Hi. Just purchased my 2008 S550 w/ the AMG sport package and P3. Thanks to all on this forum who helped with my questions on price and financing. It really helped.

The car is wonderful, tons of gadets, but I notice when driving on the highway at about 55-65mph, when I sit in the front passenger seat or rear seats, I can feel vibrations (don't know if that's the right term). I don't know if it's coming from the tires, or the air currents. Just seems like an extremely hard ride, especially for such a heavy car.

When driving, I don't feel it in the steering wheel, so I don't think it's the alignment.

I have the Continental thin tires, with the 19" rims. I tried "comfort" and "sport" modes with little difference. Never owning a car like this, or any european car, I don't know if this is normal.

Thanks.

Well, it's not going to be easy to put things in perspective because we don't really know what your thresholds are for "vibrations" and "rough rides".

What you can do to elicit more responses is tell us what you're used to driving. Lexus? Ford? Cadillac? At least then maybe some here will be able to provide better comparisons.

As far as "vibrations" - that's not normal, even for a car with 255/275, 40, 19 wheels/tires. That's low profile but not as low as some of the crazy stuff you see on this board with guys slapping on 21's and 22's Just so you know, rides in European cars, esp. BMW and of late MB, tend to be more on the stiffer side and that's for a reason: more road feel, better drive handling, etc. But I'll have to admit, that the S550 should have made ABC standard. There's really no excuse for that. I experienced it first hand when I bought the S550 and that was one of the main reasons I traded it in for an S63.

Nonetheless, you have a beautiful ride. Can you post some pics?

Enjoy

I've been driving Lincoln SUV's for years. This is my 1st sedan in 9 years. I've only had it for 3 days.

It's definatly not a "cadillac ride". I do like the more responsive ride which this has. I just feel it unusual to feel this on a highway surface.

I feel it more so, if place my hand on the door panel. It's almost like I'm in a midsize feeling the tires/shocks taking on the road. It's not all terrible, just not like I'm riding on a smooth surface. I wish I could explain it better.
At lower speeds, I don't feel it.

The psi for these tires are rated for 39, front and back. l lowered to 35 psi, with the same response.

If this car has a tighter ride, would you feel constant vibrations on the doors at this speed? Again, it's not terrible, but it's there. Just wondering if it's normal for this car

Depends on how long the dealership had the car on the lot. Sometimes when cars sit for long periods of time the tires become out of round and usually once some heat or miles are put on them they balance themselves back out. My suggestion would be to take it back and have them put the tires on the balance machine to make sure they are still balanced. Also, running at 35psi should be fine.

Here's a suggestion. Go to your dealership and ask to test drive a new/used S550 w/AMG sport package (so that you test the 19" wheels). If you don't see the same results then obviously something's wrong with your car. I'd even drive it on the same roads that you normally feel the vibrations on.....

I really think that's the only way to know for sure. If you're in an area where there are more than 1 or 2 dealerships within close proximity - go to all of them and see how it pans out.

thank you. i will try that. Something just doesn't seem right when traveling at that 55 -65 mph.

I do love this car!

Request the dealer “road force balance” each tire/wheel. Most if not all MB dealers use Hunter: http://www.hunter.com/pub/product/ba...159T/index.htm

Obviously thats not normal.

Your not supposed to feel any vibrations even above 100 mph.

Make a service appointment, the problem is covered by warranty. More likely it is a balance problem since the vibration happens at 60. I guess it goes away when you reach 90 and above.

what tires came with your ride Dunlop or conti

I have the Conti.
I posted on another thread a question, because I have the 4Matic, I have 255 on front and rear. I was told by several members this is correct.

So did you go and test drive some other 550's?

my dealer is out of state, I was waiting to get some more miles on my car before taking it in for my 1st service. I have a few items that need to be looked at.
I am still getting the vibrations when traveling 65 - 75 mph. but I do love this car.

Definitely balancing issue. had on my previous S550. Firestone does good job of balancing, they will chg around 40-50 bucks for lifetime. Try them. Save yourself a bunch of time.
Dealerships r not usually good with alignment and balancing.

I have an early generation 2007 model with the AMG package (took delivery in July 2006) and this past summer had the car in for routine service around 15-26K. They suggested the tires be replaced, so I said go ahead. However, there was a national back order for the Conti's so I said I'll take the Dunlops instead.

Go the four new dunlops and the car at 50mph began to vibrate including the steering wheel. They took it back and said the tires need to be warmed up for 10-15 minutes before they are ready for the road (as per Dunlop), I said BS!

On each visit to the shop all tires were road forced balanced.

So, they spoke to MB and upon their suggestion replaced the tires with four new tires ( the thought being they sat on the shelf too long and are deformed). Brought the car back after they said shop foreman road tested it and still vibrated so once again back to the dealer. This time they replaced all four rims, they thought the rims were bent, which is BS as the car has never had an accident or even curb rash etc.

So on the fourth visit, I said put the Conti's on and the problem was solved!

The dunlops have an issue with the AMG rims and for me the Conti's were just fine so I learned my lesson.

I would check and see what type you have, but there is no reason why this car, especially brand new, should have any vibration

I know your frustration. I had to deal with a brand new CL in 2002 due to Dun'hop' tires. They either are very good tires or very bad tires. Mine too was an AMG car and they never could fix the problem. I had to replace them out of pocket with Michelins and the problems went away for good.

hate the dunlops. just had the dealer exchange em for conti sport2. not a better tire but much quieter. mine is AMG too. there eas some kind of funky vibes at high speeds.