Amir.yunus

I bought a new e 250 coupe cgi in october 2011. After almost 2 months of purchase the car had steering wheel vibrations between 100 to 120 km / hr. I have taken the car to the dealer several times and they have done wheel balancing & wheel alignment but this doesnt seem to solve the problem. Tyres have also been changed twice. The car had dunlop tyres orignally and front 2 tyres were changed. Later when the problem was still there four brand new michelin tyres were installed but unfortunately couldnt get rid of the problem.

The problem still exists. Steering wheel moves sideways (vibrates) at a speed of 100 to 120 km & i am clueless what to do. Never expected this from a premium brand like mercede.

By the way the car has amg wheels 235/40 18 front and 255/35 18 rear.

Any thoughts, suggestions?

Thanks

JoaoMerc

If this happens between 100-120km/h its related with the wheels. Could be:

-tyre defect(but since you change the set twice, it's not the case)
-bad wheel balanced(probably the reason)
-rim defect(did you hit a pot or so? one rim or more could be deformed and the wheel balancing can not avoid the vibrations because the state of the rim)

If it was a problem with the car itself, it would vibrate at almost any speed.

Good luck.

BenzMan369

Welcome to the forum. Sorry you are having this vexing problem.

Since what you've tried so far hasn't worked, I too would suggest a bad rim, either due to damage or to defect.

Gets expensive to try a whole new set of AMG rims on just a hunch.
Has the dealer tried swapping the wheels front to back?

Often a bad tire or wheel will cause steering wheel vibration on the front, but the vibration will be gone or significantly reduced in the steering wheel with the bad tire or wheel on the rear. Some small vibration may be felt from the rear of the car, although harder to detect.

Another possibility is a problem in the drive train. Drive shafts, transmissions and associated machinery can cause vibrations at certain speeds. In my experience though, this is more often felt as a general vibration in the car and not isolated solely to the steering wheel.

I suppose it's also possible to have a problem in the steering or front suspension systems components, but it's best to try the simple cures first, as your dealer has been doing.

Hope you're able to get this annoying problem sorted.

Amir.yunus

Thanks guys for the response.

Well, the issue is still there. It feels like holding an electric shaver in your hands while driving at 100 km/hr and above. The dealer also seems helpless and they have started to come up with lame excuses such as its a sensitive car, its due to road surface, tyres develop flat spots over night etc etc but I am still convinced that this problem shouldnt be there in an extremely expensive car like Merc.

As suggested by you guys that it could be damaged rims i am thinking of getting the front rims changed although i dont remember i hit some pot or something like this.

I had also tried some independent tyres shops for wheel/road force balancing but surprisingly vibrations increase drastically after their balancing job. Had to take the car back to dealer after that and i must admit that after dealers wheel balancing the steering has minimum vibrations but dont go away completely.

Since the car had bigger tyres at rear (255/35 18) do you suggest putting them at the front before buying new rims for front (front tyres size is 235/40 18)? Somone told me that since the car has staggered wheels its not possible to rotate the tyres.

Thanks

mominnz

I had the same issue and the dealers are liers, they have experience but they want to save the costs.
Bottom Line.

i discovered that it was a RIM issue, you need to check each rim at an independent garage and see for your self which rim has a judder.

The dealer has ordered a new rim.

Regarding issues with the suspension and drive axle, mercedes benz vehicles don't develop that issue until a direct hit to the drive axle as occurred.

Regarding pulling left and right, the same issue i had. the reason is that steering is highly sensitive to wheel weight. You need to get proper new rims and alignment from the dealer because Mercedes benz alignment is slightly complicated than regular cars.

They involve load pressure onto the suspension which changes the camber and therefore the car easily slides to the right or left.

mominnz

Today i finally sorted out the issue causing steering vibration plus tram lining.

1. The issue is because of bent rims and tyres. The dealer balanced it 3 times but the vibration was there. Got them balanced from kwik fit and 2other local shops which were again a failure. Finally found a small shop near blackhorse station and the guy charged me 20 pounds and balanced all 4 wheels. Tried it extensively on slanting left and right roads. Its perfect. now.

2. Tramlining which the dealer says is a common issue with 19 inch rims and cannot be resolved. Then they say its due to camber issue and road conditions thus the vehicle pulls.
I am no mechanic but having interest in vehicles especially the motor i drive.
After days of research and extensive trail and error testing. I have found out the right shop where they have solved the issue with brains and now my car drives extremely smooth either on slanting roads.
Tested it on M25 M11 M40 upto speeds of 120 mph. NO ISSUES. FINALLY after days of torture.

Please let me know if your vehicle has the same issues. Just take it to GOODWIN tyres in ILLFORD. Run by a bunch of english guys who really know what they are doing.