mipawh

hi everyone - I'm wondering if anyone else has run into an issue with their 163 pulling hard to the right (or left I guess). I have a 2000 ML55 and I've taken it to several Mercedes shops and they have not been able to find a problem. The car does not need to be aligned, the brakes are not dragging, the tires are new and have been balanced, inflation pressures are correct, but if you let go of the wheel for 5 seconds you're going to be in the ditch.

If you look at the passenger side front tire the camber (caster?) looks like it is off a bit compared to the drivers side. It doesn't look perfectly perpendicular to the road as the driver's side does. Can this be adjusted? I've mentioned it to the techs working on the car but no one has paid enough attention to what the owner thinks is wrong, so they haven't touched it.

Also my steering rack is starting to leak (drops) a small amount of fluid, but this problem existed prior to that occuring. Could a bad steering rack cause this also? Any ideas are appreciated.

thanks!

saturnstyl

You mention that it does not need to be aligned, yet also ask about an adjustment.... WTF?
Obviously you need to have it aligned, preferably by the dealer who could do it correctly. Go from there... Swap tires from side to side, and replace if neccesary.
I doubt the rack and pinion has anything to do with it. You will want to fix that anyways though, especially if its under warranty. Then they will have to do an alignment anyways and it would be covered by the warranty then.
Keep in mind some areas have road crown worse than others, and your vehicle may be tracking like it is supposed to. Any time you have a pulling issue a thorough test drive on several familiar roads is required.

mipawh

well I only mentioned that it didn't need to be aligned because that is what the dealer(s) told me. however when you look at the passenger side front it just does not look "right" to me. it's toed in a little bit on the bottom, meaning the tire is "rolling under" a little (I think, which is why I asked if the camber or caster can be adjusted on ML's) - it's not 90 degrees to the road like the drivers side.

also, good suggestion about the road crowning (I didn't mention that in my original post) but unless every road on the east coast is crowned, it's not that either :-)

marcelc

All Mercedes seem to drift 'down the camber of the road', so if you drive on the right side of the road your vehicle will drift to the right; I found this took some getting used to when I first bought my ML (270).
The test is will it drift equally to the left if you drive on the left of the road (insert obvious disclaimer here)?
If it pulls to the left or right it needs tracking (alignment), if it just drifts it may not need tracking.

Another test I use is to drive 70mph on a straight level road at night for about 15 minutes, then slow down slowly so as not to heat the tyres and test the tyres for temperature using the palm of the hand; uneven warmth across the surface means it needs alignment, warmth in the centre only means the tyre pressures are too high and equal warmth on both sides means that the tyres are not sufficiently inflated (most often the case).

I find that 36psi is about right (255/60 R 17 tyres) and that you will notice markedly better fuel consumption if you correct bad alignment or insufficient tyre pressure.

Given the price of tyres alignment may save you almost as much as it costs!