Recap....5 years ago I recognized that there was something amiss with the steering of my pagoda when I was trying to keep up with some spirited drivers in the local Mercedes Club with modern machinery. Once I got home I started pushing and pulling on things but couldn't find anything wrong. Fast forward to April of this year - while I was laid up with knee surgery I got under the car and figured I would get to the bottom of the issues - tire wear - uniform, wheel bearings - tight, steering bushings - fine, king pins - fine, tie rods - fine, drag link - clunk - BAD - gotcha
So ordered the parts from Stevens Creek Mercedes in San Jose as soon as the border opened to us Canadians, (ordered a steering shock absorber as well as I think Joe Alexander said they are usually bad by the time something else down there is bad - mine was toast)
The connections came apart nicely with a smaller pickle fork and a medium sized hammer, and everything went back together easily and I'm back on the road.
I took my car out for an early morning jaunt to get to the twisties where I performed a seat of the pants test at "excessive" speed (proper speed is where the tires start to give a constant squeal though the twisties in both directions) and success, car handles those corners better than it ever has in my ownership. The twitchiness is gone.
A shout out to our Forum for the info needed to remedy my issue and to the parts guys at Stevens Creek Mercedes in San Jose- I contacted a few Mercedes shops and Stevens Creek was the only one which took the time to respond to me by email that I had a wrong part number and that they had the correct parts in stock - and they got my business. Why are parts so expensive in Canada?
