Very harsh ride!
 

Hi,

I just got a great deal on an '09 W211 wagon with around 120000 miles on it. I've driven lots of these in the past with way more miles on them that were all buttery smooth. This car however is super harsh, loud tyre noise and every bump feels like a minor earthquake. What could be the cause of this? The car is factory equipped with some sports package with 18" wheels, quite wide tyres and paddles on the steering wheel. AFAIK it has not been modified in any way after the original purchase. These are the tyres I got: http://veh-markets.com/uploads/postf...ville-tn-3.jpg

Question is, how do I turn this back to the smooth ride a car like this should be? Would switching out the rims/tyres be enough or are there more things in the works?

Thanks

Well the pictures of the tires is of a 2008 sedan. Stock 18 inch tires would have been 245/40/18 on a 4matic. They were a little wider with rwd. At that mileage, could be lots of things, control arms, springs etc. I think you have the airmatic in the rear, usually when they fail they're just too low to the ground. With that kind of mileage, I'd check the usual suspects, motor mounts, wheel bearings, driveshaft, etc. Put it up on a lift and check out all the suspension components, if you're lucky, maybe it only needs an alignment, but I doubt it.

Thanks for your reply :) To clarify the picture is not of my car, just one with similar wheels. I found the equipment list from the dealer - excuse the translations. Do you know if this means the suspension is different than standard, or just the wheels? It's not an airmatic (it doesn't have the button below the shifter).

755 Tenoritgrey metallic
141 Artico Leather
213 Direct Control
220 Parktronic PTS
244 Sport seats
280 Wheel & Shifter in ?
287 Easy-Pack
309 Double cupholder
423 Automatic gearbox
428 Shifter on steering wheel
910 Generator with larger ?
926 Exhaust filtration EU4
952 Sport package
983 CoC paper EU4
989 VIN # Chassie #
FINAL ED Final edition
K11 Adaptive Brake light
R68 Aluminium wheels I 1
U18 Child seat sensor pass
523 Radio Audio 20
524 Paint folie protection
550 Retractable towing hook
580 Climate control
600 Headlamp cleaner
666 Shipping container
673 Higher capacity battery
734 Basic wood panel
809 2009 model
840 Rear + passenger window tint
873 Heated front seats

At 120K the dampers will be toast .

Oh yeah, you didn't mention what country you were in. Airmatic was standard on station wagons in the US. If you just have a regular spring/shock setup in the rear, I would suspect the shock first and then the spring if the car is sitting too low.

No, airmatic was not standard on US market wagons. V6 wagons had rear self leveling which is not airmatic. These used different airbags and shocks. V8 wagons had airmatic.

The harshness could be any number of things. Have a mechanic put it on a lift and inspect every bushing, shock, mount and airbag. There's no way for this forum to diagnose this problem. Yes smaller 17" or 16" wheels will dramatically improve ride quality but it won't fix whatever is broken.

Thanks, I guess my question is if the supplied suspension on my car with this sport package is stiffer than normal, and if so if that too can play a part in it being very harsh? Basically, should I expect harshness on a car with this sport package and these rims or is it more likely to be a fault or wear issue?

Yes you
should expect more harshness than the base suspension but without having it inspected there's no way of knowing if there's something wrong with it or it's just normal.