El Cid

I have a new E350 Luxury sedan and have noted it seems to have significant impact harshness on most any road imperfection. Ironically, this was also noted by some of Consumer Reports' "testers" on their website. CR is doing a full review in the next issue.
The luxury model I test drove did not have this harshness to the ride. It was very difficult to find a luxury model to test drive and then mine had to be ordered from Germany.
Has anyone else noticed this, particularly on the luxury version?
Also, what is the difference in the suspensions between the Luxury and Sports versions?
Thanks for any help.

MBNUT1

The first thing I would do is check the tire air pressures. It wouldn't be the first time that a car was delivered with higher than the intended driving pressures.

El Cid

Did That and they were at recommended-33 front and 42 rear. The TPMS display showed the same thing.
Don't think its the tires. Thanks though.

aeggroup

Wow....are you sure this is recommended presure and you don't make any mistakes ? I've got 4Matic and it says 32 front - 33 rear...

El Cid

Yep. Sounds weird to me also, but that's what it says on the B pillar. First car I have had in eons (maybe ever) that had different TP's front and rear.

MBNUT1

I would double check the 42 rear number

poorsod

The front and rear on my SLK have different pressures, but that is b/c I have staggered wheels/tires. Are yours staggered?

JKKJ

I believe it's the difference between full load and normal load. On my (Canadian) E350 the B pillar shows the recommended pressure 35/42 at maximum load. The inside of the fuel filler flap shows 32/33 for normal load and 35/42 for maximum load.

LaicepsYdobon

Go with what the fuel filler flap shows. 42 psi gives a really hard ride. On my W211 I have 32-35 and it gives me a buttery smooth ride.

darwin666

I test drove a 2006 E350. base model 46K and the ride was smooth and i think it was due to the tires.. later, I test drove a 2008 and another 2006. and their ride was not that smooth. also there was a lot of ROAD noiise. Hence I began to wonder. why was the first ride so much quieter.? was it the roads i took ?

also, the second 2006 was the SPORTs package and had neat rims. ? is the sports package the cause of the rough ride ?

mg-E550

gotta be the 42psi giving you that rough ride.

Eva350

I have a luxury 350 4matic too and I initially had the rear tire pressure at 42. Ride was still smooth but I did notice more bounce on bumps etc. THis weekend I switched rear pressure to 35. I can honestly feel the difference and ride is marginally smoother. Sport models run on 18 inch rims. The luxury model sits on 17 inchers- so this may may a difference in ride smoothness between the 2 models. Personally I liked the look of the luxury model.

El Cid

Thanks. Experts say 17 inch wheels ride better than 18 inchers in any car.
M-B Customer Service says use whatever TP is on "B" pillar; 33/42 on mine.
Dealer says use TP's on inside of fuel filler flap. That is either 30/35 or 33/42, but operators manual says this is for driving 100+ MPH only.
Dealer lowered to 30/35, but no appreciable difference to me. So now it's back at 33/42 per M-B HQ.
Consumer Reports tested a 2010 Sports sedan and noted same thing I have, especially at low speeds. Interestingly, they lowered their score from 88 for 07 model to 79 for 10 model. That's a pretty big drop and moves 5-6 cars up above it now.
Does anyone have a non-4Matic sedan with a "B" pillar TP different from 33/42?
Thanks and appreciate any advice.

MasterMoparSB

My 07' E350 4matic says 29 front and 34 rear pressure. I find that it rides ****ty with the 29 up front so I put 32/33

deeezldoc

I just purchased a 2008 E350 with 91K miles on it. The car has been maintained by MB dealers since new and appears to be in great condition-runs well. I took it on a long road trip and there is excessive side to side motion when encountering
ruts in the road, and the car seems to hop over potholes or big bumps instead of the suspension handling them as normal. I took the car to a service advisor who is a family friend-at MB of Chandler, AZ. He kept the car for 4 days and drove it home, shop foreman drove it home and their front end technician drove it-they all acknowledge that the ride is very harsh and it isn't typical for the model-but they checked all bushings, alignment, tires, wheel balance, tire pressure and could find nothing to condemn and replace-I didn't limit them on anything-told them to find
the problem-they gave the car back and didn't recommend any repairs at all !.
I then took the car to Shumacher European in Scottsdale and had one of their suspension savvy techs drive it-he told me that the ride was very rough but didn't offer me a solution. The car is awesome and I want to keep it, but the ride is driving me nuts-especially the side to side motion which will actually move your head back and forth, the general roughness and road noise, and the jumping over potholes that it does. Is there any aftermarket solution or a shop in Phoenix, AZ area that can tackle this one and solve it-OR-should I just sell the car to someone who is MB savvy and has the time and patience to deal with it ? Thanks

dbldpr

My 2014 E350 sport has the 18 inch wheels and it takes 32 normal on all wheels and 35 max load on all wheels. I do not have the run on flat tires. The luxury model had the run on flat tires with no spare and that gave the luxury model the hard ride. The 42 in the rear has to be a mistake unless you have the run on flat tires.

beshannon

Sorry to hear but based on where you have taken it already what are you hoping another shop will tell you?

It sounds to me like you will never be happy, I suggest you sell it and move on.

deeezldoc

Thanks for the reply-I was actually looking for an idea or two on how to solve the problem-or maybe an independent shop in Phoenix area that is up for the challenge. I'm a mechanic and service manager so I'm not new to cars or suspension, but have never owned a Mercedes and they have their peculiarities so I'm asking for advice. Unless I'm mistaken there should be an aftermarket solution to this-if all E series rode like mine they wouldn't ever sell any-there is a definite problem. If I can't sort it out of course I will sell it.

petee1997

If it's not the suspension, it's the tires. Have the tires checked.

Arrie

Did any of the "experts" inspecting your car look at the shocks? Alignment check will not do anything for that.

With a rough ride and front trying to find road that's what I would start with.

It is an old car. Did they ever replace the shocks? If it was serviced by MB it should be in the service record.

Raymond Lee

You have to do some long distance driving before you can tell how nice and comfortable car drives.

MBNUT1

So first all you are asking a question about the W211 chassis (previous E Class) in a W212 (current E Class) forum. So you may wish to direct you questions there. I had a W211 2006 E350 4matic and my experience was that it rode incredibly smoothly on the highway but on a bumpy side street the suspension was a bit of a mess. I don't remember about the sideways motion specifically though and wouldn't say it rode exceptionally roughly as much as it didn't have that Mercedes vault like feel over bumps and ride over rough roads stood in stark contrast to the ride quality over smoother ones. My car had Michelin MXM's which again gave a wonderful ride on the highway. As suggested I would think about the tires, and if necessary have the suspension disassembled to see if something like a bushing or shock is frozen up.

One last question is your car a luxury (17 in wheels) or sport (18 in wheels)? Mine was a luxury.

jasdbrennan

When I took delivery of my 2013 e-350 luxury 4matic and drove home I questioned whether I had made the right decision to leave Lexus for MB. The new MB ride was less than comfortable compared to my 2008 ES 350. I had not aware the car had run flats on it. I researched them on the internet and learned that a lot of ride comfort is sacrificed by the design of run flat tires. I only put 450 miles on the car and my dealer was willing to replace the run flats (I think they were Bridgestone's) with Michelin MXMV4's and the difference in the ride was major. Once changed out I knew that the move to the MB was the right one. The tires are 17's. I have been driving using the 42R/36F inflation winter and summer (Ohio) and I am now at 35K with 6/32nds left evenly on all four. From all I have heard the suspension is different on a Luxury vs. a sport i.e. ride height and other factors. Also, I really have been pleased with everything about this car in the two years I have driven it.

alsyli

Our 2003 E320 did the same thing. I assumed it was poor suspension tuning. I found the W211 to be a most unimpressive car in many, MANY ways, beyond just the ride quality....

El Cid

The Luxury version has a "comfort" suspension and some other tweaks. Appropriate tires have larger sidewalls than Sport or run-flat and therefore absorb more road imperfections.
Glad you are enjoying your car, but the ride is different from Lexus. Lexus has a more comfortable, but less "dynamic" ride.