Thanks gordon my car was out a year so friend mechanic had to do it for me.Just for the record you have to break off the nuts on top of the suspension rods, meaning new shocks as well as springs so a costly job when the springs break, only mercedes has the special tool of coarse to get them off or you have to get it from america.

I have had one of my front springs broken on my smart for two, its an 03. Took it to Mercedes to see if they could fix it for free due to some were recalled for this problem.They said no but I here some people are still getting theres done, at the moment have a mechanic friend doing the job, which he found difficult due to the fact you have to have a special tool to get the struts undone, and he cant get it anywhere. Some people say you can get eskulab to help with the payments but not sure what to do.