jwxspoon

I noticed a vibration between 45 and 65 mph and took my new (to me) 2008 S550 to the local dealer. Dealer told me that both front wheels had dents in them.

Went out and bought brand new rims, same size (20"). Used the same tires but the new rims. After installation and balancing, the vibration is MUCH worse. Took back to the tire dealer and they rebalanced using a 'special laser balancer'. Vibration is still just as bad.

Tire store says it must be the old tires causing the vibration. I don't understand how going from dented rims to undented rims can cause vibration to INCREASE. Any ideas? Is the tire store just trying to sell me new tires?

Thanks,

jw

phatisfy

The tire may be "out of round". This happened to me once before. It sounded silly to me at first,but after getting new tires,it did solve the problem.

RT2010

A-L-I-G-N-M-E-N-T

bandillero

Same problem here with my 2011 S400. Dealer said that it may be caused by the car sitting for too long before being sold and the tires developing flat spots. I'll put new tires on next week and see if it improves.

The vibration is really annoying for a car like MB

jwxspoon

Now bought new tires and had an alignment. No change to the vibration, which begins around 45 mph and is very significant. Occasionally gets a slap slap slap vibration as if I am driving over embedded road reflectors.

My tire dealer/mechanic is stumped. They are taking the car over to the dealer today to ask them to look at it.



jw

malahhaor

My S550 and wifes CLS500 have similar issue. cant figure it out. going to take the CLS for alignment check, we'll see.

streetlife

19" amg stocks - vibration

swapped to 22" brand new - vibration

- alignment - vibration

new motor mounts/tranny mounts - vibration but just a bit less.


now what lol ?

jwxspoon

It's something I have read about in more than one Benz forum now; it appears a lot of people are experiencing it. I have seen driveshaft, bushings, steering rack, tire flat spots, bent rims all blamed for it. Some of the fixes seem to help and some don't.

I'm hoping I haven't bought myself a high $ lemon... very interested in what the dealer comes up with.

jw

malahhaor

unbalanced brake rotators?

marthyh

Try to have an on-car balancing done.There are not many tire-suppliers that can do that,its kinda old-school ,but they should have a finish-balancer which looks like this:



The operator sits on the device while the wheel+tire is spinned on the car,this helps to eliminate any unbalance in the entire driveline( mainly at higher speeds).

There are several factors that can cause unbalance: unround/damaged(inside or outside) tires or rims,valves or tpms not tight or incorrectly mounted ,incorrect or too tight bolting of rims to hub,incorrect wheelbolts or spacers.

Furter-on there could already be an excessive play in the suspension of the car which amplifies any unbalance(in this case that would also be noticeable when braking.)

jwxspoon

Problem Resolved:

Called the tire dealer today. He had taken my S550 to the local mercedes dealer. The dealer told him that I had bad ball joints that needed replacing. $1200 estimate.

My tire dealer was skeptical. He asked for a guarantee taht the ball joints would fix the problem, which mercedes refused to provide.

My tire dealr got the car back and ordered all new lug nuts, lugs and hub centric rings. After receiving them he laser balanced all 4 new rims and tires.

Vibration completely gone. Like it was never there.

jw

MBNUT1

As a fanatic about vibration I consider this a major win. A good lesson to the rest of us. Bravo for your tire dealer. Do you still need ball joints?

Luckidai

you probably just need hub centric rings. I just bought aftermarket rims for my 2010 S550 and the dealership just told me that I need the concentric rings because the rims sit on the lugs and there is a space between the wheel hub diameter. I need to by and install and hope that solves the vibration

Mike5215

Or try to stick with wheels that have a 66.6 hub bore. I'm surprised the OP went through all that but never considered hub rings. That would have been the first place I looked.

Nuru

Hmm, maybe this is a case where technicians started telling OP it might be this and that and it all sounded plausible. And/or this is Op's first S class. not everyone would know to look there first.

Mike5215

Not just on the S, but on any car where you're experiencing vibration, start with the obvious. It's almost never an issue with the car itself or the suspension. It's almost always wheels and/or tires.

1) Are you running OEM wheels in the factory offset and tire size(s)?

Inspect the tires for unusual wear. Have all four wheels road force balanced and the run out measured. Replace any wheel with excessive run out and any tires with unusual wear. Watch for any wheel requiring over 2 oz of weight. Have a 4 wheel alignment performed. Have caster bolts installed if the suspension cannot be aligned to factory specs without them. Verify the alignment (red/green) report shows all measurements within factory spec.

2) Are you running aftermarket wheels with the correct size hub bore (66.6mm) but a lower offset?

Try swapping on a set of OEM spec wheels and tires. My dealer was willing to pull another S in off the used car lot and swap the wheels to rule out my aftermarket wheels as a source of vibration. Otherwise you may need to invest in a set, or still have your OEM take-offs.

3) Are you running aftermarket wheels with a hub bore larger than 66.6mm?

Use the best quality hub-rings possible. Make sure the rim fits snug on the ring, and the ring is snug on the car's hub.

4)Are you using spacers to lower your offset?

Try removing the spacers. Hub rings and spacers are a leading cause of vibration problems.

5)Are you using cheap tires?

The S is very sensitive to any anomaly, including tires that aren't OEM spec.

cmpcpro

The other day I went into my dealer. The told me I had 5% left on my front brakes and 10 on rear. They said my oil filter housing is cracked and dripping oil as is the rear oil seperator but everything else is great. So I buy new brakes and install myself. I take fronts off and yes the rotors are down but the pads looks great maybe 50%.. Well I have brand new pads and rotors from MB dealer so might as well.. I replace them. I check rears out and they look even better so I decide to hold off on rears until they actually need it. Now a couple days later I go back to the dealer for an mbrace update. Once update is done they tell me there is a problem and the car is not making contact with mbrace but they did their part and want $163 to diagnose it. I raise hell and he tells me he will get his manager. In the meantime my car pulls up from service and he walks over talks to the advisor and waives me over. I come over and he tells me it has magically started working now and perhaps it just needed time to activate with mercedes...

Okay fine, a little shady but whatever I get in and leave. When I get home I look at the paperwork they gave me. Including the whole car diagnosis they give every car. This time, 100 miles later AND with brand new factory MB front brakes they tell me my front brakes now have 10% left and my rears which were at 10% 75-100 miles ago are now at 3%!.. On top of this my oil filter housing and oil seperator are no longer cracked or leaking but now the cam plugs have decided to take over the task of leaking..!

You have to check everything they say!

Nuru

Well, i guess you are not going back to them anymore, right?

cmpcpro

Well unfortunately when they programmed my mBrace update they turned the volume up to the max, so when I talk to my concierge they come blasting thru the speaker. I love the feature so much (they will do anything you ask them to do that can be done over the telephone or internet for $20/mo, and I run my business single handedly so it's nice to have a little help sometimes.) that I have to go back to have them correct it. After that, probably not, however I got the assistant manager of service involved and she is acting like she's willing to bend over backwards for me after all these issues, which is not what I am looking for, but if they are genuine in their apology I may give them another chance on the basis that I am sure they will never try anything like that on me again.. The next person I am not so sure about..

On a side note you should try the Mbrace, if I am late to a job and jump on the freeway and don't want to cause an accident typing in the address they will send it to the car for me. If I am running late they can call a customer and tell them where I am, or make reservations at a restaurant or hotel. If I am at a job and in need of a part they can be calling one place looking for it while I am driving to another store, etc.. it's a nice program! I don't use it much, but when I am in a jam it helps.

Now that we got completely off subject, to OP:

Glad the rings worked out for you. I have had some bad vibrations in other cars I've owned and it's a pain sometimes to find.. I usually start with a roadforce balance and usually that is what solves it. Infact for such a small difference in price I don't really use anyone else but the place that roadforce balances it.. I've had places with the older machines balance tires and had issues so I have had them roadforced the next day and it's amazing how much more exact they are.

Nuru

Yep, I have MBrace and yes it is definitely not always cut and dry with vibrations to isolate the problem. The key, as with any issue to to eliminate possible causes as quick as you can.

Mike5215

Road force balancing is great for finding the high spot of the rim and the high spot of the tire, and cancelling them out, but the measurement for run out is an extra step and you'll usually have to ask the tech to do it. Run out is any variance on the horizontal axis of the rim. It can be excessive enough to cause problems even though the wheel is "balanced" as far as the road force measurements are concerned.