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Mine started vibrating after installing aftermarket rims and tires
Very seldom, if ever, after market rims have a hole in them to fit correctly on MB hub. The hole is made big so the rim fits most cars as it is an after market rim to be sold for as many cars as possible.
I went thru this exercise when first I got pretty severe vibration. MB use center hole centering in their OEM wheels meaning the hole in wheels fits snuggly over the shoulder in the hub. In my after market wheels the hole is too big to provide this centering.
The first corrective action by the tire shop was to use conical “centering” bolts instead of the “ball face” type original bolts. This helped but vibration was still there.
What fixed the issue is they used centering rings in the next step. There rings are filler rings that make the center hole in the wheel to work with the shoulder in the hub for centering purposes again. This method worked perfectly.
not read the whole thread.... but i'll give an insight.
For safety a car is not supposed to carry the load via the wheel bolts / studs. The hub should be made the correct size and the wheel such a close fit, the load path is supposed to be via wheel centre to the hub, not via the bolts or studs.... the nuts just locate the thing and stop rotational forces (under braking and acceleration) and of course take a bit of side load for the inside wheel (which isn't doing much in the scheme of things) when cornering. Pushing too much load via the bolts / studs, tends to cause them to fail, with unpleasant consequences.
However for the best cars in the world, it appears no one mentioned how to build a car to Mercedes Benz. And the wheels slop about running off centre and no doubt aside from trying to kill you, give balance and wheels shimmer issues all the time. I guess it does mean the hub wheel corrosion is less problematic, but you'll likely be dead before that's an issue ?
I do have correct dimensions of the hub and bolt pattern that fits my car perfectly, they also 18", I had to add 3/4 spacers
but I take stuff like wheels seriously i don't buy Chinese parts
anybody thinks the vibration on the highway might be in part because my car is missing undercarriage covers ?
might be a aerodynamic problem?
I also heard that flex disc might be going bad but I already had both changed
The vibration feels like off balanced wheels but I had that done
BTW anybody looking for 2010 s550? Invested over 17k in parts and labor asking $14k
98k on the clock , records and proof of maintenance on hand
I do have correct dimensions of the hub and bolt pattern that fits my car perfectly, they also 18", I had to add 3/4 spacers
but I take stuff like wheels seriously i don't buy Chinese parts
anybody thinks the vibration on the highway might be in part because my car is missing undercarriage covers ?
might be a aerodynamic problem?
I also heard that flex disc might be going bad but I already had both changed
The vibration feels like off balanced wheels but I had that done
BTW anybody looking for 2010 s550? Invested over 17k in parts and labor asking $14k
98k on the clock , records and proof of maintenance on hand
" I had to add 3/4 spacers"
That is your problem. Your rims are not centered correctly as at some joint between parts the correct centering is not done. If your wheels fit the spacers correctly the question is does the spacers fit the hub correctly?
You said the problem started with the new wheels...
BTW: I would NEVER use spacers to fit rims in my car. I would only buy rims with correct offset.
I do have correct dimensions of the hub and bolt pattern that fits my car perfectly, they also 18", I had to add 3/4 spacers
but I take stuff like wheels seriously i don't buy Chinese parts
anybody thinks the vibration on the highway might be in part because my car is missing undercarriage covers ?
might be a aerodynamic problem?
I also heard that flex disc might be going bad but I already had both changed
The vibration feels like off balanced wheels but I had that done
BTW anybody looking for 2010 s550? Invested over 17k in parts and labor asking $14k
98k on the clock , records and proof of maintenance on hand
" I had to add 3/4 spacers"
That is your problem. Your rims are not centered correctly as at some joint between parts the correct centering is not done. If your wheels fit the spacers correctly the question is does the spacers fit the hub correctly?
You said the problem started with the new wheels...
BTW: I would NEVER use spacers to fit rims in my car. I would only buy rims with correct offset.
I have no problem with aftermarket wheels, but I'm always amazed (or amused) by people who put them on and then blame the car for vibration or poor handling.
"I put new tires and wheels on, and now it's got a vibration"... Not the car's fault!
I have no problem with aftermarket wheels, but I'm always amazed (or amused) by people who put them on and then blame the car for vibration or poor handling.
"I put new tires and wheels on, and now it's got a vibration"... Not the car's fault!
the thread is about Mercedes wheels are incorrectly made allowing them to run concentric ….. BOTH sets of OEM Merc wheels do this on my one.... a BIG clue is when you've had it in a garage for new tyres a few times and you later find the 4 spare bolts in the lock nuts set have vanished !!! so next round you use your hawk eyes and find the reason is two fold
1) because the hub and wheels are so wrong, the wheel doesn't naturally stay on the hub (like it will on a proper car) so the garage blat one bolt on to hold it in place
2) the concentric sitting of the wheel now means the other threads are not central to the wheel stud hole, and they regularly cross thread and trash the bolts till they need some new ones (so have to rob your spares !!!)
You can't fix incompetent people breaking your car. I've never -- EVER, not once -- had a shop cross-thread a wheel lug, on this car or any other. I did one myself, many years ago, because I ignored a badly worn/damaged lug nut on an old beater. Other than that one time, no, not since the early to middle 1970s when I was the one doing the summer/winter tire changes for my parents' cars. It's not exactly rocket science to get a bolt or nut on without cross-threading. My factory wheels bolt up perfectly fine with no vibration, and believe me I'm picky as hell when it comes to vibration and shimmy. I won't tolerate it. But really, anyone with the vaguest clue what the hell they're doing can get a wheel onto a car (even an S-class) without it being off center.
I'm not surprised that vibration has been an issue for M-B cars, especially the S class. You take a 2-1/2 ton vehicle, slap 19" or 20" or larger wheels with low profile tires on it, and give it the sort of ride that doesn't telegraph to the driver that the road is in exceedingly poor condition... it's a perfect recipe for bent wheels. That much is evidenced by the fact that my own S600 was in half a dozen times for wheel and tire replacements under the previous owner's care, and even I've bent a wheel and blown a tire (separately) in the two years I've been driving mine. Never done that on any other vehicle... ever. But then, I've never had anything this heavy with this little sidewall, either. My 4WD super-crew F150 might weigh as much, but it's got six inches of tire sidewall to keep from blowing up tires or bending rims.
Like that hot chick with the 4" heels, aching feet, and the occasional ankle sprain - there's a price to be paid for looking stylish.
Seems my English let me down...
try finding a garage that even knows its supposed to be a funny shaped socket !!!
So expecting them to be bolted as "concentric " is extremely unlikely - especially as it shouldn't be possible to fit them "eccentric" when a car's built correctly
Not only do they cross thread them, the security bolts are 17.2mm so a std 17mm socket can't fit to make it harder to nick the wheels. But the animals at round black things r us, have such a worn impact socket it'll fit anything but in doing so destroys the stainless trim so your own tools don't fit either
I took my 17mm "flower tulip" socket and torque wrench out of my trunk and manually removed the lug nuts and I only let the shop guy take the rim off once I removed the bolts, after he mounted and balanced the new tires, I then hand tightened the bolts and torqued them to 150 ft Lbs manually.
Often those impact air guns are set at way too high settings and just destroy everything
I'd rather take a few minutes to make sure it was done correctly, then end up with damaged hubs, bolts or rims....
05-18-2021, 11:09 AM
