inamoto5

Hi all,

new owner here.

Picked up my C300 4 matic about 3 weeks ago. 500 km in.

1 week in, started realizing the car would steer itself to the right during high speed and when the roads are flat.

Called the dealership, they said this is well documented on the Sport Package.

They checked the car for me, aligment is fine. They rotated the front tires.

Its a little better, but it still steers to the right a little bit even when i am going straight.

Anyone is experiencing the same problem?

Thanks!

german-anger

is the road slightly slanted? even thought visually it might not seem like it.. but the road might be slant a bit to the side. But usually if steering drifts. I've usually found its related to alignment, or the power steering is just assisted but feedback from the road does move the steering wheel a bit. Sometimes its the tires too... my guess.

jrct9454

We've covered this multiple times in multiple threads.

DO NOT ACCEPT PULLING AS "NORMAL".

Find another dealer. Find a competent alignment shop. These cars track like a train when set up properly.

You may need to point the technician in the direction of altering the caster settings slightly from one side vs the other - this will cure a pulling problem every time. For some reason, dealers are sometimes reluctant to use a little imagination on this, or go "outside the box" to solve this problem - if the car is "within spec", they think that's good enough. It's not good enough if it's driving you crazy.

All dealer references to this being "well known" or "normal" are complete BS.

inamoto5

Thanks for the input!

Its a little better after the adjustment.
However, it still pulls to the right at times, even when the road is flat, esp. at high speed.

I will check with my dealer again!

Thanks!

mac911

Yeah on a non-flat road mine pulls, but I thought it was normal cause of the road. I better check mine, or then I might have a headache from worrying about it.

Now my old 90s-something car you have to turn about sideways to go straight! ha-ha

maninblack

if it is on a flat surface , it should not pull

"1 week in, started realizing the car would steer itself to the right during high speed and when the roads are not flat "

normal when the roads are not flat

imboom

I think some people miss the point here.


"1 week in, started realizing the car would steer itself to the right during high speed and when the roads are not flat."

Of course it would do that. Mr Issac Newton would agree.

keith100

On a perfectly flat surface, (really flat roads are actually very rare, since they all need to shed rainwater somehow) the car should track straight. Try it in the centre of an empty level road, (usually as even as it gets) or maybe a large car park, let go the wheel and hit the brakes. If it pulls up true, the alignment is OK and the steering wheel should remain centered. If the car moves left or right, the alignment is out and the dealer can correct it. If it tracks true, but the wheel is off centre then its also a simple job for the dealer to correct.

On most crowned roads (and 99% are to some extent) tho, every decently handling car I've owned had to be held a little to the left, to counteract it's natural tendency to move right.

These cars have precise, but very light (maybe overly light?) steering and it took me a few months to get used to it at higher speeds.

If it fails these tests, don't accept any crap from the dealer about " crowned roads" in N/A . They have them in Europe too!

milsons200

I am in Australia and we drive on the left hand side of the road. My car pull to the LEFT due to the road surface (dealer explained).

I will try on the highway and see if the near flat road will pull on one side then bring the car back for a proper alignment. Perhaps try other W204 to compare if there's any different.

Perhaps the W204 power steering too much (assist too much) therefore the steering wheel need to held to keep the car straight ?!?!?

jrct9454

I repeat: our car tracks at any speed like a damned locomotive, and you should not accept anything else.

Sure, road crown affects how it feels from moment to moment, but over a 50 mile road trip, you're going to encounter enough different surfaces and situations to notice whether or not the car is pulling. Ours doesn't, yours shouldn't, and dealer blatherings to the contrary are just baloney.

All of our Mercedes [see below] have had superb tracking, but sometimes only after a proper alignment. The '98 W210 in particular was a handful before the alignment, but perfect thereafter [the W210 was notorious for being "darty" at speed, but the alignment make it much more stable]. Our '02 C240 pulled to one side before the tech at Sacramento MB made the decision to make one side's caster just a hair more than the other side - problem solved.