Today Andy caught up on some of the maintenance jobs outstanding on my Mercedes C220 CDi (a Sport Coupe SE if you really want to know). This meant replacing both front control arm bushes (also known as push/pull bushes), both front discs and the central locking door motor in the drivers door. I’ve to get a new set of disc pads to go with the new discs, and they will go on this coming week to complete the job.
Now historically I’m a high mileage driver often doing 25,000 – 30,000 miles a year and often doing more. And in doing those sort of mileages I’ve had my fair share of motors. But in all my time I’ve never done in a set of discs, never had a central locking motor fail and only a Toyota Carina e 1.8 needed the attention in the control arm area (the control link arms having to be replaced when the bushes went). But that car had done 113,000 miles. The Mercedes has only done 86,000 and Andy reports that the discs were completely shot to pieces and the hub/disc carrier had extensive corrosion which he had to address.
I don’t know when I’ll be in a position to replace the Merc but one thing is for sure… the longer I own this one the lower the chances of me ever owning another. Build quality is a long way short of the legendary levels that used to be synonymous with the marque. In the modern era Skoda, once the but of build quality jokes, can now give Mercedes lessons on how a car should be build and screwed together. Even the 2 troublesome Rover 800s that I had the misfortune to own were better built considering the cost to buy into the experience.
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