JoeyBE320

Well, I dropped off my E for service the other day. It has a list of problems, the biggest being that the car stopped producing heat? Good thing I live in Florida and it's 85 degrees!!

Anyway, another problem is that the car always pulls to the right. When I mentioned this to my service associate, he told me that all Benz's pull to the Right. He said I could take out a new S550 and it will do it. He then went on to tell me that it also has someting to do with Florida roads.

Does anyone else have this problem. I am starting to think that they don't want to fix the problem if there is a problem. It is a CPO, so I think I would be covered. I was thinking of having it looked at by another dealer or one of those private MB servicing centers.

Thanks for the responses.

Joe

Barry45RPM

My '07 never pulled to the right untill it was almost a year old, (11,000 gentle MI) then it pulled so hard to the right that I had to hold my steering wheel to the left to travel in a straight line. (face of a clock-about 2 hours to the left). If I took my hands off the wheel It would run off the right side of the lane within 300 feet.

They checked all the usual things first, then installed a Camber(?) Bolt Kit & did an Alignment & it tracks perfectly again. $329.00 incld tax. Had I brought it in a Month earlier (still only had 11,500 miles on the clock, but over the 12th Month) it would have been covered by the warranty, but I just couldn't fit it into my schedule... Whatever. They have a "Kit" to fix the pull & Its fixed & I'm loving the ride again.

Bottom line is MBUSA wouldn't have a known cure for the situation unless a statistically significant nummber of 211 E's did have a pulling to the right issue.

b_rashed

my 03 E500 pulls to the right but im not sure if its because of the wheels.

cleankutazn

Just got my 08 350 a few days ago and it pulls to the right very little though..Don't know if I should take it to the dealer

Fat Felixxx

when's the last time you guys got an alignment?

Germancar1

That is nonsense. It would have to be the road, tires or an alignment. Of course a Mercedes doesn't pull to the right, when in optimal condition they track straight and true. Must be the road, tires or something else is off, pulling to the right isn't the default.

M

vettdvr

It would have to be the road, tires or an alignment.

My guess is alignment with caster being within specs but not enough +caster on the right wheel. This will show in the cross caster numbers. Typically the shops will set the #'s to the center of the range. But if your car pulls right you can add some + caster on the right wheel to help this problem. The problem comes in when the wheel won't adjust. This is when you have to install the Factory parts (camber kit) to allow for this adjustment.

If you have a really good shop you can discuss this with them and they can cover the options. Too many times the shop has a "average" person doing the alignment that just sets it to middle of the range spec. The reason you have a range is to allow for some deviations in car, road tires etc. The + caster adjustment can be made and still in range,, just not the center of the range.

Gnaigle

My 07 E350 with 14K miles doesn't pull to the right here in VA it tracks straight, I can take my hands off the wheel and car stays where pointed.
I think I would go for an alignment.

spilok

Bull!

The Mercedes is one of the finest cars in the world. It DOES NOT by nature pull to the right. If it does....you have a problem, and if a Dealer says it should pull to the right....that Dealer is wrong.

I've had more than several Mercedes over the years, and they don't pull to the left or right. They track straight and true unless the road is pitched badly in one direction or the other.

Stan

ttsidd

Hi,

I have had similar issues in the past. From what I can tell, I have good enough setup when:

(1) Driving in the left lane, the car has a slight left pull
(2) Driving in the right lane, the car has a slight right pull

The above two show that the car is following the natural grade of the road.

Having chased "pull" issues in the past (my previous car, a M3), another factor that dictates pull are the tires themselves--rotating tires left to right and vice versa can get rid of the problem, although I had a set that basically did the pull to the very end.

The most obvious culprit is obviously alignment and camber/castor adjustment...

My 2 cents...

ttsidd
2006 E350 4Matic

GGM

Where in Florida are you? My former C240 did the same thing when I first got it. I took it in and after a small disagreement with the SA about Florida roads and that I had been driving on them for 30 years but never had the problem until I bought a Mercedes and that I bought a Mercedes because they were supposed to be the best engineered cars on the planet, they did a "goodwill" alignment which seemed to fix it. It was "goodwill" since the car was a year old with 17,000 miles on it but it had been a dealership loaner before I bought it. I think they wanted to keep my business (and it did help when it came time to buy the present E350). The E350 hasn't had an issue yet--knock on wood. If you search the forums you will find many threads on this issue. Printing out some replies in the forums which support your case, especially from posters in Florida, may help your case. My experience has been with MB of Orlando in Maitland.

Hope this helps.

SPNJHockey

Take any Demo car out for a ride...I'll bet that it doesn't pull to either side. They're not supposed to! Your S/A is yanking your chain, so find another one.

chairman

Seriously, the only time either of the 2 Benzes I have had pulled was due to improper tire pressure inflation or the pot hole that I hit in February, and that bent 2 wheels.

Does the car vibrate at any speed? You may have an out of round tire, but that would cause a vibration and not necessarily pulling.

I know that FL roads do not have pot holes from the old freeze thaw. So, either your tire pressure is off or you have something bent...or you may have gotten snow.

sosh

None of the MB's I have ever owned pulled to the right unless I was driving on a crowned road. My current 05 E 4M tracks like its on rails. Do not buy that explanation and find another SA at the dealership.

MercFiveHundred

Do you have Airmatic? I read previous posts that follow your observance of "road crown". My 03 e500 wasn't that bad, but after 10k of changing the lower ball joints, it went bad. I never had it aligned yet because it doesn't bother me that much (yet) and my tires seem to have normal wear (except more so in the inner part of the tire on the driver side front - probably from driver weight driving it 90% alone).

konigstiger

Well known problem, camber/caster kits have been used on all w211 models since inception to correct pulling in either direction – most often right. Camber adjustment corrects drifting however, does not affect tire wear.

To those with new vehicles wheel alignment, “road force” balancing, and brake squeal are all covered, no questions asked, by MBUSA for the first 12,000 miles/12 months whichever comes first so I would suggest taking advantage (for lack of a better term) during this period.

Extended warranty coverage depends on how the warranty reads however, given the available kit and its purpose I would not entirely rule out coverage or a goodwill alignment depending on the dealership and your relationship with them – the problem is well known.

CPO should cover the correction, request to speak with the service manager and shop foreman who both should be well aware of the camber/caster kit and its purpose. BTW, take them up on their offer to test drive the S550!!

ttsidd

No airmatic. I actually don't have a problem, just voicing what I consider normal.

strat

Sweet Ride Bro!!

hpd177

My car an 08 e350 pulled to the right all the time. Alignment job solved the problem.

wampa

cleankutazn

brought my 08 e350 to the dealer and they checked the alignment. They said there was no problem, pulling to the right was because of road crowning

jmf003

It'd be helpful if the SAs used more precise language. A properly aligned car will track straight on a level road, pulling neither right nor left, but will drift left or right on a crowned road.

To say that a car "pulls" because of the crown on the road isn't correct and just confuses things.

vettdvr

They probably sell bridges in their spare time. It should not pull if driven on a flat road. Crown will make a difference. You can drive on either side of the crown and confirm the effect of crown. But flat roads,, drive it straight.

They are setting alignment for center of range and not compensating for the pull with caster. But then they may never know and you might need to find someone else that can do the work. ASK for a printed copy of the initial and final alignment numbers then check for center of range.

gnma

Let me get this straight....You own one of the finest mass produced cars in the world and u've been told by the dealer that pulling is normal? AND Florida roads contribute to this? I, I, I, don't understand. Its like a regulator telling a Bank they did a bad thing by not having sub-prime loans, bec. the Bank did not help those that wanted to buy a "piece o' the pie".....

You can refute both claims. Do your other cars pull? If not, then its not the road. And tell them u're going to call MBUSA, and state that this dealer is saying "all MB's pull to the right".....

BTW, where are you?????

RONB

Fail.