m5zealot

Hello Gentlemen,

About a month ago I installed F1 Fabrication (The Camber King now) adjustable arms for my 2006 SL55. I was able to get the fronts on and holding off doing the rears until the weather cools off here. After about two weeks I started noticing this groaning (not squeaking) noise when I'm at parking lot speeds while turning left or right. I spoke to vendor and he suggested lubricating the polyurethane bushings in the front arm. (I had forgotten the links have either red or black poly bushings) I got a tub of Prothane poly lube and the noise went away. This weekend the noise is back and louder. It also seems to make the noise now (a little louder) just driving straight at speeds over 35 mph on the right side. I applied liberal amount of lube to all mating surfaces and even applied some teflon plumbers tape to the metal sleeves as suggested by a friend who has several race cars w/ poly bushings.

So far, I hope this is just a coincidence of other failing bushings up front? I have no error codes in the ABC or other systems according to my STAR. I replaced every ABC component including pump and shocks 4 years ago. The only component that is original is the upper control arm where the shock connects to. Lower control arms were replaced a year ago. I have had guys at car meets say it sounds like a poly bushing or other steering components issue. The only other troubleshooting I have done is jacking the front up and turning the steering wheel lock to lock with no noise so it's obviously a suspension loaded issue. The X brace (which made a creaking/clicking sound when loose) is still torqued properly. I have attached a link to a video from my Youtube channel in the hopes someone will immediately recognize the noise.

Any suggestions or troubleshooting tips will be greatly appreciated!

Video Link

Cylinder Head

iTrader: (1)

I'm having the exact same issue with my F1 Fabrication arms on my E63S. We replaced the heim joints, and the issue cleared up for a short time then came back this week. I'm going to reach back out to them.

m5zealot

Thanks for the heads up! I got a automotive stethoscope and had my buddy turn the wheel from side to side while I poked around the areas I thought was causing this noise. Turns out it was the heim joints! The vendor never offered this as a solution but I applied liberal marine grease on the joint and pressed them back in. After a test drive noise is gone! I’ll update since the noise usually starts after I have driven over 30 miles. Sorry forgot to take pictures because it was 115F in my garage today!

On another note, I noticed the orange shock pads were crumbling and residue was visible. I thought that has to be the cause! I ordered aftermarket pads and tried to install one side. This is a PITA since you have to remove the entire shock from the car to do this correctly. After getting the top portion free from the 3 mounting points I was able to see the pads were not that bad. Only the corners were breaking up. I put everything back together and decided to wait on this project.

I’m hoping greasing the heim bolt fixed the issue. Try this and see if it helps you. I’ll update after I take a long drive. The vendor tried to help and provide tips but non worked. He didn’t mention anyone else having the same issue so I was pretty much on my own to fix this issue. After noticing even tire wear (on my expensive Michelin PS4s) after 3k miles I think the hassle and inconvenience of troubleshooting these links is worth it! Good luck.

m5zealot

BTW - Is the noise you're experiencing exactly the same as in my video?

marko69

I have those same arms from Snooozie on ebay. I get an annoying squeaking when the arms go up and down a certain amount. The bushings are rubbing against the metal body where it is attached, causing the squeaking. I can see a fine black powder around the bushings and the body. I think lubing them would make it worse. I was thinking about putting two large thin washers at the mounting points. Gluing one side of a washer to the body, then the other washer to the bushing so that the washers would rub against each other instead of the bushing rubbing against the body. Don't know how this will work out. What these arms need is a bearing type bushing if that exists, so the arm can move up and down without the bushing moving up and down.

m5zealot

Have you tried my fix greasing the heim joints? If your noise is as loud as mine, it is not because the bushings are making contact with the body. It's the heim bolt trying to rotate in a very tight pressed hole.
As I mentioned on my initial post I did realize that the poly bushings do tend to rub against the mounting surface of the car. If you look at the OEM arms, there is about 2mm of the sleeve pass the rubber bushing. When you tighten the mounting bolts, the arm pivots without the bushings making contact with the body/mounting surface. Snoozie's design is flawed for our particular application. He told me to just lube up and you should be good to go. Wrong. So I tried to used washers but it was a PITA to keep them from slipping off when trying to install the arms. (it's tight there) Remember the washers should only be slightly larger in the diameter to the sleeve end. If they are too big they will pinch the bushing and you are back to square one. I looked into getting longer sleeves about 1mm longer on both ends to solve the issue. I went the easy way and got Poly bushing grease and just greased up all surfaces. Worked for about a week.

Because the the bushings are getting pinched when you torque down the bolts, the arms are not pivoting they way they are supposed to. The arm pivots with each end of the sleeves pinching on the body not the bushing. They are supposed to pivot internally on the metal sleeve and the bushings should rotate and not pinched against the body. I have found a temporary fix by not torquing the two bolts on each arm. The arms should be easy and "loose" when you manipulate them by hand (up and down like the OEM ones) This means the bushings are not making contact with the body of the car as you mentioned. I sent Snoozie a video of this issue and again, his answer was just to apply lots of poly lube and call it a day.

Here is the video showing the right bushing rotating (rubbing on the mounting surface that causes a groaning noise when suspension is loaded) and the left side is not. You want both sides to rotate with the arm goes up and down. The pivot should be the sleeve against the mounting surface! The arm should not be pivoting on the bushings. (That's what causes noise especially if they are not lubed)
All four of my bushings are now rotating because I didn't torque the mounting bolts too tightly. No more noise from bushings. My noise is from the heim joints not being lubricated. I just took a 60 miles trip today and they are still silent.
Please feel free to share this with Snoozie. I have sent him lots of communication and feedback. I was going to do a instructional video of this product but after my experience, I'm not comfortable promoting this product until he finds a solution for Mercedes application.

I do have to say, I have spoken with 3 guys from Benz World forums who have installed these on their SL55 and E55 cars with ZERO noise issues! I think it is a tolerance issue since not all our cars are exactly the same?
The permanent fix is to get longer sleeves later this year. I found a vendor here in AZ that makes these type of sleeves for aircraft applications. I'll share this project when I do it. If your washer fix works please share how you did it because I lost patience with that method. Good luck

marko69

Thanks for the insight. Its been awhile since I installed the arms. At the time, I was debating how much torque to put on the bolt. I believe I was a little uncomfortable having it looser, but I will have another look it.
I wish these were designed like the originals where the bushing's flex for the up and down movement.

m5zealot

[QUOTE=marko69;8596112]Thanks for the insight. Its been awhile since I installed the arms. At the time, I was debating how much torque tha

Me too! I'm sourcing the longer (custom cut) sleeves from a vendor in Phoenix now. I'll update you. For now the suspension is quiet and not embarrassing while parking anymore. I'm not too worried not having the heim joint nut torqued to 50 ft/lbs + because the weight of car forces that heim bolt into the the OEM arm - it presses on there when you tighten the heim bolt. It takes considerable force with my joint separator to pop it off. Same for the the 4 bolt/nuts attaching the arms to the frame. I have the nylon nuts on there with lock tight so they are not going to spin off. I'll just keep checking them weekly (daily driver) until my permanent fix.

K-Mac

Re R230 (and virtually every other Mercedes Benz Model) - For what it's worth do point out we now manufacture 3 front and 3 rear kits - 6 choices when it comes to resolving costly, premature edge tire wear (or track days in the pursuit of front row of the grid lap times).

OEM there is only Front and Rear Toe directional adjustment. It's all to do with cost savings and the ever increasing speed of assembly lines.

As a cheaper, better alternative to Camber adjustable front upper 'A' arms we manufacture Lower arm adjuster kit #502216-1i $345 (Less cost then one hi-performance tire).


HAVE SET OUT BELOW CHECKLIST RE ALL THE FEATURES WHEN COMPARED TO FRONT UPPER 'A' ARMS:

•NO TIME CONSUMING NEED TO REMOVE STRUT ASSEMBLYS.

•SIMPLICITY OF ADJUSTMENT - easy access and precise single wrench - accurately (under load) direct on alignment rack.

•FAIL SAFE LOCK SYSTEM (torque specs 122NM - 90ft/lbs).

•EXISTING "HI - STRENGTH FORGED ALLOY OEM ARMS" ARE RETAINED, security, peace of mind, no warranty issues by replacing with welded, fabricated ‘A’ arms.

•UNLIKE UPPER ‘A’ ARMS when adjusting to resolve inner edge tire wear “retains important clearance” - top of tire to outer fender (while Race days increases front track width).

•MANUFACTURING PERFORMANCE BUSHINGS SINCE 1964. Unique designs proven long term / maintenance free superceding delrin type bushes or spherical bearings. Finally resolving the issue that has plagued the industry for years - their wafer thin teflon liners soon pounding out. KMAC having two and a half times then load bearing, impact area.


See spoiler re complete range manufactured.







Experience Of Resolving OEM Suspension Shortcomings Since 1964 !

marko69

​​​​​​​YES PLEASE!!!!

m5zealot

After many weeks of checking every component involved with these camber arms - entire front suspension; thrust arms, tie rods, polyurethane bushings not lubed properly etc.....finally figured out what is causing this noise. It was the inner and outer tie rods! They were toast! The outer one's boots was intact and no way to tell the were bad visually. There was a lot of play but the only way to know for sure was having the car on an alignment rack and having an assistant turn the steering wheel with full load of the car on the suspension.

So my apologies to Jimmy at F1 Fab / The Camber King - The poly bushings are a bit too thick and still rub on the body in certain situations but in no way caused this loud annoying groaning in my video. My tires are still wearing evenly when I should have been flipping them by now or replacing them. Now I have to do the rear camber links. Thanks again to Nology who has been helping thru this issue. The noise was intermittent. I feel a little stupid for not figuring this out right way but, after talking to many forum members, chats with other DYI guys and visit to 3 alignment shops - no one seem to be able to figure out what the noise was or where it was coming from. 99% blamed the poly bushings in the F1 camber arms.

Front tire wear is pretty even - normally around this time/mileage the inside treads are almost gone due to -3 degrees of camber. My car is lowered 1.5 inches in the lowest height setting and -1 degrees at the highest setting. I keep the ride height in highest position (2 red dots) for freeway driving. The car automatically lowers itself at speed so I'm estimating I'm 0 degrees of camber at freeway speeds. I don't track the car so I have not noticed any loss of "handling" on freeway on/off ramps and twisty roads.

Dwalt024

[QUOTE=m5zealot;8596887]Have you managed to source the longer sleeves as yet? If so, how much longer are they than Snoozie's/F1 Fabrications?

yovenim

Recently, my 2016 500X Lounge (~75K miles) has begun making a groaning sound from the front left, when turning, and a thumping sound from the front, when going over bumps.

I thought maybe it needed power steering fluid, but (after I bought some), I discovered the car doesn't take power steering fluid.

I would really appreciate it if someone could help me narrow down the likely problem.

Thank you!