Glyn M Ruck

The redesigned silicone filled castor bushes definitely seem better. My old set failed early. The present set are fine.

My Holden Berlina in Aus went through three sets of front rotors in 19,000Km from new.

Suffered wheel shimmy under braking. We finally refaced a worn set & that stopped it.

anonymousmoose

I might need to get something done sooner. It's fine around the metro area but today I was on country roads at 110km/h today and it was going left again. Our country roads are not very smooth.

anonymousmoose

I may want to purchase this kit. Can I confirm that all I need is to order part No. "A 000 330 00 18"?

Also, any reputable suppliers out there? MB dealer wanted over $150 just for the parts.

Glyn M Ruck

See from post 151 here regarding improved bushes & P/N's

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...+castor+bushes

P/N A 000 330 00 18 is for bolts only - Bushings or bearings as Benz call them P/N's are above.

anonymousmoose

Thank you for the clarification. Any reputable sellers I can order them from? PM me if not ok to post a link.

samaritrey

http://www.rmeuropean.com/
no clue if they would ship to you though

Glyn M Ruck

+1 - if RMeuropean won't ship maybe Parts.com will.

anonymousmoose

Well. I booked my car in to Mercedes Benz to get a castor kit installed. I weighed up the options. If I bought the parts myself, with labour, I would have saved less then $100. And this way, I get Mercedes to do it, get a loan car for the day and get piece of mind knowing I can complain if it isnt done correct, plus I guess I get a Mercedes guarantee.

Funny thing tough. We have 2 MB dealers in the metro area of Perth Australia. One dealer quoted $500-$600 for the job. The 2nd quoted $360. I asked why the difference. Apparently the first dealers does the job and then on top charges $159 for the wheel alignment. The 2nd dealer said they include the alignment in the job. Mind you the first dealer is the one who told me bluntly that the AUX jack is not compatible with my car... fail!

Another suspension company (not MB) told me that the reason Merc's pull left in Australia is due to the roads more then anything. Our roads slope left. Euro roads are straight or slope right. He went on to tell me when Mercedes changes the steering from RHD to LHD, they don't bother changing the camber. He told me a lot of MB owners come through getting this job done.

The dealer I got it booked in with next Friday tell me this is a common job for them.

PS
Huge thank you to Glyn M Ruck for you assistance in the PM's. You helped me a lot telling me the parts I needed if I got them myself. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to crunch in the numbers to make my decision to go with MB. Your a true credit and valuable to the forum! Thank you for all your advise.

Glyn M Ruck

It's a pleasure. Make sure they set the castor 1 degree more positive on the passenger side!

You are going to have to tell them this.

anonymousmoose

Shouldn't MB know what to do?

Glyn M Ruck

MBSA knows all about it. Our roads are similar to yours but in better condition.

MBUSA has never heard of the fix so I don't know whether the Aus guys know. Remember Benz does all of it's endurance testing here & Namibia apart from cold weather so they pick these things up.

They must not set the car up to standard spec. Castor should be typically 10.6 degress passenger side, 9.6 degrees drivers side the rest of standard spec applies to front & rear.

Carsy

Hello Glyn, Do these specs stand for the W204? JC.

Glyn M Ruck

Yes JC.

anonymousmoose

I will take this info to them for sure! The guy I spoke to at MB said they do this job all the time, hence why he could quote me more-or-less the exact price. The other mob said between $500-$600. I asked for a confirmed figure, not a 'between' quote. He said they need to get it in and see it first. Sounded like the dealer I'm going to knows what they are doing.

I dont have much faith in the high quoted dealer, they told me bulldust about my audio (AUX) plug upgrade.

Glyn M Ruck

Sounds like you have found a decent dealer that actually reads the bulletins that Benz sends to them.

Don't take this forgranted though - many don't. Benz allows up to 2 degrees castor difference to correct this but I have never seen a car require more than 1 degree.

anonymousmoose

update: I got the job done. They seamed very professional. Although I haven't noted much difference to be honest. I re-confirmed with the dealerships service department and the rep emailed me; "castor is 1.8 degrees more positive on the LHS".

I think maybe its just me not used to a car with stiff suspension. I guess if there is a slope on the road the car will follow it. Sometimes it does go straight.

From the short time I got to drive an acquaintances S500. I remember it also pulling a little. I'll have to drive another Merc on-day to compare. They offered to let me drive the new face-lift C-Class (they tried to up-sell me, I'd be more surprised if they didn't) but I unfortunately had not the time.

I'm pretty happy with the way I was treated at Mercedes Benz (this was my first time). Car came back vacuum'ed and cleaned. They even went right under the seats and cleaned it out. They found a hotel type shampoo bottle I didn't even see (previous owner maybe??). Exterior was also very clean. Came back sparking.

PS
They saw the new SLS AMG Gullwing with a SOLD sticker in their show room, in red.
I spoke to a sales rep and found out it was sold for just over $500,000 (AUD). wow


I think I found my modern dream-car, but I prefer the white convertible.


Of course the 1954 version would be the ultimate if I ever strike oil.

Glyn M Ruck

Tramlining is always more of a problem with stiff suspension & some tyres. Benz allows max + 2 degrees so you should be fine.

anonymousmoose

The chap did say if she is pulling still, it may be the tyres. I'm not ready to change them yet. Btw; they are toyo brand tyres.

Glyn M Ruck

You could rotate the wheels across the axle if it is tyres. With your new setup your tyres will wear evenly when you fit new ones.

anonymousmoose

I thought about this. I might do this next service or if I ever need to take it into the shop. The highway wander is not so bad as I probably am conveying. And the 2006 S500 I drove a month back had similar pull.

Carsy

In my opinion a slight pull to the left in Australia on a crowned road is a good safety feature. Mine does .

If for ever reason eg , inattention or a nano sleep, the car will tend to the veer to the road shoulder & wake you up. You will also not kill some poor B coming the other way with a family of kids.

Glyn M Ruck

I think you are probably correct JC. It's fine as long as it's not tiring to the driver.

anonymousmoose

Turned out it was not the tyres.

After Mercedes put in the adjustable camber kit, they did an alignment. After a couple of weeks I still wasnt happy and took it back to the dealer that sold me the car to have a look if it was the tyres. He found Mercedes put to much 'toe-in' when they did the alignment. I was informed if I didnt bring it in, it would have had a bad effect on my tyre wear.

Car drives straight now.

Pays to double check if one feels something isnt right.

Carsy

Second opinions are often very useful.

anonymousmoose

They sure are. One dentist told me I need all my filling replaced , 2nd dentist said that was bull-dust and a 3rd agreed.