[HH93]

Hello,
Just had an A Service and had to have the Passenger side Lower Spring arm replaced due to the Bushes being worn - explaining the Clunk on a Left turn. Is this a usual thing for 38,000 miles / five years ???. anyone else had Front Suspension Bushes replaced so early ???


Thanks in advance

Howie

 

[Tony Mac]

Did your GLC suffer from Crabbing?

Wondering if the crabbing & Juddering fault may have impacted the bushes 🤔

 

[HH93]

Did your GLC suffer from Crabbing?

Wondering if the crabbing & Juddering fault may have impacted the bushes 🤔

Not sure about "Crabbing" It seems to run straight and true with the hands off the wheel, unless It's something else I haven't noticed ???

It does do the skipping on full lock that GLC's seem to suffer with, but I do Full Lock hardly ever and back off a few degrees when manoeuvring in a tighter space. I had to change the front tyres as they had worn down excessively on the inner shoulders.

It was just the Left side bush / arm assembly so I was wondering if its common.

Regards

Howie

 

[Grego]

Had the front passenger side ball joint replaced at 36000 miles and 5 years old. It failed its MOT on this and had no option but to agree for Mercedes to repair it at £650. I questioned this with Mercedes Customer Care based on low mileage and age but got no where - they said it was wear and tear! I am curious whether the crabbing issue has caused this?

 

[GM-S]

Aug 2021 - 35k miles, it's a 2017 car. Just failed an MOT due to suspension bushes have too much play in them. Challenged about whether you would expect these to have gone after only 35k miles - the tyres have lasted longer!!!!!. Garage immediately came back with the replacement costs would have been £1100, but Mercedes have agreed, as a good will payment, to cover 75% of the cost, so it's only going to cost me £300!!!!!! Sounds to me like they are doing this at cost. I asked if this could be due to the crabbing problem, the question was dodged!!! BTW Mercedes replaced all 4 tyres under warranty due to crabbing problem @9k miles. I think they should divert some of the money they pay to Lewis Hamilton and the F1 team to make sure their cars work properly.

Hello,
Just had an A Service and had to have the Passenger side Lower Spring arm replaced due to the Bushes being worn - explaining the Clunk on a Left turn. Is this a usual thing for 38,000 miles / five years ???. anyone else had Front Suspension Bushes replaced so early ???


Thanks in advance

Howie

 

[Tony Mac]

Thanks - Very useful information 👍

 

[mercedeshanoi]

Wondering if the crabbing & Juddering fault may have impacted the bushes

 

[marshaB78]

Not sure about "Crabbing" It seems to run straight and true with the hands off the wheel, unless It's something else I haven't noticed ??? It does do the skipping on full lock that GLC's seem to suffer with, but I do Full Lock hardly ever and back off a few degrees when manoeuvring in a tighter space. I had to change the front tyres as they had worn down excessively on the inner shoulders. It was just the Left side bush / arm assembly so I was wondering if its common. Regards Howie

I have just returned from MOT with the same advisory and wear on the front tyre in the same place. An annoying and expensive design fault that my mechanic reckons goes with the car!!!!!!

 

[Tony Mac]

How many miles has your GLC done?

 

[marshaB78]

Its on 62k!

 

[Tony Mac]

👍👍

 

[Tony Mac]

What year GLC?

What’s the cost of replacement bushes and mechanics charge?

Really useful information as our GLC is approaching 50k - so this is inevitably round the corner

Thanks again

 

[marshaB78]

What year GLC?

What’s the cost of replacement bushes and mechanics charge?

Really useful information as our GLC is approaching 50k - so this is inevitably round the corner

Thanks again

2017, I have yet to get the quote, when I do I'll share!

 

[Toobad]

The replacement bushes are not available as a part by themselves, you have to buy the complete spring control arm assembly. Mercedes refer to them as spring links and early failure is a known problem since they were redesigned. Previously they were good for over 100,000 miles but I have to assume the redesign was driven by cost savings. The plastic shims within the bush are getting compressed causing premature excessive play resulting in MOT fails.

I was notified of this during my B-service back in June when Red Ken was 6 years old and had covered just shy of 24,000 miles!!! I immediately lodged a complaint that the parts were no longer fit for purpose and requested a significant cost contribution from MB towards replacement as a gesture of goodwill. Of course this was not unsurprisingly rejected, MB citing the worsening state of British roads and the increased number of potholes. I rebutted their argument on the grounds I had bought a ruggedised vehicle with off-road capability so would reasonably expect the spring links to last longer than 24k miles. It was pointed out that driving off-road would be considerably slower and less detrimental to the bushes than continually hitting potholes at 60mph on an asphalt road.

So I now need to fork out for a pair of new spring links before next year's MOT. The main dealer's quote is somewhat bowel-loosening so I'm hoping an independent Mercedes specialist can do it for a bit cheaper. To add insult to injury, Red Ken has air suspension and consequently the spring links are less complicated than those used for the conventional spring suspension yet MB charge a bit more for the parts 😭 I can't believe a main dealer can charge £43.50 + VAT just to remove and replace the front wheels!!! Even Dick Turpin wore a mask 😱😱😱

 

[marshaB78]

Interesting, so a sub £900 quote is what I am expecting from an independent dealer........I'll have to start the search......any recommendations in the Birmingham area?!?
Totally agree Merc should take greater responsibility for their dodgy engineering/ design.

 

[Toobad]

Hadens seem well reviewed on Google: Haden, Balsall Heath, B12

I use Rob Jones in Hereford who operates from an out-of-town industrial unit. I'm happy to give up the filter coffee, carrot cake and Molton Brown handwash to save a few quid.

 

[Tony Mac]

Hi Toobad,

Thank you for the concise information - pleased to hear you are still running Red Ken, as I’m unfortunately in exactly the same position with our GLC

Failure after just 26k miles is ridiculous

Sadly, the Crabbing & Clonking has come back to bite us again - undoubtedly, the stresses caused by the Wheel alignment Design Fault have resulted in this New Fault and premature failure.

Any additional information you can share will be a great help

Thanks again

Tony M

 

[Toobad]

Hi Tony,

Nice to hear from an O.G. member As you say, we are still haunted by poor design. I've just shelled out on a replacement battery too. There is still life in it but my intelligent charger says it is only holding 50% charge now. Red Ken has to sit in the long stay carpark at Heathrow next week for a month! With 52 sensors continually monitoring the car, I would expect the battery to be well flat on my return. Later models have a low-drain standby mode but sadly not ours. MB wanted £259 for a replacement Varta so I got a Bosch S5 A11 from Tayna Batteries for £144 delivered (it is identical as it comes off the same production line). Still had to go to my independent dealer to get the new battery registered with the engine management computer. The car increases the charge rate as the battery gets older so it needs to know a new battery is present.

I am now also plagued with notifications telling me Blind Spot Assist and also Lane Departure Assist have stopped working 😭 As the Blind Spot radar sensor controls both these functions and is mounted behind the rear bumper, I suspect the tyres have been throwing crud at it. Hoping the connector is just weathered as the sensor is £400 new and around £100 from breakers on eBay.

Best regards,
Trev.

 

[Chardonbleu]

My GLC has also just had a service and the health check has come back with a red warning, "near side spring link front suspension arm ball joint has play due to wear. Immediate replacement required (1.50 hours)" It's also got a red warning, "Full wheel alignment geometry required due to essential suspension repairs (2.00 hours)." MB dealer has quoted me £500 for ball joint and £200 for alignment.

It's a 2016 model and we've done 32,000 miles and it suffered from the start from crabbing and juddering. After much to-ing and fro-ing MB replaced the tyres a few years ago with all-weather ones (since replaced due to wear) which made the issue much less noticeable, never got the suspension upgrade which I've seen mentioned elsewhere though.

We live on a narrow street so every time we use the car we have full lock on for a three-point turn to the right, which I expect means the juddering happens every time we use the car, and may explain why the near side is apparently the only part affected.

Strangely this issue wasn't picked up at previous services, nor when the car was in several times in the months prior with NOx sensor problems, but is suddenly a critical issue.

Not sure it's worth the hassle of trying to get a contribution from MB given the fights I have had previously over crabbing (partially successful with replacement tyres), and then over NOx sensors (minor success when MB made the dealer give me a small contribution towards replacement costs).

 

[Chardonbleu]

Hi Tony,

Nice to hear from an O.G. member As you say, we are still haunted by poor design. I've just shelled out on a replacement battery too. There is still life in it but my intelligent charger says it is only holding 50% charge now. Red Ken has to sit in the long stay carpark at Heathrow next week for a month! With 52 sensors continually monitoring the car, I would expect the battery to be well flat on my return. Later models have a low-drain standby mode but sadly not ours. MB wanted £259 for a replacement Varta so I got a Bosch S5 A11 from Tayna Batteries for £144 delivered (it is identical as it comes off the same production line). Still had to go to my independent dealer to get the new battery registered with the engine management computer. The car increases the charge rate as the battery gets older so it needs to know a new battery is present.

I am now also plagued with notifications telling me Blind Spot Assist and also Lane Departure Assist have stopped working 😭 As the Blind Spot radar sensor controls both these functions and is mounted behind the rear bumper, I suspect the tyres have been throwing crud at it. Hoping the connector is just weathered as the sensor is £400 new and around £100 from breakers on eBay.

Best regards,
Trev.

I've also just replaced the original battery in my 2016 GLC. Dealer reckoned it was OK but I got fed up with constant warning messages. Like you I ordered one from Tayna for about £120 and fitted it myself. I purchased an Exide as they also seem to supply some of the MB branded ones, although the MB original I removed was from "First National Battery" of South Africa.

Having found the MB service sheets etc. explaining about the EMC reset which is required I also purchased a Foxwell NT530 scanner tool and registered the new battery with the engine management computer myself (there are Youtube videos showing how to do this).

I connected a trickle charger whilst I was changing over the batteries so there was no loss of information, and as a bonus after a day or so the engine start/stop started working. I've almost never had start/stop work on my GLC previously, it didn't from new and the dealers could only ever get it to work for a day or so before it deactivated again (despite turning off A/C and doing all the other things which might have been preventing it). Not sure if it's the new battery or the EMC coding which did it, but I'll take it!