tgentry

My '89 560SEL has developed an alarming front end vibration. It's somewhat intermittant, generally starts around 50mph and seems to be the right side front wheel.

The vibration stops when I drag the brake a bit, but there doesn't seem to be any wheel bearing play or pad kick back.

When I lift the car to check, everything seems normal and I can't find any play in the ball joints, tie rods, wheel bearings, etc.

I replaced the outer tie rod end (no play, but it seemed a bit more free than the others). I replaced the front shocks at the insistance of my local tire shop.

Any other ideas? Or should I just replace things one by one until I find the problem?

eolon

Check wheel/tire balance first. It's cheap and easy to have your tires re-balanced - sometimes the place where you bought your tires will even do it for free. Even easier, just rotate your tires and see if the vibration goes away or changes. I've found that tire balance is the culprit 75% of the time...

After that, it's look for the usual suspects... Tighten or replace the idler arm bushings. Both tie rod ends. Look at all the boots on all the joints. if any are cracked, split, or missing, you should replace the bushing. That is especially true of the guide rod mounts, tie rod ends and ball joints. You will have to do it sometimes anyway, so it might as well be now.

Check the steering shock absorber - it seldom goes bad, but you never know. A new Bilstein one is $26.

Inspect your upper control arms - they are not too expensive, and pretty easy to replace.

You should re-pack the front wheel bearings, you can inspect them at the same time, and properly re-set the torque as in the w126 shop manual.

I had this same kind of vibration happen in a most annoying manner, and it turned out to be a tie rod end that looked and felt fine.

Good Luck and

Best Regards,


e

.::.

ad4nr

My '82 MB 300SD left side rubber parts got soaked with diesel fuel and engine oil for
years. A ball joint ( caster joint, or brake torque joint ) developed slack. Stepping on
the brake usually removes the slack and smooths the bad vibration. Now I have a
new original replacement, but understand it takes much hammering to put in the new
one. I used a come-along to drag out the old one. ( Thanks David Bass. ).
Any suggestions to make the new one slide in easy?