sernst

Hello all of you lucky CL owners. I have a constant vibration through the steering wheel of my new CL500. Dealer has balanced the tires, match balanced the tires, checked for out of round, acknowledged the vibration, but not fixed a thing. I know that M-B has gone to great lengths to state the harshness and wear of performance tires, but I have never felt this in any of my previous Mercedes. Does anyone else have this problem?
Thanks Sam

Jud Chapin

At what speed range is the vibration. Usually, 55+ mph is a tire or tire balancing. You say it is constant. Are you saying it is there at idle? If they can't find the problem, try another dealer. The car should have no vibration through the steering wheel. For that matter, no car should. One other thing, did they check the motor mounts?

sernst

thanks for the response, the vibration is there at all speeds. At the slower speeds it feels like a lope and then smooths out some with speed. Originally it reminded me of a steering coupling that was bad or loose. Dealer has checked all that was easy to check. Mine has the Bridgestones on it and I drove another new one with the Michelins that had the same vibration.????
Getting to the point that M-B needs to do something. I cant imagine that this is common to this car.

DarrenCT

what year is your cl? when my abc pump went bad, that caused the same sensation

sernst

2006 2000 miles

Jud Chapin

It's really hard to comment on this without driving the car, especially since you drove a new one and it has the same sensation. They may end up telling you it's normal because the new ones does the same thing. I know that my '02 500 has a small vibration through it at around 1200 RPM. However, it doesn't affect the steering wheel. I had the dealer look at it and they went through the normal checks, repositioned the exhaust and replaced the motor mounts, all to no avail. I finally gave up on it as a new one had the same feeling.

phat-ho

sernst, did you just drive it off the dealership lot and it was doing that so you had to keep taking it back to get it looked at or did the problem develop over a short period of time.

sernst

right from the start, took it back the next day for tire balancing, following week, and the next.

OC kid

sernst:

I have lowered my '03 and put 20's on it and I don't experience the symptoms you are describing. I have heard a wive's tale about the cars having a natural right pull to them but NOT the vibration thing. Jud's right; it's not supposed to be doing that. It seems odd to me that the other one on the lot was doing it too. Did the dealer acknowledge that as well?

Try driving it on the newest, smoothest, CONCRETE roadway near you and check to see if the road surface effects the amount of vibration to the steering wheel in addition to the speed variable.


I'd continue to bring it in under the same symptom to the dealer and if it is to no avail; lemon-law that biatch.

Let us know what happens and Good Luck to you.

OC kid

bltserv

Check that ABC pump.
Mine did it too. When that pump starts going you can feel it in the steering wheel. The vibration is in line with RPM. Put it in neutral. Rev it up.
See if you feel it in the wheel. If you do. Its the ABC pump.
And its going to get worse. Fix it before the pump fails. That failure is
really ugly to have happen while driving.

Only other thing is tires. Or it got curbed hard.
Go to another dealer. This is NOT normal for a CL500.
Should be as smooth as silk at all speeds with tires at 50% or better.

phat-ho

sernst, if it is not the ABC, balance and rotate etc. (or other symptoms mentioned in this post), it is serious and you should NOT listen to the dealer. my boss bought a brand new 2005 E500 and it did the same thing (based on what you are describing). she too took it back several times but eventually they had to change it out for a whole new vehicle altogether at no cost. i am not sure if your dealer would be happy at this jucture, but know that you are obligated since this problem occured right out of the box. some of the reasons they gave her was: when cars sit in the lot for a while the rubber 'settles-in' more towards the ground, causing an imbalance; the tires are defective so we're going to replace them; we had to adjust the suspension, it just needs to be 'broked-in' properly. ALL these reasons were BS and eventually they had to eat the cost of getting her into a new car. and another thing, a NEW car should have NO problems when it's rolling off the lot, NONE, NO EXCUSES!

mjr24

Bent rim?

sernst

thanks everyone, going back to the dealer on Monday

sernst

Well, I got the car back with new motor mounts, tried a different set of wheels and tires, but no change. Vibration is still there. Dealer says they are contacting the big cheese rep to come up with a solution. Sure love the CL, but dont know if I can stand to feel the vibration the rest of my life.

bltserv

Here in California it would be cause to "Lemon" it.
No way a new CL500 should generate any noticable
vibration thru the steering wheel. Mine is 7 years old
and very smooth at all speeds. Even better at high speeds.

Only time I feel something in the wheel is when the tires are
almost at the end of life. Like cupped and then some wheel hop at 70MPH.

Only other thing I can think of is driveshaft out of align or
damaged U-joint.
But you usually feel that thru the shifter before the wheel.

Something in that front end is not right or true/straight.
No matter what you do. DO NOT "Roll Over" for them.
Be civil. But DO NOT take "Cant Help you its normal"
for an answer and accept an obvious problem with this car.

Good luck. Keep us advised on you progress.

Where are you located ? What state ?

sernst

we will see what happens next week, St. Pete Fl.

sernst

Update to my steering vibration problem. Service managers report stated that the steering vibration was normal for my car and they cant do anything about it What a load of crap from this guy. Still trying to get with the big cheese area rep, but this is not going to be pretty. Can you imagine the salesman telling you that you get to pay 100k for a CL and that "by the way, that steering vibration is normal". Lokey Mercedes in Clearwater Fl.

Jud Chapin

Lokey is where I bought my used '02 CL500 a couple years back. It was not a pleasent experience, but the deal was the best I could fine so I bought the car. The car was listed on Ebay and I went directly to them to buy. At the time, they had a couple of complaints in their rating which should have been a heads up to me. Good luck!

phat-ho

NORMAL???!!! NORMAL??? i wish lived near there and to give them hell myself. UNACCEPTABLE

101charley

There is no way this is normal. It is absurd to even suggest this. My car is a CL600 and it is so smooth you would believe it is on rails all the way up to 140.

Good luck with this.

bltserv

Looks like Florida has a similar law as here in Cali.
for just this sort of issue.

1. That Vibration is not normal and effects the value of the vehicle.
2. You have taken it in 3 times or more and they cannot resolve it.

Looks like you can file a MVDN on that dealer !
Motor Vehicle Defect Notification.

I think you can get somewhere with this.
http://www.800helpfla.com/lemonlaw.html

Its sad you have to go this far. But sounds to me like that
Dealer is a real turd anyway for even trying to blow you off
like this.

phat-ho

i just cannot comprehend how they can keep glazing over the problem..they know damn well it is not going to go away. i mean, how many times did they plan on brushing you off? 5 times? 10 times? i mean obviously there is a problem. the *******s.

OC kid

sernst:

bltserv could'nt be more right on the money.

Re-read his post and maybe call one of those shows like "fight back with David Horwitz" or whatever to get the t.v. cameras rolling over there on this one.

This is just a bunch of garbage the way they're blowing you off...I'm starting to get pissed. How much is a plane ticket to Florida these days? My steel toes are ready and due for some kickin'.

Keep us posted.

OC kid

DL_AMG

My C32 AMG has exactly the same problem. It all start around 20k miles and the i can feel the heavy vibration between 40-50mph. At first I thought is my tire's flat spot. After I replace with tire, the vibration still exactly the same. Took to dealer and they starting to replace engine mount, drive shaft, tq converter and transmission. After these replacements, the car still vibrate as usual. And during the vibration fix, my car also starting to go weird and dealer had also replaced radiator and flash twice, new battery, new air condition and new step motor(blower adjuster inside the dash) with just 3 months period. After 6 visits, the problem still not fix and now they are telling me this is normal. If is normal, why replace so many stuffs in the first place? I contact a Lemon Law lawyer and they told me I have a great case since MB did replace a lot of major parts which mean they know car has problem. If they didn't fix the car from start, it might be hard for them to sue MB. Anyway, I'm in the process for MB to buy back my car. My car is already out of warranty but the issue was bring up within the warranty period. MB is going down hill quick...

sernst

thanks everyone, as I said, I will meet with the big MB cheese on monday. I will post the results

BTW, has anyone ever had steering rack issues? loose or too much backlash

or control arm bushings that had to be replaced or changed to a harder compuond

these were suggested by another MB service manager that certainly seems to be more knowledgable and willing to look at something besides tires