Hello folks -

I upgraded froma 97 e420 to an 04 e320 recently (60K mi). Car was silky smooth but I had a couple of mishaps in the first month of ownership.

First the driver ball joint started making a creaking noise and then I drove my pass side tire over a piece of concrete pulling into a parking lot. That slashed the tire from side (car bounced and made a thumping noiseas tire hit the wheel well)

Car had brand -new hercules brand tires that I could not find alnywhere in Houston so I had to live with buying a Yokohama - same size tire.

since then - I had both front lower ball joints replaced - creaking is gone.

I cannot get discount ire (3 different stores) to balance the tires right it has a vibration between 55-65 mph range and unfortunately I am mostly in that speed zone. After ball-joint replacement vibration, it has reduced significantly but at 62mph I can visually see the steering shaking.

Since the tire incident, I also noticed that car weaves on hiway - I dunno how to explain it exactly but it feels like you are driving in very heavy winds where I have to make sure steering is straingt.

A friend suggested that rim might be out of round or something but I am not sure as the tire thingie happened at like 10mph.

Another friend with same car claims that all e320's drive like that (light - seem to weave on hiway with constant correction). I cannot believe that though. my e420 was solid as a rock on hiway.

Any suggestions, comments???????

 

The weaving could be caused by the difference in tires. I suggest replacing them all with like tires - I've never heard of Hercules and would not feel comfortable driving on them.

 

Tread design and tire pressure will cause weave.

I found out that Michelin Pilot sports run best on my E500 after 4 sets and 2 were throw away.

 

In addition to before mentioned, at 60000 + you should also look into replacing the original hydro-mount torque strut bushings with solid rubber part # 2113331114 (parts.com $24.72) if not already done. Solid rubber bushings have an increased resilience towards deforming during suspension loading.

 

http://www.herculestire.com/indexUS.html

They are a Private Label Tire Mfg/Distributor.

Texas:

6941 Military Dr W
San Antonio, TX 78227
210-675-8200

Gil's Tire and Wheel
1014 Basse Rd
San Antonio, TX 78212
21-733-0156

Let's Roll Tires and More
1905 Nogalitos St
San Antonio, TX 78204
210-534-8245

Totos Tire and Mechanic
6516 McCart Ave
Fort Worth, TX 76133
817-423-1043

TDW Dallas
888-455-2234

TDW Houston
800-711-3919
TDW San Antonio
800-666-8840

 

Based on the parts of town these places are located, I'll pass. They MUST be some super cheap tires to only be sold at these few locations.

 

Hercules Tires? C'mon now... WHO hasn't heard of Hercules Tires? You can bet that they were the cheapest crap the previous owner could find before turning in his Leased car. He probably got a set of 4 including mounting & Bubble "balancing" for what one unmounted Michelin costs.

If it were my car, I'd toss them all & get a set of Michelins or look for a set of "take offs" at the dealer.

 

TAKE OFF's? What are those? I would love to get some of those.

I already got one yokohama for $150 and also bought tirae hazard for rest of the three tires for additional $70. so replacing all 4 means at least $600-$700 to me.

i am surprized because regardless of how cheap they are/were (since its speculation anyway as to if they are cheap) - they are very well built and rode very soft and smooth.

 

A set of Take-Offs, is when a dealer puts on a new set of (chrome) wheels with fancy tires on them to up the price of the car he wants to sell (... sometimes they also Pin Stripe the car or add chrome doo-dads & other trinkets at crazy high retail prices per item... This is called "Packing") and takes off the old wheels &/or tires which are brand new or in some cases pretty new in the case of a trade in car. He then has a set of tires &/or wheels in stock in the parts room to get rid of.

In other cases, someone will take delivery of a car and not like the brand or type of tire that came on the car, and request that the dealer remove & replace the tires. The Dealer will do that & now has a set of 4 new or nearly new tires in the back to unload.

MB Dealers and Shops that sell fancy wheels usually have sets of take off's they need to move. In the case of MB dealers, call or stop in to the Parts department of an MB Dealer & ask the Parts counter guy if he has take offs for your car. In the case of fancy wheel shops, many times a wheel purchaser must use a specific tire with a given wheel, so his own tires, become take offs.

Its a fancy name for used tires, but take offs are usually new or nearly brand new tires which were removed at a customer's request for styling reasons.

Hope this helps.

 

You may have caused damage to the tie rod ends when you went over the concrete barrier. This will definitely cause wandering at freeway speeds.

 

My suggestion is to go for a GOOD alignment at an MB shop and put decent tires on it that are correctly balanced. My W211 rides like its on rails and yours should also. You will have to spend a few bucks but either you or the previous owner tried to get by on the cheap as shown by the half assed tires that were on it.

 

Spend the $700.00 for 4 good tires of proper size, have them high speed balanced and have an all wheel alignment done at a reputable shop.
Coincidently, this past weekend I had the exact same occurence with my '03 E320. I was run off the road by some &%@*% who was yacking on his cell phone. My car hit the edge of the road along with a couple of ruts and there goes 2 tires on the passenger side. Sliced the inside sidewall on both. One went flat and the other was not far behind. Luckily no rim damage or undercariage damage. I replaced the Continental Contitac Pro tires that had 6000 miles on them with Toyo Proxes TPT tires ("H" rated)at the suggestion of the tire dealer.
The car drives and rides like new with no pull or drift or vibration while driving higher speeds.
Good luck Moby Akhtar!