I just got back from the dealership. The service advisor met me and said he needed to have his technician look at the car first so they can decide if it's even worth working on, or if it's just a waste of money. He said that even if they decide to work on it, they'd have to shuttle me home because they wouldn't have it done until tomorrow because it's so old and likely to be a nightmare. I already called around to alignment shops before, and the only ones that will work on old Mercedes are way downtown.
An employee who was inside asked me why I have North American bumpers and Euro headlights on my car, and why I have screens in front of them. Well, you can actually see at night with Euro headlights, compared to the ridiculous 5" sealed beams that the USA lights had, which came with ugly plastic doors that break. I told him the screens came from Australia to protect the glass from getting stone chips, and the skid plate came from South Africa. He laughed and said, "So your car is pieced together out of multinational parts."
After a while, the service advisor came out and said that it failed the test, so they won't work on it. He said the (relatively new) steering damper is leaking and it needs new spring pads. I told him that it has brand new spring pads. He said, "Then you need the correct ones. They make many different types, you know." I said, "I know, I installed the exact same ones the car calls for, AND they are the same part number that came out of it, with the same number of nubs." He said that's all well, but the car is setting too high up front, so they won't touch it. I said that the front bushings probably just need to be loosened so the car can drop down a little in front. Ugh. I went out of my way to replace EVERYTHING that hadn't already been replaced, using genuine Mercedes parts as much as I could, and they still found a reason to not work on it. It even has new springs, for crying out loud.