dmccorki

Newbie Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: virginia
Posts: 1

pulling to the right

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my 2004 sl500 is pulling to the right in a manner that is almost a creep rather than a pull. also at very slow speeds it tends to go right if one taps the brakes. the dealer has tested alignment twice and says all is correct. he also says the brakes are correct, although he admits similar problems occur with the Eclass, with similar brakes. dealer has concluded i need new directional front tires, which he will replace at his cost. does this make sense?

tntmcj

congratulations you have found a honest trustworthy dealer, for that is the only fix. if he has checked alignment, and checked brake pressure at each wheel, then they have done the correct job and are confident it is in the tires, something we at benz have seen before, but very few dealers go the extra mile, when they replace the tires they are doing it from what is called a good will account. soon you will enjoy the perfect driving sl you where expecting.

dmccorki

thanks for your thoughts and input. i will await the tires and let all know the outcome.
just fyi i have owned Sclass cars, Bmw z8 and 7 series cars, and lots of other more exotic wheels, never have i experienced this result. hopefully modern engineering will not create even more problems in their desire to be different

richard2725

Let me knolw I have exactly the same problem which both dealer and MBUSA says there is no fix for!!

MBStar

What tires did your SL come with?

richard2725

Michelans

tntmcj

try this, i had a customer go and buy new front tires, and to everyones amazement the problem corrected itself, must have been magic? we then contacted our mercedes regional service rep and he agreed to reimburse the customer the cost of the tires, take in mind all this was done at our dealership to properly record all the steps, he was the original owner and the car had been in for the pulling problem with no sollution to correct the pulling found. alignment,adjustments etc. and the car only had 900 mi on it.

dmccorki

i assume the original tires were Michelin Sport tires since those are the replacements the dealer installed. so far i do not think the new tires have solved the pulling problem. it seems a little better but i need to drive more to get a better test.

richard2725

I will probably try that as mine are starting to now show slight cupping at the outer edge of tread at 4100 miles. Also this has been well documented with dealer and zone office.

RJC

The tires are not the problem. A "bolt kit" needs to be installed which gives greater flexability to the alignment settings (yes I know the dealer said it's within specs). This subject has been discussed extensively in the w211 and w209 sections for some 6 months now. Also keep an eye on tires pressures, as not enough air in will cause premature wear on the outer edges of the tires.

tiggerfink

I noticed that my SL500 will tend to pull to the right or left on certain roads. I can duplicate the problem on several roads at the same spot. I noticed that the streets here have ruts. After it rains you can see where the ruts are becuase the ruts still have water in them.

richard2725

MBUSA is replacing all four of my Pilots at 4100 miles (under warranty)

dmccorki

dealer says the bolt kit does not work on SL and that it is an Eclass fix.

RJC

Richard,

Do you have uneven wear and who is your dealer as I'm having issues with my CLK 500 too.

Thanks

Chip

It seems a lot of MB models have this problem. The E-class, CLK's and the S-class. When I picked up my CLK it pulled to the right and I made the dealer fix it before I would buy the car. Before that I got rid of E-55 because the dealer could not fix it. What gives? These are Mercedes not pickup's

RJC

Chip how many miles on your 55 now and any edge wear on the fronts?

If my dealer replaces the tires and the un-even wear comes back its LEMON LAW CITY.

tiggerfink

Does lemon law applied to interior trim, like dash?

dmccorki

mercedes is sending a factory technician to review the problem. the new tires did not improve the situation.

unrelated, i am having lots of problem with the v60 phone--poor reception, does not engage when the car is started, etc. a factory tech will look at that also.

richard2725

First MB of Daytona Beach has been a super dealer. The Servie Director Bruce Jones cares for his Customers. They pick the car up at my office, deliver an MB Cureent model loaner if I need it and the car always comes back spotless. Once can also always stop by at the dealerhsip for a free wash.

They worked the issue thru MBUSA and I now have 4 new Pilots which have been pressure balanced and the car checked for alignement twice (before and after the pressure (thrust balancing and about 20 road miles). Took some effort and the vehicle tracks as well as any wide tire low profile car I have recently driven. Most are sensitive to weight of driver and road crowns. Car tracks truest when two people are of similar weights.

Again I am now a much happier camper and am seriously considering upgrade to SL55 or CL55

RJC

Tires would not help, its in the alignment settings and it is/has effected CLK,E and S models. A colleague's 04 SL 500 sport had to be returned 3 times before the pull was corrected. On CLK's in addition to the pull, the front tires are wearing unevenly and rapidly on the outer edges of the tires, this seems to indicate too much toe-in setting for the factory specs. This is all quite sad and an inconvenience for the consumer and because MB has been having this problem for two full model years now.

richard2725

I concur, my point being that at least I got new tires in addition to fixing the alignment for once a tire takes a set it is history

RJC

The tire comment was to affirm dmccorki's comment. I'm glad you got all new pilot's . How did you get them to replace the rears too and did your fronts have outer edge wear?

richard2725

Tread pattern is slightly differnet and dealer went to bat for me. Outer edges were cupping a bit and showed some wear.

RJC

Did you get the new PS2's?