Johnsct

I have an 03 C230K with 138,000 miles. It used to be rock solid on the highway, with great center feel. The car stayed where you aimed it. Starting around 100,000 miles it began to wander a little, requiring constant steering correction. I was run of the road last summer (a story for another time), and went over a curb. Messed up the control arm. I decided to overhaul the front end. Upper and lower control arms were replaced along with tie rod ends and a complete brake job.

The front end is back to normal, feels solid over bumps, no vibration. But, the car still wanders on the highway. Any ideas as to what may be causing this?

Silver C

Well perhaps you need a realignment of your wheels my friend, did you do that when you did the front end? There may also be tire or rim issues when you had your misfortune, so did you change or inspect damages on them?

Johnsct

After the front end was redone, I had the car aligned. It drives straight. I had to replace my summer tires after the accident. I have snow tires on their own rims. I have this problem with both the snow and summer tires. It's not terrible, but a little irritating.

Silver C

John, if the car drives straight after itwas aligned, and wanders off after you change your wheels back and forth, well I think it is highly recommended that you realign them everytime you change your wheels.. Since there must be some difference between the two sets you have and it affects the alignment slightly everytime you drive around. Hence when you switch back you still feel the difference..

slammer111

Check the tie rods. Mine went at 100000km. One of my wheels was flopping around on the highway because of this. I thought it was a crappy alignment job until I put my car on a hoist and realized you could rotate the wheel (without the steering wheel also moving) with your bare hands. This was causing my car to "wander" as well, so I'm almost willing to bet this is the problem.

Glyn M Ruck

Remember that any play in components on the rear axle can also cause wander.

Silver C

Plus 1.j

amanonfire

Holy crap! I have 190K kms on mine and haven't had to replace tierods yet, and you take far better care of your car than mine.

Johnsct

Glyn, I hadn't thought about this. I did replace the tie rod ends on the front. I have had this problem from before the accident. The car was aligned with the snows on, same problem. It does it now with the summer tires on. Feels the same. What suspension components in the rear could cause this?

By the way, there is no vibration at speed. Everything feels great except for the on center steering.

Glyn M Ruck

Any of the rear bushing that effects rear toe-in or camber.

pejaife

I have the same problem right now and on twisting both outer tie rod ends, they both moved with barely any effort and my steering wheel shakes while braking at all speeds.

anonymousmoose

I thought I'd bump this thread because I have a similar issue.

My cars goes slightly to the left. If I put a few extra PSI into the left tire it drives better. Tire guy says the car front doesnt have any adjustable cambers or casters (not sure which term to us sorry).

What's the best way to align the wheels on a w203 then? Just keep that extra little bit of PSI in the front left tire?

Glyn M Ruck

Tyre guy is talking crap. Fit the fluted 3 way camber and castor bolts. See the whole description in the DIY threads in the stickies.

Then set your castor one degree more positive on the LHS than the RHS. Typically 10.6 degrees & 9.6 degrees. Your car will then not pull with the camber of the road.

The reverse applies to LHD cars.

Glyn M Ruck

Here:

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...=1#post2754684

Silver C

Your car on every single wheel is adjustable to a certain level. So if your tire workshop says its not possible then it means he's not competent enough sorry.

Ideally your car should run straight at where you aim it at on a flat road. Adding Psi is a temporary solution and not the best.

I would have your car checked forany faults on the tierods or bushings and or even your rims.

Silver C

Or try what Glyn said. I'm not much of a DYI person as service cost is pretty affordable down here.

Glyn M Ruck

I have edited the post above with more detail.

This pulling problem on Benz is common - not only W203. MBSA has drummed the castor settings into every tyre shop in SA. It fixes the problem every time unless your front tyres have worn badly.

anonymousmoose

Front tyre ware looks ok to me thank goodness.

anonymousmoose

Thanks, I just read through all this

Just one question; so to do the adjustment, do you need to install the 3 way camber?

My tyre guy isn't doing out of spite I believe, he may not be as competent as Mercedes Benz as he is other makes. Its a Jaguar, Rover, Austin Martin etc dealership.

Carsy

Hello Glyn,

Is this information relevant to the W204?

JC

Johnsct

When I get some time, I'll jack the car up and check the rear suspension. If there is a problem there, I hope it's easy to spot.

anonymousmoose

I will get this done next service. But at the moment, its ok if I keep a slightly more pressure amount in my left tyre. Even if I keep 'em both the same PSI, it only drifts slightly.

the tyre chap is a nice guy, he admitted he is not sure how to install these on a Mercedes and recommends I go to a specialist. But other then this, he's a nice guy and he organised me the two free tyres from the sales rep.

Glyn M Ruck

Yes - absolutely JC.

Glyn M Ruck

Yes - a lot of alignment shops don't understand Benz. They also don't realise how important the toe in setting on the rear axle is.

You need two bolts to adjust castor & another 2 to adjust camber.

Benz is just cheap. They install a standard bolt that only fits the centre position in the bushes. In fairness the "chassis" on these cars is strong.

anonymousmoose

My GM Holden was the same. They used castor bushes made from the worst material which just break. Got some better ones put on and smooth sailing. Well it still didnt fix my steering shake 100% but I lived with it.
Funny thing was I asked to chap to do one job (different to my current tyre guy) and he accidental did the castors. He felt really bad and instead of taking them out, he just gave them to me for his wholesale price and charged me half the labour.