Mr Snappy

No screws at all. I took it apart. There are only plastic guides and studs that interlock. BUT BE CAREFUL....if you pull it apart incorrectly or too fast, I am sure this is not a cheap piece to replace.

K-A

I'm currently in a City with really aggressive, LARGE lane-dividor reflector/bumps, and when my car goes over them, the craptastically-unsmooth-over-rough-surfaces suspension allows a LOT of vibration into the cabin. I can hear seemingly every single interior piece snapping and clicking to a symphony. Then I get onto decent roads and the car is sublime again. I'm getting tired of this Jekyll/Hyde relationship the suspension has with itself. As much as I love this car, it's starting to make me unhappy while I drive the car, as if I can't help but feel like at a meager 7400 Miles, the build quality has already been sacrificed. Which is a stark contrast from how I truly always feel when I drive this car, which is pricelessly happy and fortunate.

Rattles are the best way to ruin your relationship with a car. Problem with this cars rattles are that as soon as I get P.O'd enough to want to drive it up M-B HQ's **** and tell them to keep it, it becomes silent again.

I should just calm down and take it to a Dealer and let them fix the probably two simple plastic pieces (front and back) that are causing me so much anger. I just hate to take a car in for rattles, as aside from the major inconvenience, the only way for the techs to get to it are by extensively driving your car, getting their hands all over it, taking things apart, putting them back, etc. etc. I don't even like my beautiful Girlfriend touching various surfaces of my car (when I bust out the Microfiber to clean it as soon as she's not looking ). Rattles are a sucky situation through and through. I'd like to trouble shoot them myself, but then that upsets me due to me thinking that for the price I'm paying, why should I have to?

thekurgan

I full understand what you're saying here, and when I test drive many different vehicles, I press on the plastics, listen for the plastic-to-plastic creaks, don't let the salesperson turn on any accessories. Mercedes had the least amount of this poor plastic, Audi was the second. BMW was the last, just about everything creaked, even the seat. Lexus was the best, but in time, it also suffers from the contracting plastics. I think part of the problem with the sport suspension has a lot to do with the tire/wheel packages. On the bluetec, they're 17s (although RFTs), the other vehicles are 18 and 19 inch, whereby a lot more NVH is going to be transmitted to the chassis. The shocks seem to be valved like the Koni FSDs, but those only seem harsh at the limit.

K-A

Yeah, it's definitely due to the suspensions/wheels poor absorbing characteristics. I've driven my car every mile its had, and I've bear'd witness to every little rough patch sending so many shockwaves into the chassis and interior plastics/pieces, that it's seemingly loosened them up by a mere 7400 miles. Crazy thing is, the E-Class has some of the tightest interior construction of any car I've been in. Everything is seemingly bulletproof tight, makes a substantial sound when you operate them, workmanship is exceptional, IMO. What this says is that the suspension/wheels on the Sport Package transmit SO MUCH harshness into the cars chassis, which transmits them right into those interior pieces, it actually has the capability of undoing some of that staunch workmanship.

Very unfortunate, and by far my only drastic criticism of this car, enough to make me almost overlook all its exceptional qualities even. It's an embarrassment to an E-Class whenever I drive over simple lane divider/reflectors and the chassis sounds like an earthquake hit it.

Wig

K-A, I know you are a huge fan of the styling of the E-Class sport, but I don't understand why you didn't get a luxury 2011 or even an E550 (because of airmatic) when you traded your '10 for an '11.

If your biggest criticism of the sport is the ride, then a second sport version is a weird choice for you.

K-A

I appreciate the looks of the Luxury Package, but it's just not for me. I've always loved the look of a stately and conservative Sedan with tasteful aggressive styling elements (i.e AMG or M Sport Package), as it provides a perfect balance of worlds to me (if executed properly). An E Luxury would have been my ULTIMATE work-horse second car, however as my primary "Passion Car", it was Sport aesthetic or bust.

I wonder if the BMW F10 with M Sport Package is as harsh over harsh roads as the E. The W212 is a more comfortable and smoother riding car than the equally equipped F10's, and the M Sport 5 Series has even larger (19") wheels, but the W212 falls on its face face over rough patches, so I wonder if in that very exact situation, would an F10 fall on its face worse, or would it somehow be better balanced.

The E Sport has a more than soft and luxurious ride on most roads, and even the handling is confident yet relatively floaty.... So on smooth roads, it's the ultimate balance to someone like me who wants a Luxurious ride, but not overly wobbly, i.e the Luxury Package might not be tight enough for my needs. The problem with the Sport is that it's "imbalanced". For how roll-y it can be in heavy turns, and how smooth it is over smooth surfaces, it shouldn't be so jarring over some small bumps.

thekurgan

It is horrendous, remember, those 19" are runflats, the slightest bump was a "bang".

K-A

Ouch! Runflats and 19's on an even sportier suspension, I can't imagine it being better. But being even WORSE makes it seem incredibly bad to me.

Have you actually driven it or are you using the obvious laws of logic to come to that conclusion though? I have to admit I've been trying to get myself to warm up the BMW lately in the case that it does fix that "shortcoming" on the E. I figure, if my car's gonna ride like crap over rough roads, it might as well handle good as well. I just can't fall in love with the F10's design. It's beautiful in its own right, but not as appealing or interesting or passionate to me as the E's design.

thekurgan

Yes, I drove two, one with sport (zsp) and one without, as I've had 5 BMWs before making the transition to the Bluetec (535d/530d haven't arrived here in the U.S., if ever). The funny thing is that the BMW dealership is located on one of the worst maintained roads in Sacramento, so I purposely drive down the worst parts. After the first manhole hit, the subsequent ones I could feel my teeth gnash in anticipation of the "smack". I also agree on the styling, not a fan of the "bull nose" front end, nor was I a fan of the electric steering that felt like my xbox game controller wheel. Interior fit and finish was ok, BMW still has issues with some of their interior parts peeling and creaky seats. Nav is much improved though and I do like the folding mirrors.

CEB

To a degree it depends on the setting of the adaptive suspension on the sport models. Sport and Sport + are bone jarring over rough roads, but the Comfort setting is quite pleasant - even on rough roads - somewhere between the Comfort and Sport suspensions on the E350's

K-A

LOL, wow you have the exact same opinion after driving it that I did! You just re-confirmed to me why I picked an W212 twice (yes, twice!) over one. The 19's and runflats along with the already sportier demeanor don't do it any favors on rough surfaces, but like you said about the interior, it drives me CRAZY! BMW's are notorious for fading and peeling trim in interiors, from the plastics to the steering wheels and seats, they just age poorly. Already people reporting peeling on some F10's buttons.

Well, a 300 mile drive today and not many sounds, so it seems like it's on "quiet mode" again. Hopefully it stays that way so I don't go sniffing some BMW's again.

CEB

That is odd as colder weather tends to bring out more creaks.

K-A

Yeah, actually most creaks do happen late at night/early morning on my car. The noises have a mind of their own. Like I said before, as soon as I'm ready to hate the car for good, the noises mostly mute themselves. I dunno.

thekurgan

I think I've seen some complaints on the 'fest about this. Older Ferraris had their buttons turn to some type of goo over time, and there are guys making a fortune redoing them for restoration companies. There should be NO excuse today to make something last. Even the non-zsp was pretty rough, so maybe like CEB says, get the sport, but use the comfy option ...

K-A

I think what CEB's referring to is the Airmatic controls though, which aren't available on the 350. So I'm basically stuck with "Smooth as silk on smooth roads, but wakes your a$$ up over rough roads" suspension setting.

thekurgan

I did manage to fix some "noises" from the grab handles, just applied some felt to the areas where they "knock" against their plastic frame. The rear cupholder thing in the armrest needed minor felting, not visible, and silences that thing.

CEB

If you're referring to what I think you were referring to, then it was the Dynamic Damper Control on the F10 sport model (both M-Sport and the "regular" sport) that has a couple of sport settings and a comfort setting.

The comfort setting replaces the dampers with marshmallows while the Sport+ setting bolts the wheels directly to the chassis, bypassing the dampers entirely. IIRC, the default setting is sport, which is about as harsh as the E sport suspension plus 19" wheels and runflats. A non-sport F10 on 17 inch wheels rides somewhere between the E's lux and sport suspension.

Mbracer26

Since the day I bought this car the instrument cluster makes ton of noise when driving in the freeway, and the driver seat clicks & moves when I make a right or left turn. Took it to the dealership and they denied anything wrong (Beverly Hills)....

thekurgan

Take it someplace where the "average" person would buy a Mercedes and not a dealership that can kiss you off?

BM2BZ

i know one of the managers in a local mb dealership and he told me in order for mb to sell the car a few grands less than w211, they have to cut corners here and there. materials used on dashboard and even the leathers are all less "premium" than the previous models.

K-A

That has nothing to do with rattles though. The W212 is immensely more solid and tightly screwed together than the W211.

BM2BZ

i'm sorry but i didn't have w211 and can't really tell if it's true. if you knock on the dashboard on a w212, you can hear the sound is more "hollow" and even if the screws are all tight, any small rattling/creaking sounds coming from the front could sound little louder than before. and this is just for the dashboard/front area. who knows if mb did the same for the whole interior. well, i'm just a newbie who doesn't know much. please correct me if i'm wrong.

K-A

Some plastics in the W212 are more crude than the W211 indeed, no argument there. A lot of that "hollowness" is probably due to new "green/lighter weight" directions as well.

In terms of rattles, no question the W212 is an improvement over the W211, not to mention a quieter overall interior. The W211 wasn't known for its solidity (relative to other E's in the timeline), as nice as it is.

PHML

i got some rattling on my rear deck lid when I travel over bumps.

anyone else hearing the same thing?

K-A

Is it the rear headliner area? Seems like we're onto something as this is seemingly increasingly regular amongst these cars.