LLUSKYY

Pretty basic question. Do Sport Sedans come factory lowered compared to other stock 203's? I know SS come with the AMG body but I have know nothing about the stock suspension.

I only ask because the previous owner did a whole bunch of strange things to the car, which I'm trying to identify before summer comes and I do more work on it.

phister

they come lower hence the "sport" name on them.

The springs are lower than C32 and other models and have a shorter struts/shock as well if I remember right, plus the rear spring pads are #1 or 2 compared to the #3 or 4 most have.

sammydragon3

its almost the same suspension (u can use c230 parts on a c55 and vice versa) as the C55.

4 links in front. 5 links in back.

2 macphearson struts in front and only 2 shocks in back.

LLUSKYY

Cool, thanks for the input guys. Can anyone identify what would cause my steering wheel to pull? Also my steering wheel wobbles at highway speeds. (I don't ever really go on the highway) I'm hoping it's just a bent wheel.

phister

your wheels might be out of balance. I say go get your wheels balanced and do an alignment

LLUSKYY

I could see wheel shake at high speeds but does an unbalanced wheel cause pull at low speeds?

LILBENZ230

A slight pull to the right seems par for the course on the SS. My 2005 did it the whole time I owned it. As for a highway shake, like phister said, possibly need a tire balance. If that doesn't work, you may have a bent rim.

LLUSKYY

Hmm I wonder if anyone else is experiencing any pull. But alright yeah I'll go get a balance and alignment done and see if that fixes it.

jkowtko

Like Lilbenz230 said, a slight pull to the right is fairly common in these cars. There is an aftermarket bolt kit you can buy that lets you adjust caster and camber when you do a front-end alignment. The rear wheels also have adjustable toe-in ... you should make sure this is not off center as well (thus, the "four wheel alignment"). The front caster/camber adjustment on these cars is different than most, so you may have to search for a shop that knows how to do them.

I'm curious to know how bad your pull is. Find an empty road and drive on the left side of it. Does it still pull to the right? Is it now straight? Or now drifting to the left? My car has a slight drift to the right, but on level or left-banked roads it will drift just a bit to the left. When I drive on the freeway I have to keep a couple of fingers on a spoke of the left side of the steering wheel and apply a little pressure to keep the car straight. it's not much pressure -- almost just the weight of my hand and forearm as I rest my elbow on the door armrest.

Also, if your tires are getting worn, sometimes just bad wear patterns in the tread can make your alignment feel bad and your braking squirly. A new set of tires often solve the majority of what you thought were suspension problems ..

samaritrey

I don't understand why the 2005 c230 owners always complain about this and my c320 has never had this issue nor has any other w203 I have driven.

phister

most shops should have MB specs for alignment. I know the caster and toe is different from the left to right side of the road to accommodate the roads here.

heres an old thread about the alignment specs

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...ent-specs.html

LILBENZ230

Actually you did drive a W203 with the problem.. mine. It's something about the suspension on them, they pull slightly to the right. It's normal from what I can tell. Actually "pulling" isn't the right term. If you let go of the wheel it would drift right. As long as you were actively driving with one or both hands on the wheel it wasn't noticeable to me.

jkowtko

I don't know that they necessarily pull to the right ... it may also be that they don't have very strong centering on them. This might be done for performance reasons, i.e. having the tires fight for center position = more drag?

I do know that the alignment is very sensitive. When I made my alignment adjustments a 1/4 turn on a tie rod end made a noticable difference in tracking.

I also have a slight amount of play in my steering rack, a slight "clunk" when I turn the wheel hard one way or another. I have noticed when the gear is "clunked" into one position the car pulls a bit to the right, and in the other position it tracks straight. From what I can tell the play in there is less than a millimeter. Very sensitive to geometry changes.

Also, check your sway bar bushings -- the ones that mount to the chassis. I just changed mine (i.e. changed the entire sway bar with the molded on bushings), the old bushings were compressed hard and were likely giving a bit ... can't say for sure but it seems like it made a difference on tracking.