Cabriolet Owners - Myth or Fact: All Cabriolets eventually develop a shimmy at 60MPH?
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 494
Likes: 13
From: Amber waves of grain.
2000 CLK430 Cabriolet
Cabriolet Owners - Myth or Fact: All Cabriolets eventually develop a shimmy at 60MPH?
Cabriolet Owners - Myth or Fact: All Cabriolets eventually develop a shimmy at 60MPH ???
Looking for comments from Cabriolet owners--Cabriolet owners.
Have read/heard that this 60 MPH shimmy in steering wheel is a characteristic of the W208 Cabriolet. I have the shimmy. Replace parts, lessens, or goes away temporarily, then it's back. Seems there is a consensus that this is a characteristic inherent to the cabriolet.
Any Cabriolet owners have an opinion/Info./experience Re. this ?
Thanks.
Looking for comments from Cabriolet owners--Cabriolet owners.
Have read/heard that this 60 MPH shimmy in steering wheel is a characteristic of the W208 Cabriolet. I have the shimmy. Replace parts, lessens, or goes away temporarily, then it's back. Seems there is a consensus that this is a characteristic inherent to the cabriolet.
Any Cabriolet owners have an opinion/Info./experience Re. this ?
Thanks.
Junior Member
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 32
Likes: 0
From: Perth, Australia
clk 230 w208
I have also been told that sway bars at front and back would stop it. Because they will stop the twisting across the chassis.
Last edited by john.m.gemmell; Apr 26, 2012 at 07:13 AM.
Super Member
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 502
Likes: 3
From: Bay Area
02 clk 55, 13 GL 450
Without the roof, any structure will suffer some degree of weakness. An aging chassis in cabriolet form will show those weaknesses more dramatically than the coupe brother. Cowl shake is common to experience but in a straight line smooth road you should not have a shimy. Mine would knock your teeth loose when I first purchased but now is smooth as glass. LCA bushings, ball joints, and flex discs were 95% of my problem. Roof up will stiffen the car but roof down will also allow the whole chassis to absorb and disperse the movement. There is a trade off to all that sunshine!! 
Super Member
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 502
Likes: 3
From: Bay Area
02 clk 55, 13 GL 450
Its kind of like talking about the two types of motorcycle riders... Those that have been down and those that will be going down! Rubber ages and bushings will degrade... sorry to say but you WILL be experiencing those pesky vibrations at some point.
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Newbie
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 2
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2001 CLK 430
I just bought a sweet 2001 CLK430 Cabrio, 111,000 - excellent condition. They guy who had it before was maniac for service and took it to the dealer every time he heard a noise. Bought him a beer for that!
EXCEPT the shimmy @ 60 and then at 30mph.
FIX - I swear on a stack it was the tires, balance and alignment (road force / F&R) that took 95% of the shimmy off. It was so bad it'd shake your teeth like you were having hypothermia. I put on Continentals at first but had to pull them off after about 100 miles b/c they did not fix the shimmy. The tires is not a good one for this particular car. On other cars sure - but this car is really *****y about the shoes you put on it.
So i put on new Michelin Super Pilots - Butter. Super smooth. I SWORE UP AND DOWN THE BLOCK THAT TIRES COULDN'T NOT BE THE PROBLEM. NO WAY. They were the majority of the problem. Really!!! Tires. After weeks of trying to chase down the problem it turned out to be tires. I wanted to hurt myself. Went to 2 dealers and MBZ shops and I wasn't in the mood to be shaken down by either.
The last 5% is in the struts, bushings ball joints and control arms. They're almost sort-of ready to replace, and I'm just doing this early because I'm neurotic. I still need to replace the struts and the control arm bushings which I'll do all at one time for the front in a few weeks because I'm trying to put this car back into perfect condition. Mint factory.
The tires. I just did this 2 days ago and today is Wed. Sept. 19.
EXCEPT the shimmy @ 60 and then at 30mph.
FIX - I swear on a stack it was the tires, balance and alignment (road force / F&R) that took 95% of the shimmy off. It was so bad it'd shake your teeth like you were having hypothermia. I put on Continentals at first but had to pull them off after about 100 miles b/c they did not fix the shimmy. The tires is not a good one for this particular car. On other cars sure - but this car is really *****y about the shoes you put on it.
So i put on new Michelin Super Pilots - Butter. Super smooth. I SWORE UP AND DOWN THE BLOCK THAT TIRES COULDN'T NOT BE THE PROBLEM. NO WAY. They were the majority of the problem. Really!!! Tires. After weeks of trying to chase down the problem it turned out to be tires. I wanted to hurt myself. Went to 2 dealers and MBZ shops and I wasn't in the mood to be shaken down by either.
The last 5% is in the struts, bushings ball joints and control arms. They're almost sort-of ready to replace, and I'm just doing this early because I'm neurotic. I still need to replace the struts and the control arm bushings which I'll do all at one time for the front in a few weeks because I'm trying to put this car back into perfect condition. Mint factory.
The tires. I just did this 2 days ago and today is Wed. Sept. 19.
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 61
Likes: 1
From: Nova Scotia, Canada
2003 CLK430 Cabrio, 2009 BMW 535 iX Wagon
They were the majority of the problem. Really!!! Tires. After weeks of trying to chase down the problem it turned out to be tires. I wanted to hurt myself. Went to 2 dealers and MBZ shops and I wasn't in the mood to be shaken down by either.
[...]
The tires. I just did this 2 days ago and today is Wed. Sept. 19.
[...]
The tires. I just did this 2 days ago and today is Wed. Sept. 19.
I put on a set of Eagle F1 Asymmetric XL tires about 10 kmiles ago. That may or may not have brought a little change compared to the cheapo rubber that was installed before. But it is definitely there.
OT: The Eagle F1 rocks in all other respects!
Newbie
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 8
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From: Dubai UAE (Originally from London, UK)
CLK 230K Cabriolet
