denniemac

hi all..i have an 06 e500 4matic..92k..going nuts!..had a slight vibration that was blamed on tires being worn..no evidence of bad alignment just 40k on them..put new yokos on and got a bad vib 50-70 mph..re-balanced, same prob..had 2 wheels trued at $110 each, still vibing..took to a shop where they lined up the tire with the rim for perfect bal..now all 4 wheels and tires are bal and lined up properly on rim and still have a side to side vib, not so much in the steering but the whole car..drove at 50 -60 in 4th gear same vib..put in neutral and coasted, same vib..all seems tight underneath, nothing sloppy, no bad pot-hole or curb hits..car ran better with old yokos on...any suggestions would be appreciated...thanks..denniemac

pdemet

Had same issue with my 2005 4matic and 2003 e320 RWD. The 320 has a bad upper ball loint. With both I noticed the vibration went away after 1500- 2K miles

homeofstone

Have you checked your flex disc front and rear? check the transmission mount. Also check the center driveshaft support and bearing.

Plutoe

Excellent advice-----put the a on a lift----run the car and observe the rotating members

AMGAffalterbach

If it is vibrating without you putting on the brakes, then it could be a bent wheel. While you say no pot holes or curbs there is a high likelihood one of the wheels has flat spot or bend out of specification that is causing this, probably not drive train. You would be able to detect this when balancing the wheels though so it could be a ball joint if you've already rotated the wheels individually to see if they are not circular.

bacnberger

Just had the same problem, turned out to be two bent rims. One ended up flatspotting my new tire.

denniemac

just had 2 of 4 rims trued..other 2 balance out nicely on machine that measures if the tire is on the correct spot on the rim..checks out also...I think the next step is to check trans mount and drive-shaft components...thanks troops..ill keep you posted..

AMGAffalterbach

Yeah trans mounts would be a good thing to check next. Maybe take it to an independent mechanic, shouldn't be too much to diagnose. Now the repair is the main question.

gild

I know I'm late to this thread, but I have an '06 E350 with the same problems at 140K miles. Put it on the lift and found that the rear u-joint on the front driveshaft was shot.

AMGAffalterbach

I've heard that is a common problem, along with cracked CV boots, on 4-Matic W211s, that's interesting. How much did it cost you (or will it cost you) to fix?

gild

The part just came in today and I will be putting it on tonight. The price, you ask? For a 2' driveshaft? Almost $1000! I couldn't find an aftermarket version...

AMGAffalterbach

Oh is this a front CV axle right... that makes sense I looked at some catalog prices and saw them for about $1000. That's why I had my cracked CV boots replaced for $500 as I didn't want to wear out the joints, get knocking, and have to replace the entire half shaft. Important lesson kids.

I do however still get a sort of ball-bearing type sound when I drive next to fences or areas where I can hear the noise from the car echoing back at me. It's strange but I think it's a wheel bearing or maybe something to do with the CV itself. Not to hi-jack your thread but it is kind of related

gild

Nope, it's the driveshaft (propeller shaft) running forward from the transfer case to the differential. The old u-joints were shot and it definitely needed replacing but it did not cure the vibration.

I found two bent wheels (daughter's car) that may be the issue.

AMGAffalterbach

Ohhhh I misread that I thought you were mistakingly referring to the other part, my bad. And as I stated earlier on in this thread I guarantee you it's the bent wheels if you're running lower profile tires it's especially noticeable. I've been through this with two sets of wheels and bad pot-holes.

gild

Moved both of the bent wheels to the back and it made a huge difference in the vibration.

Eayacht

I bought new rims and tires for my car in November last year, I had also a vibration at high speed, I went back to the shop, they rebalanced all four rims 2 times still vibrating, I went to another shop where they do road force balance, also know as dynamic balancing, not all shops have that machine, the machine will tell you if the rim is bad or tires is defective, determined both brand new tires where defective, they replaced them and then did a road force balance, car rides smooth as silk now at 110 mph

Google in your area where they do road force balance, good luck

AMGAffalterbach

^I ended up doing that as well and paying more for Discount to just rotate the tires and leave the wheels in their respective positions since I had the vibration issue. Obviously the insolent morons didn't listen and now it's back, but it's really minor.

Eayacht

You said it " morons" at the first shop when I take the car back and tell the guy it shakes at high speed he takes a ride with me, when we get in the expressway the car starts to shave at 80mph and he tells me "well it's not that bad" I tell him are you serious ? Look at the rear view morrow how it shakes, dropped him off and went to another shop to get it road force, drives great now

AMGAffalterbach

Most of these guys have either scuffed up my rims with their techniques or ended up making a bent/flat-spot wheel situation worse because they really don't understand the physics of what they are doing, and they're just trained to operate the machines and do what they tell them. I have a restrained excitement for the day I can not really care and take the Ferrari into the dealership to have the tires changed