| All contact surfaces must be cleaned when installing wax-coated components. The contact surfaces must be free of wax and grease. |
| Tightening torques refer to unoiled bolts and nuts. |
| Always renew self-locking bolts/nuts. |
| Load-bearing components and other suspension parts must not be welded or straightened. |
| Do not subject coil springs to hammer blows or weld splashes and do not make any new colour markings. |
| Do not perform welding or cutting operations (using power grinders) near the coil springs or suspension struts. Cover up coil springs or suspension struts if necessary. |
| Make sketches or take photographs when unfastening or removing and installing hydraulic or pneumatic pipes or electrical wires. This ensures re-installation at the original location. |
| Any cable ties, brackets or fasteners removed during repair work must be re-attached at their original standard locations. |
| Before fitting the outer joint in the wheel hub, apply a thin coat of assembly paste to the splines on the outer joint → Electronic parts catalogue. |
| When working on the vehicle, do not allow the drive shafts to hang down under their own weight and never let the joints bend to such an extent that they contact the end stop. |
| Do not attempt to move the vehicle without the drive shafts fitted; this would result in wheel bearing damage. If the vehicle does have to be moved, always note the following points: |
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| Fit an outer joint in place of the drive shaft. |
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| Tighten outer joint to 120 Nm (twelve-point bolt) or 200 Nm (hexagon bolt). |
| Procedure for tightening bolts securing drive shaft to flange shaft: |
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| First pre-tighten all 6 bolts in diagonal sequence to 10 Nm, then tighten in diagonal sequence to final specified torque. |
| Procedure for loosening bolt securing drive shaft at wheel hub: |
| Bonded rubber bushes can only be turned to a limited extent. For this reason, do not tighten bolted connections on components with bonded rubber bushes until the wheel bearing housing has been lifted (suspension in unladen position) → Chapter. |
| Always renew bonded rubber bushes on both sides of vehicle. |
| If the wheel alignment has to be checked and adjusted at a later stage, all bolts and nuts which need to be slackened to make adjustments should initially only be tightened to the specified torque figure. After wheel alignment has been checked and adjusted, bolts and nuts must then be fully tightened by turning them through the specified angle. |
| On vehicles from model year 2008 onwards the material of the subframe has been changed from aluminium to steel. |
| On vehicles from model year 2008 onwards the material of the wheel bearing housing has been changed from steel to aluminium. It is possible to install an aluminium wheel bearing housing on one side of the vehicle and a steel wheel bearing housing on the other → Electronic parts catalogue. Only aluminium wheel bearing housings are available as replacement parts. Consequently, certain other components may have to be renewed or fitted in addition when installing a new wheel bearing housing → Electronic parts catalogue. |
WARNING | All bolts and nuts must be fully tightened according to specifications before the vehicle is driven on public roads. |
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| When performing repairs on vehicles with start/stop system, note the following: |
WARNING | Risk of personal injury caused by automatic engine start on vehicles with start/stop system. |
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| On vehicles with active start/stop system (indicated by a symbol and/or a message in the instrument cluster) the engine can start automatically under certain conditions. |
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| When working on the vehicle, it is therefore important to ensure that the start/stop system is deactivated (switch off ignition and switch on again if required). |
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