MjkE350

So I have still heard nothing from the MB dealership. Service manager hasn't returned my calls.

Does anyone else think this is extremely out of line? They have had my car since last Wednesday.

ngerstman

It certainly is. Is there a service rep to follow-up for you. Regards. Ned.

MjkE350

I am dealing with the service manager....so no.

Tjdehya

It is out of line but it’s not unusual. I had a similar situation with a new W212. While it’s not exactly the same problem, my thread can give you an idea of what you can expect to go through if they can’t fix your car. What it boils down to is a lot of bureaucracy between you, Service manager, Sales manager, and MBUSA.
Read through this thread when you have time.
Be patient, its a slow process.
Dont accept "NO" for an answer.
Good luck.
https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...vibration.html

ngerstman

That was an unfortunate experience that you went through. I'm glad that you were persistent and that MBUSA finally did the right thing. I am the proud owner of an e550 4matic that I bought at the end of December. No problems so far. Do you love your current e550? Your story brings back a bad memory regarding a 2000 e320 4matic that I just sold. I took it in for a regular service at Mercedes when the car had around 50,000 miles on it. From that time forward(it had 165,000 miles on it before I sold it) there was this strange vibration that I could feel through the steering column that would start above 35mph that felt like my tires were slightly out of balance. I complained many times about the problem but no one was ever able to solve that mystery. I lived with it but it always annoyed the crap out of me. It was a strange problem in that sometimes the issue was barely noticeable and other times much more so. It was less noticeable at highway speeds. I learned to live with the issue and every now and then would mention it again when I took it in for service, hoping that a new tech might find the problem. Never did. Drove that car for 7 years with that issue. Regards. Ned.

MjkE350

New update...

Picked the car up last night from the MB dealer.

They put new wheels and new tires on the car. Aligned the car and adjusted the camber. Pretty significant changes seeing as I was originally being told nothing was wrong with the car.

Would adjusting the camber have anything to do with the tightness of the steering?

Drove the car last night and a little this morning. I think it is better, but I need to drive it for a few days in a few different situations to be sure.

They cleaned the car up nicely for me. Put a coat of wax on it and filled it up with gas.

Of course there is always a "but" - so I asked why the reasoning for putting on new wheels? Service manager said - reason is so we didn't have to remount new tires - it was a time saving measure, which is funny since they had the car for 8 days. Yes- they replace my wheels AND tires, because they didn't want to put new tires on the old wheels....

Anyway - my original wheels were perfect, not a mark on them - the new wheels are not. They are suppose to have zero miles on them. The driver’s side front wheel has 4 chips on it. Two where the lug wrenches go in and then two that look like maybe the wheel fell over face first on the spoke while it was in the shop. The chips are way too high to be from a curb.

Problem now is I think the car is driving better, and they made what should have been a simple deal quite stressful and complicated. The car only has 3K miles, and I feel like the wheel situation is really going to bother me, mostly because it is the wheel I see every time I get in and out of the car.

I am sure they are annoyed with me, but I am only asking for what I expected when I leased the car, nothing more...it is a shame to feel like you are bothering them, when they do a less than satisfactory job.

K-A

Oh man, that sucks. You are entitled to brand new/non scuffed wheels. Tell them you appreciate what they have done, but you won't take wheels that have a worse appearance over your original ones. Also, have them pull up your exact original wheels (hopefully they still have them around), and prove to them how much better they look.

Tjdehya

If they damaged the wheels that bad installing them on his car, I think they might have done just as much damage removing his originals.

MjkE350

Update - I am hoping the MB dealer will take a look at the car again tomorrow. After looking over the car more closely, 3 of the 4 "brand new" wheels have pretty significant scratches/ chips on them. It was hard to see this at night.

The car seems to drive better at low speeds, but I am still not sure at high speeds. Feels a little uneasy.

Frankly, I don't even remember what a good driving E-Class drives like at this point, and I don't know that I am ever going to feel comfortable with this car. They have now adjusted so many parts of the car, it is hard to determine exactly what the problem is.

I am seriously considering having a conversation tomorrow around what to do to move on from this car. These cars are just way to expensive to be both a source of frustration and to not feel 100% confident when you are driving the car.

Mind you, the car still only has about 3K miles on it.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

ngerstman

Trade it in for something else that you want before it depreciates any more and you get closer to the 2012's with the new engines. If you are not happy, bite the financial bullet and move on. I also find it astonishing that they had the gaul to put used rims on your car!! That is totally unacceptable especially if the rims are not perfect. I would send an outraged letter to MBUSA. Regards. Ned.

MjkE350

The update I got from the MB Dealer was that the wheels put on my car were off of a car they put custom wheels on and had been sitting in parts for a while, first I have heard of this BTW, and the "new" wheels were probably, in their words, "jockyed" around a bit, hence the scratches.

They have offered to replace the wheels, now the 3rd set, with new wheels.

Does anyone else think this is absolutely absurd and I feel very unsure about the car with all of the changes to it, that combined with I still don't think it drives at good as it should - I really don't want to take a financial hit on a trade, but rather am I out of line requesting the MB dealer make this right...in either giving me an option out of my lease, or an option out if I re-lease another MB - which I have no problem with.

By the way…car just doesn’t feel solid, I am not a technician, so it is hard to pinpoint exactly what it is….since they have changed so much on the car…who knows if they actually know what was/is wrong…I don’t feel 100% confident driving the car all of the time.

Please provide some feedback...

Thanks,
Michael

EmE247

Sucks when they don't competently correct somthing the first time around. It is absurd that the car wasn't completely fixed the first time around, but that's MB dealerships for you.

Have them replace the wheels as this is obviously an issue you have and they are willing to replace em.

Drive the car around after that and if the original problem of oversteering is cool, the car should be cool.

I have the same car, 2011 E350, and love it.

Could it be more buyer's remorse because you just bought this car and are having these problems that make you feel "unsure" about the car and that the car is "not solid"? The changes/adjustments they have made to your car sound like nothing but changing the wheels and adjusting the camber which is nothing big.

If anything, I would have a bigger problem with the MB dealership that is helping you through all of this for not being competent. Not the car...

MjkE350

I don't have buyers remorse about the E-Class, I would get another one, as I like the car - and that would be my offer to them - to let me lease another E-Class.


I have concerns about this car specifically. I am sure some of being upset plays in to me being "unsure," but I should feel confident driving the car and right now I do not. I feel that way based on the way the car drives.

Techdr2

Hello MB family. I just purchased a 2011 E350 W212 on 12/23/2010. I only have 311 miles on it so far, and I've noticed a pulling issue also. I was planning on upgrading the wheels and tires also. Do I need to take it to the dealer before, or after I upgarde the wheels/tires?

Tjdehya

Yes get it taken care of first. The first thing the will point to is the whell and tires.

MjkE350

I am glad to help in any way I can, as this community definitely helped me when I needed it.

The dealer put 3 sets of new wheels/ tires on my car until it drove what we thought was "better." I had a lot of road noise in the first set of tires, it appears they were wearing uneven because of the alignment.

The MB dealer aligned the car and added some egative camber to increase the stability of the car at higher speeds.

I drove two other E-Classes to compare them to my car. All of them seem to drift to the right a little, but I think it is important to make a distinction between the car drifting and pulling.

My car was definitely more sensitive than the other two I drove, and it follows the road a little more. I don't really like this, but I think at least for now, it is as good as it is going to get.

Do you have the Pirellis or the Continentals?


I would have them fix the car before you make any changes.

Hopefully this helps.

Claude Gaulin

I recently took delivery of my new 2011 E350 Luxury sedan and experienced the same problem right out of the box trying to keep the car in the lane on crowned road surfaces. The steering felt very mushy with very little road feedback. The best way I can describe the feel is as if your tires are going flat as you are driving. This is my first experience with low profile metric tires with wide thread contact with the pavement. I think that the 33psi recommended tire pressure is too low for this tire setup and results in both edges of the threads to grip the pavement much harder than the middle area of the threads causing the tires to pull the car left or right.

I experimented with several combinations of pressure settings on the same stretch of a road where the problem was most aggrevating and came to the conclusion that 38 psi cold (40psi hot) in both front and rear tires resulted in much improved road feel and steering accuracy.
Driving the car is now a pleasure instead of an aggrevation. I believe that car manufacturers recommend air settings for soft ride comfort.
I always go for 3-5psi above what is recommended and believe that it increases thread wear about 20%. Increase in gas mileage is probably around 2% so it's not a big deal.

For those of you who think 38psi in the front tires is too high, consider that most tire manufacturers advise adding 5psi above recommended settings for highway driving. Also MB recommends 42 psi (cold) for rear tires at MAX Load, so 38psi for the front tires is not excessive.

Give the 38psi (cold) settings a try and let me know about your results.

Claude Gaulin

I had the same issue when I picked my new 2011 E350 Luxury sedan a month ago. I contacted Mercedes who gave me a line of BS about the car's safety systems going through a learning process about how I drive so it can set up its controllers to suit my driving style. What a croc!! They referred me to the dealer who has not returned my call. Because of total lack of support from Mercedes on this issue, I decided to troubleshoot this problem on my own using the "kiss" (keep it simple stupid) principle.
You can read the details of my experience in another response, post #42.
Please set your tire pressure in all four tires @ 38psi cold, take your car for a ride on a strech of road where the problem is most noticeable and let me know the results.

Claude Gaulin

Hi there, see my postings 42&43 on page 2 and give it a shot. It did wonders for my car and the ride is still acceptable.
Claude

Claude Gaulin

Hi there, See my postings 42-43 on page 2 and try it out. It did wonders for my car.
Claude

RJC

What a horror show...wish I could say these things don't happen but they do; I've been the victim if collateral damage several times. Sometimes taking your car in for service is like going to see too many doctors...you're looking for trouble and the more that get their hands on you or your pristine car the worse off you may be.

ImInPA

+1
Sad, but, so very true.

imatjen

I have the same issue with my 2008 E350 Sport. It gets loose at highway speeds and is pretty darn scary . It feels like a jeep when its sway bar is disconnected. I can't get the service center to look deep enough into the issue to identify and correct the problem. I've owned it since new and it now has 90k miles. It's been such a super car that I kept it even after buying an SUV that was supposed to replace it. If I can get this fixed, I will keep it much longer. Did you ever find out what fixed the issue? Or was it never fully resolved? Since I am clearly out of warranty, your help on this would be great. Thanks!

julienjj

I'm currently trying to get that fixed on my cabrio as well. I'm under warranty thought.

Weird steering/suspention issue.

imatjen

I am going to adjust tire pressure front and rear when I return from travel next week. I will let you know if that helps. Let me know if you figure it out too. Try the dealer. They didn't help me, but they might help you. Especially since you have a warranty.