JBoever

Hello, Two months ago my wife was driving my S55 and was hit in the left rear wheel area by a Honda accord doing 50 miles per hour. It spun her 180 degrees. The air bags went off, she broke a finger and my beautiful 2002 S55 was crunched. Insurance wouldn’t total it so $26,000 later I got it back today. Picked it up, drove it 2 miles and it was perfect (I told the owner of body shop who does a lot of premium auto body repairs to test drive it 100+ mph and see that no vibration, wind noise and tracks perfect) I believe he tested it and it was perfect because for the first few miles it was perfect for me, then all of a sudden it started vibrating really really bad, so bad I had to slow to 15 miles per hour on shoulder. I stopped, checked lugs (which were tight) and then got back in the car and oddly enough no vibration. I took it back to him, they drove it again, no vibration. I drove it to my office 50 miles away, no problem. On the way home 25 miles into the drive, same major vibration occurred at 75 miles per hour. I put shifted transmission into neutral and it didn’t help…..I accelerated it made it worse. I slowed to 20 miles per hour until vibration stopped then I was able to accelerate back to speed all the way home without anymore vibration. The problem is when I take it too the body shop they can’t find anything. Likely because it doesn’t do it all the time and everything seems bolted on and aligned. I believe they did a very good job on the repair. Prior to wreck this never occurred. Any help on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

2nd issue I could use help on - is the car came with factory AMG 2002 rims. 18x8.5 in front and 18 x 9.5 in rear, 44 and 46 offset respectively. I replaced the rims with http://www.enkei.com/LuxurySpecPAGES/LM15SSpecs.html chrome rims.....18x8, 35 offset and 18 x 9, 35 offest. The front left rim only (likely because I drive the car alone and weigh 300 plus pounds) will make a horrible “rub noise” on big sloping bumps at highway speeds (not pot holes). I looked at the right front suspension bolt that is closest to the tire and it is about a ¾ of an inch away from the tire. Does this bolt move up and down closer to the tire during wheel movement. Is there anything I can do to keep these rims because they look fantastic. I have heard lots of bad news with spacers? Any ideas?

In short I know this is long, but I am really discouraged right now because I love my car but today it has been hard to enjoy it!

RJC

Put the stock rims and tires back on and see if the vibration is gone for good???

JBoever

Tried that...no change......sometimes is there...sometimes isn't, and it isn't tied to speed or anything else. No pattern.

Wolfman

Have the dealer check on error codes of the ABC suspension. Maybe there is an issue there (sensors or control unit). Does this happen on a particular wheel?

Wolfman

JBoever

I have tried putting the stock rims back on and the same thing happens....again the vibration isn't all the time...it is just occassional and it isn't tied to a certain speed. But when it happens...it is bad enough that you have to stop on the shoulder then you can accelerate back to speed without any problems. Strange...I know!

kmaker

I had that happen on my 1974 280. It was a bad universal joint that would lock up occasionally - I would have to pull over and stop and it would be fine when I started going again - and it started happening after the car was in an accident. I don't even know if cars these days have universal joints (I would expect they do), but one in the rear drive train could easily have been damaged in the accident.

RJC

Ok, since the wheels and tires were switched then tires and wheels are not your problem. It could very well be the drive shaft/torque tube, I've read about a mysterious vibration that was intermittent and that was the cause.

Hope this helps!

DHH

I had a weird problem like that on my CL500 a few years ago. It had to do with the ABC - they put in a new control module or whatever it's called and it went away. So I agree with Wolfman - it's probably in the ABC and traction control.

Doug

rslpartners

wow...sorry to hear that.

I hate to say this...and my apologies if you don't like what I'm about to say....but personally, I would dump it.

I had a '02 S55 and loved everything about it. As a matter of fact....I felt it performed better than my Ferrari 355 spider.

I slowly started to loose interest when the '03 & '04 came out with the ALL the intricate refinements. Everything from the brake calipers, headlights, dvd-6" screen etc, etc.

Not to mention...2 out of the many times I've punched it on the freeway...
1. a door flew out of a truck and nicked my right fender
2. a board flew out from no where...hit my frontend...knocking out the meshed grill and scraped the bumper.

(too much crap on the freeways!)

ONE THING I HAVE TO MENTION....AMAZINGLY....NO PAINT WORK WAS DONE !

Once I even backed into this guy that was in a blind spot....it crushed his fender and warped out his bumper....BUT BARELY A SCRATCH ON MY BUMPER.
IT WAS BUFFED OUT WITH NO PROBLEM.

Bottom line....I was amazed at the quality of Mercedes Paint.

FACTORY PAINT IS ALWAYS HARDER THAN AFTERMARKET....Something about the way they are able to bake the paint at a higher temperature. If the shops do it afterwards....it will melt the interior.....at least that's what a friend told me.

Anyways...back to your issue.....what I'm trying to say is that...it'll never be the same.....dump it if you can....if you have bondo on it....definitely dump it.

If you plan to collect this vehicle....you definitely don't want a bondo-mobile.
If you don't plan to keep it forever....get rid of it while it still has some value left. Again....ever since the '03 came out....all of us with '02 got screwed....and the value dropped faster than the stock market.


I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE S55...but had to dump mine.....only got 60k for it....and paid 120k with all options.

Yes...I took the bloodbath.....but replaced it with a '05 S55 and plan to keep it forever....maybe a collector one day?



Goodluck.

RJC

What was the outcome???