What cause vibration in my s550?
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Mercedes Benz s550
What cause vibration in my s550?
I'm a owner of a 2008 Mercedes Benz S550 and I'm feeling a vibration in periods of two seconds then it disappears for one second and then back again at all times and it's felt through the chassi and in the seats. The dealership told me I had bad transmission and engine mounts so I changed them but problem still exist, I googled for people with the same issue and people talk about bad flex discs so I changed them too but problem still exist, I checked if the rims are bent and they're not. I've tried to locate the problem by put in neutral in highway speeds and the vibration is still there. Have anyone any clue what it could be? I have new tires too and the problem still was the same thing with old tires. I've made a road force balance with the new tires. It all happened one day when I drove into a pothole on the freeway. Does anyone know what can be wrong?
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2016 C300
Yeah I had that rhythmic pulsating shudder every few seconds. Put the passenger seat head rest up all the way and drive with no one in the seat do you see the vibrations in the head rest? If so, you've got at least one rear wheel that's either bent or has too much run out, or a tire where the radial bands have been damaged internally. I went thru that whole sequence..motor mounts, tranny mount, etc. My shop was kind enough to bring another S Class into the garage with new tires and OEM rims and swap them on to my car, and we ended up replacing both rear rims and both tires. End of problem.
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Mercedes Benz s550
Yeah I had that rhythmic pulsating shudder every few seconds. Put the passenger seat head rest up all the way and drive with no one in the seat do you see the vibrations in the head rest? If so, you've got at least one rear wheel that's either bent or has too much run out, or a tire where the radial bands have been damaged internally. I went thru that whole sequence..motor mounts, tranny mount, etc. My shop was kind enough to bring another S Class into the garage with new tires and OEM rims and swap them on to my car, and we ended up replacing both rear rims and both tires. End of problem.
Hey, thank u for ur answer! I have brand new tires with less than 100 miles, I felt it with my old tires too. I don't have any bent rims or so, it's all checked out and the rims are fine. It all happened one day when I drove on the freeway into a pothole with the old tires. It's driving me crazy, I don't want to waste more money and not solve the problem
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Hey, thank u for ur answer! I have brand new tires with less than 100 miles, I felt it with my old tires too. I don't have any bent rims or so, it's all checked out and the rims are fine. It all happened one day when I drove on the freeway into a pothole with the old tires. It's driving me crazy, I don't want to waste more money and not solve the problem
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Mercedes Benz s550
Yes sir, the car is all stock! Yes everything is in green but what I've understood is that alignment can't cause any vibrations
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From: Monroe, NY 10950
2007 S550 4Matic 2009 ML350 4Matic
I just bought my 2007 s550 recently and was told by a Mercedes mechanic who also owns a 2009 s550 that they are infamous for having bent rims due to the air suspension. Your rim could be ever so slightly bent and you would never visually pick up on it and could cause your issues. I am in New York and there is a mobile truck in my area who services the local Mercedes dealerships and will also come to your door. He charges $100 a rim to straighten them and an additional $100 to paint if requested. I have some curb rash on a few of my rims and an ever so slight shake in the steering wheel at higher speeds only and already had two balancings done and two alignments and still. I now know I have at least one bent rim and will be using the above mentioned services soon...
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2016 C300
Sure it can. If the wheels or axles are fighting each other you can have vibrations. Is it possible you bent a half-shaft when you hit the pothole?
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Thread Starter
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Mercedes Benz s550
I just bought my 2007 s550 recently and was told by a Mercedes mechanic who also owns a 2009 s550 that they are infamous for having bent rims due to the air suspension. Your rim could be ever so slightly bent and you would never visually pick up on it and could cause your issues. I am in New York and there is a mobile truck in my area who services the local Mercedes dealerships and will also come to your door. He charges $100 a rim to straighten them and an additional $100 to paint if requested. I have some curb rash on a few of my rims and an ever so slight shake in the steering wheel at higher speeds only and already had two balancings done and two alignments and still. I now know I have at least one bent rim and will be using the above mentioned services soon...
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Mercedes Benz s550
I had it jacked up today and they went through the suspension but they couldn't find anything. My bad luck is all this happened ten days after my cpo expired. I'm gonna take it on one more alignment and try to find a set of rims I can put on my car to find out if it is the rims even though I already checked them if they're bent. It annoys me because I know how smooth this car is on the highway
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2016 C300
Chasing down a vibration on an S is a nightmare. The thing is so sensitive to anything remotely out of tolerance. You just have to stay on it. You'd never notice a bent half shaft on a visual (unless it was really, really bent). I'd rule out wheels/tires first though.
Ive done all the things you guys mention and nothing, all I have left is install new rims on this thing
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Mercedes Benz s550
I dont know what to do about this damn thing
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Mercedes Benz s550
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2016 C300
Agree all evidence points to damaged suspension components from the pot hole incident. Something in the rear suspension absorbed the excessive impact and if it's not the wheel it's something further into the suspension. Forget CPO, it's a collision claim on your car insurance. Get them involved and they can start paying for diagnostics.
Last edited by Mike5215; May 28, 2015 at 10:59 PM.
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Mercedes Benz s550
thats bad, i know how you feel but let me know when u switch rims and if it works, im gonna try to do the same thing and let u know if it solved my issue!
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From: Texas
2019 S560
Tire truing
Hi all,
I'm no expert, but my vibration issue was resolved with 20" wheels when I had the wheels trued. I'd never heard of it before, but I can tell you that my car with 20's is smoother than the original 18's now. I was told that even with brand new tires (which I have) that some tires aren't perfectly round. And with how sensitive our cars are, I needed to have my new (only had about 100 miles on them) tires trued. You can find video's on youtube on wheel truing and you'll have to call around to find a shop that can do it as it's a dying practice. I had alignment, road force balance, regular balance and nothing worked to give me a smooth ride. Then I went to the tire shop as my last resort before putting the 18's back on my car. My ride is amazing now, zero to 100 mph and my car is smooth as butter. Just a suggestion, try having your tires trued. Good luck man.
I'm no expert, but my vibration issue was resolved with 20" wheels when I had the wheels trued. I'd never heard of it before, but I can tell you that my car with 20's is smoother than the original 18's now. I was told that even with brand new tires (which I have) that some tires aren't perfectly round. And with how sensitive our cars are, I needed to have my new (only had about 100 miles on them) tires trued. You can find video's on youtube on wheel truing and you'll have to call around to find a shop that can do it as it's a dying practice. I had alignment, road force balance, regular balance and nothing worked to give me a smooth ride. Then I went to the tire shop as my last resort before putting the 18's back on my car. My ride is amazing now, zero to 100 mph and my car is smooth as butter. Just a suggestion, try having your tires trued. Good luck man.
for sure that's something that in my case haven't done, so I will look into that
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In the meantime swap fronts for rears and see if the vibration moves to the steering wheel. That will rule out (or in) a wheel/tire issue without spending much money. Any road force balance machine can measure run-out (which is what truing fixes) but it's not a part of a normal road force balance. They spin the wheel as they would normally and then place a guide to see if the wheel is oscillating horizontally, left to right vs up and down. Ideally there should be no movement, but any movement is considered "run out". A wheel can balance out fine and still have excessive run out. Basically the wheel is fighting the car. The car wants the wheel to track straight, the wheel can't and you get these strange vibrations.
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Mercedes Benz s550
Okey so now here is my problem. I did the alignment yesterday and the car pulls to the right a lot, I had it in today again and they said the front right wheel, the same I hit he pot with had changed 2 degrees. They did an alignment again and the car still pulls to the right, can that causing that and the vibrations have anything to do with each other?
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2016 C300
Okey so now here is my problem. I did the alignment yesterday and the car pulls to the right a lot, I had it in today again and they said the front right wheel, the same I hit he pot with had changed 2 degrees. They did an alignment again and the car still pulls to the right, can that causing that and the vibrations have anything to do with each other?
I always go back to what my favorite Indie tech told me: 99% of vibration issues are wheel/tire related.
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Mercedes Benz s550
Yeah, the wheel probably has excessive run out and is fighting the car and working itself out of alignment in the process. Replace the rim or send it off to be trued. That's absolutely not normal.
I always go back to what my favorite Indie tech told me: 99% of vibration issues are wheel/tire related.
I always go back to what my favorite Indie tech told me: 99% of vibration issues are wheel/tire related.
