thammel

I got new tires (continental cross contact LX25) for my 2017 GLE 350 and can't seem to get rid of the shaking at 65mph and higher. I've had 2 different places check the wheel/tire balance a total of 3 times. Is there anything else that can cause this? Now, my wife says I complained of this before getting the new tires. To me, if I did, it's worse now. Could tire pressures being higher cause one to more greatly notice any minor out-of-balance? I'm not sensing it in the steering wheel but more in the body, which tells me it's a rear wheel issue. Another question: with the modern electric steering control, will one feel front wheel out-of-balance in the steering wheel like we used to years ago? I've got 60k miles on the car. I'm also wondering about CV joints, etc. causing this shaking. There are no other problems or symptoms I'm aware of. Thanks for any advice!!

chassis

If the tires and wheels are balanced, the potential causes could be, in order that I would check them:

- wheel or hub damage (did you strike a curb or large pothole?)
- front halfshafts
- one of the propshafts
- propshaft flex coupling
- propshaft CV joint
- engine mounts
- transmission mount

Try swerving gently left and right (safely) at the speed where you encounter the vibration - does it change? Need to do this test when no other cars are near you.

Do you have vibration at idle, in park (not misfire)?

GLK Super Fan

Is it only happening at high speed? Did you try road force tire balance?

Diabolis

Are you using the original Mercedes GLE wheels or aftermarket? And, were the tires road-force balanced?

thammel

Hi, These are the original Mercedes wheels. Have not done anything but standard spin balancing at local tire shops. I will have to research road force balancing!

Thanks!

thammel

Only at 60mph and greater. Have not tried road force balancing....need to find out more about it and where I can have it done. Thanks!

thammel

Thanks for the comments! More for me to look into! I will try the right and left swerve to see what happens. No vibration at idle - engine runs very smoothly!

chassis

Propshaft or halfshafts. Do the swerve test at the vibrating speed (60mph) and report back.

Diabolis

Unless you've hit a curb or a pothole, it is very likely just a balancing issue. Get them road-force balanced.

thammel

Hi Chassis - I tried the swerve test and really didn't notice any change. Gonna pursue the road force balancing. Will report back...thanks!

chassis

No change with swerving rules out halfshafts and wheel bearings. I argue it also rules out wheels and tires.

I would focus on propshaft CV joints and flex couplings. Or engine and transmission mounts.

mercedesmax

Sounds like a mount issue. Mine does this and I know I need a motor mount.

thammel

Well, I have a road force balance scheduled for next week. Mercedesmax - how do you know that you have an engine mount problem? How do you diagnose this? I had my GLE on the lift today and looked at every cv joint and all else underneath. All appeared tight to me.

chassis

Engine mount failures are reported on this site. I think there are two ways to detect - idle vibration/shake and thumping or vibration under heavy throttle. GL/GLS seems to have most of the reports.

mercedesmax

My son in law is a auto technician. He saw the mount. Motor mounts do degrade over time and need to be replaced.

Diabolis

*Very* unlikely on a five-year-old GLE, and furthermore, the vibration from degraded engine mounts would be considerably more pronounced at idle and when the the vehicle is stationary. This is speed related... if it doesn't appear until 65 mph, I'm betting it's the tires.

P.S. Just Google "continental tires high speed vibration" and see the results that come up. Been there done that... my tire shop ended up replacing them with Michelins and no more vibration. Unfortunately low-profile Contis (19" or bigger and especially SUV tires) are not exactly known for the best uniformity and quality control. A road-force balancer will show how far off they are when there is (road) pressure exerted on the tire / wheel combination.

juanmor40

this list from @chassis . One thing though, once identified you are better off checking the next steps anyways because undesired vibrations tend to damage components upstream/downstream.

That is, tires/wheel vibrations --> hub bearings -> half prop shafts --> differential/transfer case. Similarly, there is two-way interaction with engine/transmission mounts <-> main prop shaft/flex coupling

From the input you have provided, I would ask for a full undercarriage inspection of every rotating component to verify play. You definitely do not want a prop shaft/CV failure anywhere. 4Matic front-half shaft goes, and even the transmission case can break . The main prop shaft goes and you can be in a major accident depending on where the shaft breaks (front joint, or rear).

Diabolis

Guys - chill please. Someone says "I have a belly ache", and your first approach is to list off a number of things that are very unlikely to be the cause and require surgery "because it could be appendicitis, bowel obstruction or intestinal cancer" and that you would ask for an urgent MRI and CT scan because if it goes undetected it can have major, life-threatening repercussions. Exactly how many freakin' prop shafts that have broken off and caused a major accident on a 5-year-old Mercedes GLE do you know of please? How many have you heard of?

If the answer is zero, then stop with spreading wild theories and panic. It could be little invisible Martians under the hood that start rocking his car at 65mph, but it's not very likely. He just got new tires that are known to cause vibration and are the most likely cause in a 5-year-old Mercedes that has not been wrecked (as in over 95% of the cases)... let's eliminate those as a suspect first before suggesting wild theories and jumping to completely unwarranted conclusions.

</rant>

juanmor40

Enjoy this one


It does happen, and I did not mean to be alarming but conscious of the long-term issue.. GLE is just another variant of an MB like A, B, C, E, S variants. All of them suffer from the same symptoms.. MB = Lego

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...ml#post6208559

If we do not know the reason why it vibrates, we do not know how long it will last regardless if it is 0 miles, or 100K miles. Try slightly damaging a fan blade in a fast-spinning fan, and it will break apart in seconds even if new before the knick.

Update: article for those interested in the topic https://www.mbwholesaleparts.com/con...-Vibration.pdf

Diabolis

Which part of "it got towed in here, it was making an awful noise and wouldn't move" applies to the OP's situation?

thammel

LO....You guys are having a good time with this! I have just a mild vibration in the range of 65-75 mph roughly. Car is great at all other times. Set for a road force balancing next Wednesday and we'll see how that goes. I'm also prepping for the spark plug replacement job. Surprised at a number of tools I actually didn't already have! Tools such as a spark plug socket (12 point 14mm) and a 1/4" drive E10 socket. Of course, I have a 3/8" drive E10 but it's too big.

juanmor40

.

Unfortunately in my book, a mild vibration is a vibration too many when there should not be any. That is all. At 100+ you want any car firm on the road, and no surprises.
Everyone has a different level of tolerance. Fingers crossed it is either a tire, or a bent wheel, or an incorrectly set wheel and ends there.

thammel

Well, the road force balance this morning showed 2 bad tires!! Darn! I called tirebuyer.com and started the warranty replacement. My concern is that if they bat 50%, will the next 2 tires be good? I think from now on I'm going to let the local tire shop purchase tires, then replacement and fixing of such an issue should be much simpler on my end!

juanmor40

. If their quality sticks, you have two more tries. 50% of 2 -> 1, exchange one more time, and hopefully, you do not get a half-bad tire.

Glad to hear it ended up being the tires. Hopefully, you get no vibration with standard wheel balancing and do not need to resort to road-force balancing.

Aside: I do get my tires from SamsClub (US and formerly in Canada as well), always done it since 1990's. Never had a bad tire from them: Goodyear, Michelin, Continental. Once they exchanged two tires because the Toyota dealer blamed the tires (though ended up being a front axle issue) at no cost. If they sell what I am looking for, I get it from them

Diabolis

I don't want to gloat, but I said it was very likely the tires themselves. The new Contis are unfortunately not exactly known for uniformity.

And, you always want to do road-force balancing if available (it doesn't cost any more than old-school balancing, and frankly if a tire shop can't afford a road force balancer, you should not be taking anything there in the first place). A regular tire balancing machine can balance a triangular yield sign if you drill a hole in the middle of it... it simply takes into account eccentricity due to the mass distribution itself without taking into account how suitable and smooth said mass would be while driving over a road once you try to roll on it and apply the same pressure that a vehicle would. The tires are bad not because they were unbalanced, but because the sidewall is not uniformly flexing under load. A regular balancer would not pick that up.