Robertpel99

I am getting pissed

My 2003 S500 Sport has always had a little vibration at speeds over 60 since i bought it 6 months ago. I chalked it up to just needing to get the front tires balanced (I bought new rear ones when i got it and watched them balance them) and i never drive on the highway so i never cared to get it corrected. FYI the car just turned 62k miles

I do more highway driving now and the second day it drove me nuts. I took it to the tire store and had all 4 wheels road force balanced. While the wheels were off we checked bearings, control arms, etc for any play or signs of wear and all looks perfect. I also two months ago installed a new comporessor and relay in the airmatic system and had the entire system gone over by an MB tech and given a clean bill of health

Today we did find i have a bent rear wheel so i was actually happy as that is an easy fix. HOWEVER I put the never before used spare on the back while waiting for the wheel to be fixed tomorrow and while the vibration is better it is still there. Obviously this means when i get my true wheel back with a road force balanced tire the vibration will still be there as well

Its not mounts as i had to replace those on my SL and know how to test for that (it will not do it in neutral at any RPM and is not RPM specific while driving)

What else can i look for. The whole point of an S class besides room is the ride. This is driving me nuts and i am not about to just start throwing parts at it.

Please advise,
Robert

Skylaw

Check engine mounts, transmission mounts, and flex discs.

velvet fog

Check your other wheels.

Quadcammer

Is the vibration through the seat, through the steering wheel, the pedals?

Is it at any speed over 60 or does it go away at certain speeds.

Do you have 4 of the same tires with the same wear?

If you shift to 4th, do you get the same vibration?

Robertpel99

All other wheels have been checked and are fine

Fronts are Michelin pilot sports same age and wear
Rears are Sumotomo HTRZIII same age and wear (although newer than fronts)

It does seem to change a bit when accelerating and decelerating through those speed ranges but it is very slight.

It is better since removing the bent wheel but still there - when you watch the passenger head rest you can visibly see it vibrating

S500 Man

you shouldnt have different brand tires in front and rear lol thats "ghetto"

Quadcammer

The two types of tires may be causing the problem. If you can borrow a set of wheels with pilot sports or sumis on them, you may find your solution.

If you've checked everything else, I'd put my money on this.

jd986s

I have the same problem. Went to hunter web site to to find out which shop has GSP9700 roadforce balance. Went to two different shop to have it road force. Vibration still there. Finally took it to local dealer, they said the wheels were out of balance and they did roadforce balance. Now the problem is fixed. Many tires shop do not have their balancer calibrated. Local dealer charge $60 to road force balance all tires.

ccms21

I have the same problem with 4 michelin pilot tires. I am almost to the point of needing news tires, so I was going to just replace them. Thanks for the info on the balancing. I guess I can't go to the local tire guys huh?

jd986s

You can go to local guys but make sure they have Hunter GSP9700 road force balancer. In my case, I went to two different shops with this machine and it was better but still vibration at freeway speed. My local dealer said that they calibrated thier machine monthly. Many tire shops do not calibrate their machine often enough.

ccms21

Thanks for the advice...

Skylaw

Worn tires, even high quality ones such as Michelin, often have runout, uneven wear, damaged belts, and the like. Tires with runout or uneven wear will never be made vibration-free. Tires with damaged belts will be out of round - no balancing will get rid of vibration. Replacement is the only answer for these conditions.

"Balancing" a wheel is not quite so simple as one may sometimes think. "Runout" is just one problem that can cause vibration despite otherwise good balance. Runout may be vertical (out of round) or horizontal (literally, the tire is twisted). Further, the wheels themselves may have runout, and if the high spot of a tire is not matched to the low spot on a wheel when both have runout, the problem can be very noticeable. It may be possible to resolve the problem by marking high and low spots on both the tire and wheel, and rotating (remounting) the tire on the wheel, to compensate.

For a fairly simple discussion of runout and some of the other problems that can cause vibration, see http://www.aa1car.com/library/wheel_balancing.htm

Of course, vibration can come from the other sources mentioned in prior posts above.

I had runout on my OE Continentals, and the classic vibration between 65 and 70. Replaced them recently with Michelin MXV4 Primacy tires that are perfect.

Ifari

Your car looks 'ghetto'.

crug75hid

Replacing with new tires and balancing helped me a lot.