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I experienced the same problem and after changing tires etc. Mercedes had a tech drive with me in the car. Tbe problem was a bent rim and not the tire at all.
I had the vibration from 65-75 with the Pirellis and tried 2 separate dealers (one an AMG specialized dealer) to remedy the issue, neither did. BUT as of this week my problem is gone!
During the last month, I've noticed that the vibration came and went whereas before it was constant when driving 65-75. I thought maybe because I was using the tire pressure noted in my door jam. But when I really tried to focus on when it would vibrate at best I would deduce vibrations occurred after during stop and go traffic and/or the use of the Active Cruise Control in rush hour. The Saturday before Thanksgiving I changed my front disks and pads. I noticed again that the vibration was intermitted but more long lasting when it came to "Not" vibrating. I chalked it up as "light holiday traffic week". On Thanksgiving day I changed the rear pads (didn't change the disks this time) and now I feel zero vibrations between 65-75.
I'm not sure it the disks are/were warped, if me sanding the old rust off the hub area when I removed the tires, or something simple as tightening the wheel bolts to 110ft/lbs instead of the 200ft/lbs the dealer had them set to. Could be all of the above, could be that the 10k+ miles I've put on the Pirellis has broken them in?
Originally Posted by Terryl Lang
I experienced the same problem and after changing tires etc. Mercedes had a tech drive with me in the car. Tbe problem was a bent rim and not the tire at all.
We are VIP Platinum Mercedes-Benz member following truck purchases of over 6 million (over 70 pieces) in Romania. But when I have bought a 2016 GLS car (worth EUR 100,000), in operating leases, I had not thinking I would live a nightmare. Mercedes is Mercedes, isn't it ? False! The car had problems right from the start. Vibrate. But it vibrated like a washing machine when centrifuging, vibrating until makes you sick. I changed many pairs of tires, I've been with the car in services many times. I changed the tires because they simply ovalized because of the vibrations. All Mercedes-Ben people said the car is working in parameters, that's no problem. By chance I found a forum in the US where there was a bunch of other unfortunate people like me, whose car was vibrating the same, and that for months, if not years before I bought this model! So I was not crazy. But MB sold me a car that it knew it might have serious problems. Headaches have not disappeared even today, although the car has been in services for 5 months without any results. Invoices for operating leases are still coming. Nor do we agree the terms in which to close the contract. MB initially wanted to pay them additional 18 rates as penalties, then they proposed to close the lease without penalties and even cancel 2 of the 5 months as the car was in services, provided I had no further claims in the future. Now they have decided to deposit our guarantee cheque to collect the rent for the months when the car was not in my use. I wonder if MB do that with ourselves, what will they do with the owners of a much cheaper Smart?
There should be a CLASS ACTION relating to the vibration... it is coming from the turbos, in a what is referred to as co-surge.
Because turbos are NOT synchronized mechanically, the VIBRATION which is accompanied by LOSS OF POWER, can be relating to a number of things, but functionally one turbo races faster than the other and hits the max boost, gets defeated while the second one races to its max boost and so on, essentially there is boost bouncing between the turbos that creates uneven backpressure between the 2 banks which creates the vibration...
MB will not acknowledge this, and ECU will not log any error codes, but I recall seeing a thread few years ago where a dealer swapped the turbo units to the solve the issue. I have a feeling that MB does not feel like swapping turbos and they came up with this BS explanation about long exhaust. Long exhaust does not cause vibration but can amplify them. they take everyone for an idiot, pay 100K for a new car and blame the wheels or some other BS... they have likely recalibrated to boost bypass valves on mine but only claim to have resettled the exhaust... and it took em 2 weeks to do it...
Its a bad design, can be made to work, that why BMW went to an inverted design with a single turbo in the middle of the V and MB have followed suit.
We notice the same with cold tires ... for the first few minutes/miles there is slight vibration, but it disappears. Riding on 21" Michelin 295/40 ZR21 Pilot Sport A/S 3 only a few months old.
There should be a CLASS ACTION relating to the vibration... it is coming from the turbos, in a what is referred to as co-surge.
Because turbos are NOT synchronized mechanically, the VIBRATION which is accompanied by LOSS OF POWER, can be relating to a number of things, but functionally one turbo races faster than the other and hits the max boost, gets defeated while the second one races to its max boost and so on, essentially there is boost bouncing between the turbos that creates uneven backpressure between the 2 banks which creates the vibration...
MB will not acknowledge this, and ECU will not log any error codes, but I recall seeing a thread few years ago where a dealer swapped the turbo units to the solve the issue. I have a feeling that MB does not feel like swapping turbos and they came up with this BS explanation about long exhaust. Long exhaust does not cause vibration but can amplify them. they take everyone for an idiot, pay 100K for a new car and blame the wheels or some other BS... they have likely recalibrated to boost bypass valves on mine but only claim to have resettled the exhaust... and it took em 2 weeks to do it...
Its a bad design, can be made to work, that why BMW went to an inverted design with a single turbo in the middle of the V and MB have followed suit.
I have a 2013 GL 450 also had an intermittent vibration when driving at any speed, which started at about 102000 miles on the odo. I took into Specialized Automotive in Medford OR who diagnosed the problem, first started with plug and ignition lead replacement which didn't solve the problem. It was not the engine and gear box mounts or the tires and balancing. The problem was the torque converter. Apparently this is a problem on these cars. Had a reconditioned unit installed and I have no further issues. All in for $3700 - ouch! I had purchased the third party engine and transmission insurance - Gold Standard Automotive Network but they are hassling to pay, so I'm still fighting with them. I have the dealership involved, the ones who sold me the policy, but they are less than helpful, so buyer beware of third party insurance.
How does this explain the fact that the vibration occurs at just about any throttle position under any load, but ONLY at a certain speed?
It is also more noticeable when the vehicle has been running for less than 15 mins from a complete cold start. I don't feel much of it, if any, during the course of a day.
I also don't understand why one would feel the steering oscillate left/right if there was a vibrating exhaust/boost bouncing?
My old ‘16 GL550 did this and I frankly believe it is a major design flaw for certain builds. I’m SO glad I no longer own that POS. The vibration was bad enough that it also burned through tires.
thats great it cost me 350$ at the dealer to do it,i dont know if any other places have equip to do it
The easiest way I found was if you go to hunter dot com and search for facilities with the Road Force Elite machine based on your zip code, it will provide a list of shops in the area with that machine. I then called each place until I found one that felt like they knew what they were doing. We will find out soon if my instinct was correct. Fingers crossed.
FWIW, the good MB dealer in my area doesn't have it while the lousy one does, so I did not opt for the dealership. The base price quoted at the shop is 107 and if it goes over the 1.5 hr mark, they will charge time and labor.
11-29-2017, 08:03 AM
