The 2013 Mercedes-Benz C180 That Went Clunk over every Pothole
Submitted by: Tom Entwistle
I recently purchased a 2013 Mercedes-Benz C180 with 70,000 miles on the odometer. It was in immaculate condition and came with a full Mercedes-Benz service history. Soon after driving my new car off the lot, I began to notice a clunk every time I went over a rut/pothole. (The image below is not my Mercedes.)
I bought this car from a dealer 100 miles away from where I lived, so I couldn’t just take it back for service. A health check at a local garage, where I had taken the car for another minor issue, turned up nothing. The original Mercedes dealer found nothing out of the ordinary when they did their health check after it had to go in for an airbag recall.
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I decided to look into the issue myself, but couldn’t find any problems with the suspension or the roll bar bushes and links. I joined a couple of Mercedes forums, did a lot of online searching, and finally concluded, after one suggestion, that the knock could be internal to the rear shocks, which made sense, especially since one rear-set passenger had remarked it felt like the knock was under their seat.
I sourced two Bilstien (as OE – half Mercedes price) and fitted them myself. Sorry, don’t have any photos, but this replacement entails removing much of the interior flooring and the wheel arch liners, and spraying them with Lonoguard while they were off.
They are relatively easy to unbolt and refit, but they need some serious compressing to get them out and in. For that part of the fix, I used a small ratchet strap. It took me most of the day, but it must have saved me £600 (819.39 USD) compared to the Mercedes price.
I think it might be possible to remove and replace them by prying up the interior side panels and the wheel arch liners. It may save time, but that method is very fiddly and not satisfactory to me as it could cause some damage, and anyway, it provides an opportunity to Lanoguard the whole of the rear arches, subframe, and suspension components.
