Payson

Hello guys:

Its been a long time since my last time here, and my first time in the W211 forum !!
I was a proud W124 owner (E320) but lately it was showing some major problems that made me think in buying a new one !!

So after a long search I found a wonderful E500 W211 with 54,000 Km (more or less 30k miles) that was in pretty good shape.

Since I have it im having a pair of issues with it:

-The first one is a loud creak in bumps. I changed both sides control arm mounts (part 140 in the illustration: http://sig1.euromotives.com/i/ebay/f/1231352781.jpg). But the noise is still there.
I can clearly hear it when im doing a level change, per example when descending my parking ramp at the same time the car turns down.
Its like a marble ball hitting the ground repeteadly.

-The second problem is that the car turns slightly to the right when i leave the steering wheel free. The car goes straight when I have the wheel straight, but if I release the wheel it immediatly tips to the right.

I made a wheel alignment but there was no improvement. I dont know where to look next... any ideas?

Thanks in advance

wunderless

Congrats on the new purchase!
As for the front end noise I have no idea.
But for the pulling to the right, is it a big pull? Does it turn hard? Or is it gentle and slow?
Two things.
Two lane roads tend to be crowned like that so the car will naturally do that. Also, I *think* it is aligned like that so should the driver ever let go of the wheel and become incoherent the car does not go into oncoming traffic but rather to the other side of the road.

Martin_T

I think it is the upper ball joint that is squeeking, change this and make sure the rest of the arms and bushings are in good working order, then do a new wheel allignment.

Its not uncommon that some w211 pulls to one side. It can be fixed with some special o-rings that you mount in the arms. But exactly where and how i don't know. Your local mb stealer should be able to help you.
My father had this problem in his E500 and the stealer fixed it. It was not expensive or complicated.

But the car is not designed to pull to one side while driving.

mrbdm99

When I bought mine, I also complained about the car pulling to the right and the dealer said that is how they were designed. I have no way of knowing of that is true or not as I don't think the dealers really know their material like they should. As you can see above, there are mixed feelings on what should/should not happen...

As far as the clunk, that sounds like one of the "classic" problems, but I can't remember exactly which one. haha.

KEY08

Get in and drive another car on the same road(s). As has been said they will all list to the right due to road crowning.

thegamemodo9

Ball joints would make a creak. If you press the car down over the front two tires, and you hear it creaking (or squeaking), it's the ball joints. Common but relatively inexpensive fix.

My car likewise pulled to the right after I got new tires put on. It drifted straight on the old tires because it had worn so badly on the inside of the rears (cupping). Research the "camber/caster kit" and see if it may be your solution. The kit did help me after the new tires were put on, but it started up again after I rotated the tires. A car like this should not have these issues, but I digress, as I've just learned to live with these annoyances.

Fabboi

Like everyone says I'm confident it is ball joint.

As for the steering to the right I think you should do an alignment at a car shop

Payson

Finally the noise came from the front torsion bar central mounts. The two mounts where the bar rests were not free and when the bar moved its squeaked all over.

The problem is that to change the torsion bar in 211´s you have to lower all the front end and so on... But at least the problem has been found and been solved.

Regarding the steering problem, lets see if this was affecting in any way (dont think so) and we will continue investigating.

Payson

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/33097901/Video% ... 7%2034.mov

Turn it 90º