W204 C250 AC compressor making a racket and I’m trying to figure out my options

My 2013 C250 has been a solid little commuter for years now but just last week the AC compressor started making this awful grinding noise on cold starts that fades away after a minute or two but comes right back if I turn the AC off and on again, and I'm pretty sure the clutch bearing is on its way out or maybe the whole compressor is just tired after nearly a decade of UAE summers and I'm trying to decide if it's worth replacing just the clutch and pulley assembly or if I should just do the whole compressor since the labor is basically the same and I don't want to be back in a shop six months from now doing it all over again. I called a couple of places and got wildly different opinions and prices which is why I started digging around for Mercedes AC Workshop Specialists in Sharjah who actually know these W204 cars inside and out and won't try to upsell me a whole system flush if it's really just a bearing they can swap out, I just want someone who's done a dozen of these and can give me a straight answer on whether the Denso units on these cars tend to fail catastrophically or if I can just nurse it along with a new clutch kit and fresh refrigerant for another couple of years. Anyone else had this grinding noise on their C Class or E Class and actually got it sorted without replacing the entire compressor, or is that just wishful thinking at this mileage.