 and I said in my post it was the drivers side front. Early post
Here is an update. Last Thursday the service manager called me to inform that the original OEM (MB) part i.e. the left front strut is not available anywhere in the US since they have stopped mfg. I called around and though the part if available at some MB dealerships they dont wish to release it for another shop knowing its not manufactured. The shop foreman recommended Arnott industries strut and he got on the phone and assured me 1) that its as good or better than MB OEM and he has installed many 2) he said we dont need to touch the right strut now. I gave him the arguments from cartalk community to do both but he assured me that its not ncecessary. The part is priced at Autozone for 672.00. But they marked it at 907. Labor he is charging me 5.5 units of labor at 250 a unit making a grand total of 2500. I am arguing with them that the actual part is 672 plus say 3 units of labor that should make it 1422. May be 1500 is a fair price. But the shop is arguing that its dealership price etc etc. My argument is that I would ahve gladly paid 3000 for both struts and labor but you said no to it. I have not collected the car yet and awaiting some feedback from you all. Tell me if I am being fair or under valuing.
Maybe you should just except that owning European luxury vehicles is not cheap . If it really bothers you this much then trade for something more affordable.
As for not doing both sides , that just sounds foolish .
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