RJC

I did some further investigation and the DTB listed above(#1) is for a steering wheel twitch when the brakes are applied lightly, so this really should not have anything to do with the problem.

S93

Try to be more aware. My previous car had a similar problem at different times. Once was a worn tire, cured by a new tire. Another time, the wheel bearings were bad, cured by replacement of one of them (the side with the vibration). Many other possibilities as mentioned.

luxury1

I have this problem also and have had it for at least the last 25,000 miles with different wheels. The service tech actually noticed it but I have not brought it back to the shop for repair yet. Hopefully one of the above solutions will fix it.

SushDawg

I've got a vibration too. Had the dealer checked everything. This was on a new set of Pirelli P-Zeo-Neros with only 2000 miles on it and vibration from day 1.

They told me it was the tire. They had supposedly tightend everything , even the control arm busings were replaced, torque strust busings, the TSB for the "twitch".

They told me they took a set of wheels from another 211 and the vibration went away.

Having my tires replaced with PS2 on Monday, hopefull the vibration goes away, else the delaer will have to fix it.

Other things I've in the forum from steering vibration is to get any of the following done which has helped other folks:
1. Check Propeller shaft & Flex Disks
2. Replace Harmonic Balancer or Steering Damper or vibration damper
3. Inspect or replce Tie Rod Linkage orSteering Linkage Rod


if my tire vibration does not go away - iwill be back at the dealer to get any of the aboce done

csumt76

I have the update strut rod bushings on my car also. I had a slight vibration/shimmy in the steering wheel at highway speeds a while ago. I just checked the pressures, rebalanced and rotated the tires. I think a lot of it had to do with the wear on the front rubbers. I had a slight feathering b/c of the lowering.

RJC

Ok went to see the shop foreman of my local dealership (a large one). He said exactly what chenry said, he has found that the steering rack can be tightened up a bit to help with the shimmy @50-60 , he also will have all my tires balanced on a Hunter GSP9700. I plan on having this done at my 1000 mile check up .

konigstiger

The Hunter GSP9700 performs a computer simulated road test and as such isolates and measures the exact cause of wheel-related vibration. A perfectly balanced tire can still vibrate due to force variation. Aligning the high point or stiff spot in the tire with the lowest spot in the rim can make the wheel “round when rolling”. This procedure is called force matching (road force balancing) and solves most vibration problems.

Whenever you request a wheel balance always ask for road force balance. This checks for out of round tires, stiff spotting, and not only measures static balance “up and down” (normal balancing) but also dynamic balance “side to side”.

RJC

I've been recommending the GSP 9700 to people for a while now. Thank you for the excellent detailed info.

RunninRS

My car also has the shimmy/shake. 2005 E500.
Took it in to the dealer, they said the tires get flat spots from sitting.
Huh?
It has the stock Pilot's on it (noisey as all hell)
Tire pressure is correct per MB spec, allthough I KNOW they didnt' check it.
Maybe these tires are just plain junk and I should ask for some that don't "flat spot" in a couple hours.
It also seems to wander a bit on really flat roads.

RJC

See if they can tighten up the steering rack and get a balance on a GSP 9700 as indicated a few posts up.

glojo

It would be interesting to see if those that are plagued with vibration problems have low profile tyres fitted?

Wider, low profile tyres tend to loose shape if left parked for any length of time (particularly in cold weather) and this will cause vibrations just like those described.

I accept that this will NOT be the ultimate answer, and those that have paid out for these expensive items will not want to accept that this might be the cause.

Good luck with resolving the issues,
John

jd986s

Go to MB of Laguna Niguel ask for Jim Olsen (Service Advisor). Same thing happened on my car, balanced wheels twice (by MB). It turns out to be driveshaft in my car. Issue resolved.

SushDawg

Well folks -in summary - replaced my OEM Contis with P Zero Neros. This vibration continues. I replaced the P Zero Nero's with Michelin PS2's. The delaer told me its the tread pattern on the tire. Dealer told me they did yje road force and teh tires were bad. Took it 2 other places - road force was fine. The place I bought the P Zeros was nice enough to give me a full refund and try the PS2's. A $400 upgrade - but dealer had to prove to the dealer that tires were not the issue. They would not look at this issue anymore and kept telling me its the tires.

Well, the vibration is reduced - has not gone away. I belive this is due to the softer rubber, thats why the dealer recommended the softer Conti or Michelins to me.

glojo - I don't have low profile tires - and this car is driven every day. That rules out the loosing shpe theory

RJC - Steering rack was tightened - several GSP 9700 balances later - still there

jd986s - B of Laguna Niguel is a little for from Dallas TX. Right now I have the car at Park Place in Dallas. Been getting the run around on this issue. Hope it gets resolved. Car has been with them for 2 days now. I bet they will come back with the smae answer.

They gave me a new ML350 to drive around - feels good to drive a MB with no vibration. Sucks to have a E500 with vibration issues.

Park Place Dallas- I know they have someone from there monitoring this board - so hope they see this post and get this fixed !!!

bsmoove

see my story on the following thread:

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w211/147834-brand-new-after-market-19-rim-tire-vibration.html