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Hi guys, I noticed something peculiar about the steering on my BS. It seems to always have the tendency to rest not at dead center but slightly to the left. It feels like there is less resistance inside the steering system which makes it favourable for it to lean on the left.
If I make it lean to the right at rest, I have to use slightly more strength. This also applies in motion when testing on different roads with different camber profiles. I brought the car to the dealership and they said the car is perfectly aligned and nothing can be done.
This is my first Mercedes and I'm not sure whether this is considered normal but it's driving me insane. Does anyone have any clue what issue this is or I'm stupid OCD?
Thanks..
Last edited by prodigue; Dec 23, 2014 at 09:43 PM.
Most roads in the US are crowned. The right side of the road (the side of the road nearest the passenger side of the car) is slightly lower than the left side of the road (the side the driver is nearest).
Due to this crowning, cars have a tendency to drift toward the right (down the slope).
If this is a U.S.-spec car, it could be that the steering is dialed in to compensate for road crowning.
Total speculation on my part. Just trying to offer up something.
Had the same issue with my C63 after replacing the front tyres and doing an alignment.
It turned out they had to do the alignment a couple of times until they got it right... there was a particular setting that needed disabling to get it right (sorry, it was 18 months ago and I've forgotten exactly what it was).
The tire pressures are 40PSI all around and I just changed to a fresh set of P Zeros last week.
The car travels relatively straight but just that the steering has to be cocked slightly to the left (about 11 o'clock position). And if I release my hands the wheel will automatically drop to the 11 position. Turning left also seems more natural to the car than turning right.
I have tried on all sorts of roads as I'm aware of the crowning issue. I'm extremely sensitive to such nuances but I have not experienced such a problem with my 997 GT3 over the same roads in the past 6 years.
Any advice would help at this moment!!
Natural resting position:
Last edited by prodigue; Dec 26, 2014 at 05:20 AM.
The tire pressures are 40PSI all around and I just changed to a fresh set of P Zeros last week.
The car travels relatively straight but just that the steering has to be cocked slightly to the left (about 11 o'clock position). And if I release my hands the wheel will automatically drop to the 11 position. Turning left also seems more natural to the car than turning right.
I have tried on all sorts of roads as I'm aware of the crowning issue. I'm extremely sensitive to such nuances but I have not experienced such a problem with my 997 GT3 over the same roads in the past 6 years.
Any advice would help at this moment!!
Natural resting position:
...
I had the exact same problem... and my alignment was out at the front.
Take it to a dealer or your local tyre guy and they should be able to sort you out.
get an alignment and make sure the steering wheel is blocked in dead center position when it is done. Otherwise the wheels may be perfectly aligned with each other and point straight wherever the steering wheel position was during the alignment process.
many Benz are like this so I can agree maybe normal. If alignment is correct then live with it. If it's bothering you that much take steering wheel off and move the steering wheel to the right a tooth or two on the spline. If the wheels been off before maybe it wasnt put back centered.
Moving the wheel by one tooth may not fit, that adjustment is not accurate enough for a small deviation from dead center. Alignment is the simplest way.
I just had to do the same thing as a consequence of my header install. The steering rack had to be removed for the headers to go in and put back on. It ended up not being in exactly the same spot as before (due to some slop in the mounting holes). 30 min on the alignment lift and fixed. Both wheels were off by the same amount with steering wheel blocked at dead center.
Looks like you are in Singapour!
Check your alignment. Was there any work done around the steering wheel recently?
If your alignment is OK you can still check your steering position and see if it is off by few teeth. But i doubt ...
Does anybody know how many teeth the steering shaft has? If it has, say 40 teeth, then each tooth moves the wheel position by 9 degrees. If you are 5 degrees off and bothered by it, you need an alignment with dead center steering wheel to fix it exactly.
you need an alignment. never unbolt the steering wheel and move splines. This screws with the steering angle sensor zero point calibration. It's a simple adjustment of front toe that sets the steering wheel position. moving the wheel over will totally screw stuff up. The rack at that point will no longer be centered. so it'll auto center wrong and turn further one way than the other.
Thanks for all your replies, really appreciate the help here. I brought the car to an alignment shop and explained to them the problem. The mech told me this is a common Mercedes issue which was in line to what I've learnt from the web. Never had to worry about the most fundamental operation of a car till now.. Guess it's my rite of passage on owning my first Mercedes.
They tinkered by reducing the front right caster only which seems to have improved the natural resting position as it's now more equal weighted. Now steering both left and right feels equal. Previously steering right felt unnatural and extra heavy.
Last edited by prodigue; Dec 31, 2014 at 11:44 PM.
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