jinhan83

hello all,

I've had my car for about 3 years. Bought it used in 08 with 53k on it. Now I have 98k. Anyways, I noticed some problems with vibrations while driving/braking so I started to spend money to fix the problem.

1. I thought it was due to warped rotors so I replaced them in January (with aftermarket rotors and pads from rockauto.com)

2. My shop told me lower control arms have too much play in them so I replaced 4 lower control arms (2 per wheel).

3. I've always known that my wheel was bent but it never gave me too much problem (1 wheel was bent so I mounted it in the passenger side so I wouldn't feel it as much).

4. 2 front brand new tires in october since they were worn out. (Kumho ASX)

5. Had my car aligned twice after lower control arm installation and its pretty good. According to the shop, I need a camber bolt to adjust it 100% but I don't want to go to stealership to get it.

I have a staggered set up from the factory. So I can't experiment with putting the bent wheel to the rear to see if the vibration decreases.

National Tire and Battery tells me that they tried to balance the bent wheel as best as they can. They've been balancing that same wheel since summer of 2010. I've never felt the vibration until now.

I have no idea what it could be. NTB told me my tie rod and sway bar endlinks are good. Vibration happens when I'm braking at a high speed (over 65mph). I can't tell if its mostly in my steering wheel or in my brake pedals. I'm so confused and I can't keep replacing expensive mbenz parts every week.

I'm bringing in my car to stealership next week to get my rim repaired. I'm only going there because they're offering me a loaner car and I need to go to work. I will update on this situation further (not just saying it) after I get it fixed but does anyone have any ideas as to why this problem is happening???

any suggestion is appreciated. I've looked up for hours on google and I'm trying to decide on various course of actions. thanks!!!

j21importer

Does it ever happen without hitting the brake, or just when applying the brakes.

jinhan83

I feel like my car isn't stable at high speed due to some vibration/pulsation in the steering wheel. When I brake at high speed, I can feel the pulsation throughout my steering wheel and my brake pedal.

low speed driving/braking is not a problem. I don't notice anything. The problem happens only at highway speed.

Thanks!!

pcy

Have you checked the condition of the tie-rod (both inner and outer ends)? If there is a play in the tie-rods, that could 'travel' to the steering. Both steering and brakes (via hub) are connected to the tie-rods.

seagel1000

Motor or Tranny mounts? It might not seem like much of an issue but you'll feel it.

jokerswld34

wheel bearings could be the culprit. you may have a bent hub or failing bearing so it may feel like a out of round rim or warped rotor. when mine went bad, the car felt very sloppy and vibrated, wandered alot while breaking (even so much as to slightly warp my rotors). I would have someone check the wheel hub for run-out and then inspect the bearings for play. as a tip, dont rely on the shaking of the wheel to determine bearing play. remove the hub and inspect because when mine were manually tested, there was no play while shaking, but a ton of movement when inspected more closely. then pay a little and get an alignment at the dealership to get all the geometry perfect.

i replaced all 4, front (with hub) and rear, and the car came right back to life. I, like you, replaced my whole front end before replacing the bearings, and the bearings def made a huge difference. Now the only vibration i get is from my snow tires

hope this helps

jinhan83

rockauto.com says wheel bearings (inner and outer) are approx. $20 a piece. stealership told me its $80 per wheel... not including labor.

since i did not buy OEM brake pads or rotors, would that be the problem? I bought rotors and pads from rockauto.com... raybesto pads and centric rotors.

im taking the car in today to get my wheel fixed. so hopefully i dont have to spend more money on it but who knows

mskembo

Watch your wallet! The dealership has an amazing ability to extract money from it.

jinhan83

ok just got back from the stealership today

right front wheel is bent badly (obviously). quoted me $641 for a new wheel, mount/balance

both rear wheels have a slight bend, according to the dealer. $240 per wheel to fix

they found a nail in the front left tire so i paid to have that fixed.

so far, i spent $150 (diagnostic charge). nail patch work was done for free.


now... i looked up various wheels. refurbished wheel from allfactorywheels.com said its $260 w/ shipping for the front wheel so i ordered it. talked to the guy on the phone and they would guarantee that the wheel will run true. should be coming to my house by end of the week. will update on the situation once i get it mounted to my new tire.

dealership also recommended that i do some maintenance work since i have 98K on the car

serpertine belt replacement - $321.93
fuel filter - $318.73
brake fluid flush - $132.30
coolant flush - same as brake flush
differential service - $187.32

so which one of the above should i get it done at the dealership??? rockauto.com quotes me much less for the belt and filter. (belt is something likle $40 and filter is about $35) Thanks!!

fookoo303

wow all those prices are too high. Fuel filter can easily be done yourself. I paid $90 for a brake flush from an independent shop with OEM fluid. I paid 10 bucks for labor for a differential fluid flush.

pcy

New belt is around $32 on-line. It should take less than half hour. You only need 17mm socket.

Fuel filter is around $35 on-line. Replacement is not that hard. If you don't want to mess with fuel lines, any independent mechanic should be able to replace the fuel filter in half-hour.

With those 2 parts replacement, you can save $500 easily.

on1wheel

Wow good replies with price savings. This thread shows how important the search button is. No one would would get this valuable info by looking at the original thread subject.

samaritrey

also make sure to use a oem branded fuel filter a member just had an issue with a off brand one.

Xhale707

Make sure your new rotors are not warped from incorrect bedding in. Make sure your rims are torqued correctly in the star pattern. If it only happends when you brake its your rotors. Bent rims start to cause an issue from 55-60mph to about 80. I've had my share of bent rims

jinhan83

Thank everyone. I'll prolly buy OEM parts from the dealership and have an independent shop do the labor so that I get the reliability of OEM parts and cheaper labor. I really hope that my problem isn't my rotors... i just cant afford to buy them at 140 per piece along with 100 for pads.

fookoo303

dont buy from the dealership, they are over priced. Order from rmeuropean.com. They sell oem products for a fraction of the price.

Xhale707

You can feel if your rotors are messed up.. Take your fingers and run them around the rotors.. Better yet take some pictures of your rotors. Your car shouldn't be hard to put back together. Its just the valve cover they took off. If they touched the chain then gl

Currently im rollin with the cheapest pads pepboys has. Which was only like 35 bucks for the front set. or 25 i don't remember. I've had them installed for 10k miles haven't had any issues. Brake dust sucks but for the price i keep spare rags in the trunk. LOL

seagel1000

On a 1.8L engine, it requires more than a 17mm socket. You need to remove the intake elbow and the wideband silencer then use a t-55 Torx to release the tension (counter clock wise to rotate IIRC). Install then reverse the removal steps to re-install. Take a pic before removing the belt or reference your diagram.

Expect about 45mins to 1hr:15mins for first time completion.

Glyn M Ruck

Here: & please do not use aftermarket filters per Trey's post.

https://mbworld.org/forums/attachmen...uel-filter.pdf

LILBENZ230

$140/each rotors?! I paid $75 each from RMEuropean. They have 51,000 miles on them now and are on their second set of pads without any issues whatsoever. No noise, no vibes.

seagel1000

Hey Glyn

In your recommendations, how often should we change the Fuel Filter?

rogerwaldrup

Think about barrings and think about anti lock.

pcy

link for MB maintenance manuals ...
http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/servic...enance_manuals

seagel1000

Every 65K seems too long of an interval for a fuel filter to be changed no?

Just in the same way some of you guys wouldn't leave Anti-Freeze in your system for every 15 years correct?

jinhan83

RMeuropean seems like a legit site after visiting the page... and of course with good feedbacks from forum members. I will definitely check it out and buy my parts through there..

I dont know if im gonna buy my serpetine v-belt from that site though... i feel like OEM from dealership is better. I'm prolly gonna pay an independent shop to install it for me since i dont trust myself.. nor have the tool.

my replacement wheel from allfactorywheels.com is arriving today. right after work im going over to NTB to get my new tire (Kumho ASX) mounted on the replacement wheel. Hopefully this will solve the vibration problem. I will update as soon as I know. Thanks!!