1998 Mercedes-Benz C230 Suspension Problems

“On friday, august 8, 2008, while driving home from work through a residential neighborhood at approximately 20-25 MPH. My left front coil spring fell completely off my car! The front end dropped, I temporarily lost control of the car, and the spring went into the road, causing a road hazard for any on-coming vehicle (thankfully there were none). …”

“I was driving down the road and noticed the front end drop and the car was not handling right. I drove the car to the repair shop and had asked them to look at the shocks. That's when I was informed that the coil spring mount was cracked and was separating from the frame, I was also informed the passenger side was not much better... They said it was due to a rust issue although the car was stored winters. Very disappointing.. …”

“I was sitting stopped in traffic with the engine off, and the front drivers' side of my vehicle just spontaneously dropped as if that part of the vehicle had fallen into a sink hole. I was waiting for a draw bridge to come down after a sailboat passed, so the car was turned off. When I got out of the vehicle to inspect what had happened, I could see that the front spring had separated from its top mount in what I assume was the frame of the vehicle. When I searched on-line I found that this is something that happens all the time with various models of mercedes benz. …”

“Spring mount brackets, driving car turned left into lot car felt like it dropped a foot took to nearest auto place, pepboys the service guy turned the wheel and the spring shot out of the car amost severley injuring him. Missed him by an inch. Took to mercedes body shop fixed it but said the other will do the same thing. I asked the service tec. If this has happened on other cars. His reply shocked me when he said several times on the c280 never has happened on the C230. It happened!!!! …”

“The driver's side upper coil-spring mount tore away from the body structure, ejecting the coil spring and bushing, collapsing the front suspension and rendering the car immobile. The car was parked at the time so no collision. If the car was moving at the time of the failure there would be no way to steer it. Due to estimated repair cost of $1500-2000 versus resale value, the car was sold as-is and towed away.”