Hi MB owners,
I've had my 2009 CLS550 since the fall of 2012, love this car.
Wondering if I could gather opinions on the way the car handles on straight drives. I have standard 18" 245/275 staggered setup.
When the car is any airmatic setup (comfort, sport 1 or 2) and I'm on a road that has some slight grooving or parallel humps due to aging of the road (car/truck weight), the CLS feels as those the it's on streetcar tracks, and sways/swerves slightly to find a straight line. This happens at any speed. Is this a normal feeling? It's similar to the feeling of a brisk gust of wind moving your car slightly off track - but there is NO wind....

Note, at first I thought it was wear on the previous (oem) tires, but I just installed brand new Michelin PSS on all 4 corners. And, this did not occur when I had my winter Hankook 245s (all around) so I don't believe it's an alignment issue.
Is this something to do with the staggered setup or the zRated tires that I am not used to? The Airmatic suspension adjusting it self constantly?
This type of car along with airmatic suspension is new to me.

Thanks!

 

All my cars have staggered set ups, and this is normal. The car cannot track properly because of the different sizes. Wheels cannot follow the same grove. Totally normal with this staggered setup.
Next time run a 285 in the rear fits better..but will not help swaying.. It's just the poor roads.

What makes you think the airmatic is going up and down?
If there were errors with suspension it would normally display on dash.

 

Brilliant. Phew, Thanks CLSED - I didn't think it was related to the suspension because it didn't happen with same size all around but staggered is new to me. I've always had less sporty domestic rubbish sitting in my garage in the past.
Appreciate your response. Cheers.

 

I wouldn't rule out an alignment issue. My CLS doesn't drive in this manner. I did have that problem on my Porsche 944T (also staggered) with a track alignment. Rear tires were slightly toed-in, front tires slightly toed out. This made the car very quick to turn in on a racetrack, but it was a bear to drive on a typical straight highway. Went back to a factory alignment and the problem went away.

 

True.
Depends on roads. High traffic city roads / highways have very deep groves, sometimes not noticeable to naked eye.
When you change lanes is when you will feel it most on staggered setups. Or sometimes if road is real bad you will feel that its hard to stay in lane, soon as you get on a different road problem totally disappears. This can be very annoying if you have neglected roads in your area.
Checking alignment can never hurt, but as you said when you put Non-staggered setup on it went away.