yuanja888

Recently my car started to vibrate like the wheels are out of balance. It gets worse as u pick up the speed. It starts off small at 60 mph and gets more intense at 70mph.

So I took the car to the wheelworks that did my tires and asked them to redo the alignment and balance. Then while i was at work they called and told me that steering linkage tie bar is loose. They replaced something and fixed it. The guy said that he has did a few clk that had the same problem.

Have anyone had similar problem?

EuCLK200

I know some posts on other mercedes forum where more than 10 persons had this problem including me...

There are several possibilities for this.
I`ll list them below in the highest posibility order:

1. tires, replace them
2. aligment and all other wheels setup stuff`s
3. steering tie bar
4. rotors

Most people solved the problem just by replacing the tires.

I had the problem coming from one of the front rotors, i changed them and solved it out.

Make sure you find out what the exact problem is before changing all the direction pieces

i`ve done all the 4 points and finally solved the problem by replacing the rotors in the end of course

yuanja888

My case was the tie rod. the tires were newly installed and balanced. I just can't understand how MB's design is so weak.

It seems a number of ppl stopped by the shop to get it done too. The service guy told he fixed a few of them.

smalldog

How much did he charge you? I'm having the same problem....i had my wheels reblanced twice. Where is the steering tie rod located?

E55AMG99

Add bent rims to the list of possible vibration causes. Somehow I bent both right side stock 17" AMG wheels on my CLK. The wobble/vibration got worse with speed.

smalldog

When you balance the wheels the shop should be able to tell if the wheels are bent or not.

yuanja888

The shop charged me $280 for parts and labor.

x15jq

Thats a good price for the tie rod. Its a one piece unit called the drag link. It includes the center steering link and 2 tie rods plus ends. It is all one piece. THe piece retails about 160, if you got 280 with labor id say you got a good deal.

Oh yeah, the 17 inch amg's are notoriously weak. I have bent 3 so far. Sometimes if the bend is not bad enough, you can balance it out. I would never buy those rims from the mb dealer tho unless i wanted to spend a chunk of money

Tire out of round is a common problem, but that would be discovered with wheel balance. The belts sometimes shift, and it wobbles making your steering wheel shake.

E55AMG99

I upgraded to 18" from an SL when I bent the 17". Good point about the bad tire. Had one of those on the E55. Always pulled to the right even though alignment was perfect.

smalldog

I had my tie rod checked today. It turned out to be ok. The steering wheel vibrates around 60mph sometimes and other times it rides smooth? Could I be overlooking something.....

yuanja888

The guys that replaced the tie rod also told me that when the car is parked for a while, the tires especially ones like mine (sp9000) tends to deform. After driving it a mile or so it will be completely round again. So one would feel the vibration on high way then after a mile (warmed up) the vibration would be gone.

lowphat

Get this - last weekend it rained here - I'm on the highway and accelerated past 80 - my front end started to shake so much I thought the wheels were going to come off. Did the same thing every time I reached 80+.

Next day, and ever since - no more rain and everything's fine. Took it past 100 a couple of times and no problem. What's up with that?

2001CLK

Have you guys inspected your steering dampner..

Check for leaks in the cylinder. Very cheap and easy to replace.
THis could solve your vibration problem.

yuanja888

Yes, i replaced mine last year and it was only $20. made some difference.

GrantWinTX

My issue is different. I have no vibration (except when tyres are cold) BUT I do have a vibration under heavy braking when excess of 70 mph. Any ideas?
It may be brakes but they are new, balancing has been done several times. Is it possibly steering vibration damper?

GrantWinTX

$20 from where??

yuanja888

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WDVW

If you feel vibration only during braking... doesn't matter how hard it is most likely your rotors are warpped.

es202

good infos in here.... maybe mine needs to change the steering damper & the tie rods. cause my rotors are brand new and same goes for the tyres

x15jq

ur rim can be bent. when you hit the brakes you are puting more load on the tire/whls in the front, and this will make any bend more noticelable. I have had this problem in the past.

THe tie rod is a one piece assembly on the clk as well.

clkal

they should have charged you $700 cuz you got too much money...LOL

smalldog

Where is it located? Also when the dealer replaced my harmonic balancer they replaced a vibration damper. Is that the same as the steering damper?

str8ridin

Brake pads are new? Sounds like your rotors are warped.

GrantWinTX

Pads and rotors are new. I put on the Zimmerman cross drilled rotors and ATE pads. I'm now wondering if the quality of these rotors is not that great and warp under any kind of heat.

smalldog

Just called the dealer......The two parts are different

D-5

oh that's why!! I was on my way to seattle yesterday and my steering wheels shaked like crazy between 60-70mph. I had my wheels balanced last month so it must be the steering damper or the tie bar! I'll have it check out tmr.