Daniyar79

Hi, i drive a 92 300E and have 125k on it. When I drive on a straight road above 45 mph i get a slight vibration in the steering wheel. As soon as I start turning left or right the vibration goes away. I had my wheels balanced and alignment done recently, replaced my ball joints and wheel bearing about a year ago. What else could cause this vibration? Could it be the bushings? Tie rod ends? Please help me figure this out.
Thank you.

zeronero

I read on some previous posts that there are two ways to balance tires and that the tire shops use the quick way which doesn't work as well as a different method that takes longer and requires a more $$$ machine.

Several MB owners claim that the longer method is the only thing that works on their cars, so that might be the problem. I don't know what any of the methods names are though.

neanderthal

if you have cheap tires that could be the problem. if you have good tires, tehn i suggest you get the tires rebalanced again.

make sure that they calibarate the machine daily. have them do a "dynamic" balance, which is where wheel weights end up on both sides of the wheel instead of just inside. if you get the static balance (no wheel weights on the outside) then youre cheating yourself as it only accounts for the up and down motion of the wheel, not the side to side variances.

if the problem persists after that, youve got bigger problems.

mjtray

Hi,

You may also find that with your mileage, that the Steering Damper needs replacing. I have had this done on my E280 and it cured the "shimmy" I used to get from the front of the car as I drove in a straight line at speeds of 50mph+

Its not expensive to replace.

Cheers

Chappy

What kind of tires do you have on your 300E?

dlafever

This is my vote! When the dampener goes really bad you can hit a bump and have the steering wheel shake like a wheel is coming off.

-D

Daniyar79

I have Yokohama Avid H4 tires and they are awesome. You might be right about the steering dampener since every time i go over a bump the steering wheel goes left and right and it doesn't feel like it is suppose to do that. But I had my steering dampener replaced exactly two years ago and it has 35k on it. And i think it's not only the dampener. It vibrates only 80% of the time. There are times when I drive on a nice straight road, bumpy or not, and the car feels perfect. But it is rare.

Thanks to everybody who replied.

Jim's500E

Check the drag-link too, they wear out and cause slight vibrations in steering wheel also.

mjtray

Front ball joints might also be on their way out.........not uncommon for these to need replacing.

PS: The steering damper can wear out after a relatively short time.

Cheers