My Mercedes Has A Case of the Rattles - What Can I do?

You know the feeling of driving down a dirt road, or perhaps a rough parking lot. The jarring, shaking, rattling, and other un-nerving noises your car makes. Well that is just part of life when driving on less than perfect roadways but, what about when your car starts making these sounds when driving down standard pavement. That my friends is a case of the rattles, and depending upon how long you have been driving with your car in this condition the more it will cost to repair. An unfortunate fact of automobile maintenance is the longer you put something off, the more things that will get torn up. The manufacturer did not put the faultily part on the car in perfect condition because the car would run fine with out the faulty part.

In most late model Mercedes Benz automobiles the first part to go out that starts to cause the shake – rattle – and roll are the Mercedes Ball Joints. The ball joints are what connect your steering system to the wheels, and are what must absorb the twisting action as the wheels actually turn. They also are subjected to all of the vibration of the road, as well as any torque or torsion that occurs when you stress the front steering circuit. This occurs when you turn the wheels too sharply when driving slowly, or for example when you might bump into the wheel stop in a parking space.

If you continue to drive after you have a worn out set of Ball Joints it is quite possible that you will start to degrade the Mercedes Benz Control Arm – The control arm is the part of your front suspension that allows the wheel to travel laterally up and down, when going over variations in the pavement. These bumps in the road are smoothed out by the shocks, struts and springs, but the control arm is the part that physically allows the pivoting and connects the front wheels to the frame of your vehicle. Depending on the model of your car, there can be up to four control arms on each vehicle. An upper and lower control arm for both the right and left sides. This part can also starting to get expensive since each arm normally costs around one hundred dollars – each! Solving the issue can be achieved with new ball joints. However, at times you can get a from Mercedes a Control Arm bushing rebuild kit. This will allow you to simply press out the worn rubber bushing from this large metal arm and install new rubber if the metal portions are not yet worn or bent.

In addition to the core parts of the suspension that will be worn if you do not address the rattles early on, this vibration will also cause your front shocks or struts to wear our early. The additional vibration on older models with body on frame suspension will often find its way into the bolts and bushings that hold the body of the car onto the frame. This may cause a loud clunk and shifting of the body forward on the frame when coming to a stop as well as a large increase in the amount of noise. If your vehicle has reached this stage of decay it is imperative to have it serviced right away, or take the Mercedes out of service.

As you can see there are many things which can cause your vehicle to develop a case of the rattles, and may things which can get worst with time. And worst in car speak, means not only expensive, but hazardous, and could cause you to lose control of the vehicle. However, if you diagnose and repair the problem at the first sign of new noises or vibrations, this is often a problem you can repair yourself for an afternoon of labor, and under $100 in Mercedes Benz OEM Parts.