nicobaires

Ok guys, maybe you can help me solve this.

Once I reach 60mph I get a driveline vibration. The steering wheel doesn't vibrate but the car does. I feel it in the seat, center console, sometimes in the front. It gets worse when I go faster and it really doesn't go away at high speeds. Below 60 it's fine.

So far I've replaced ball joints, sway bar end links, front shocks, front and rear flex discs, center support bearing, balanced wheels, changed wheels and tires , tranny mount, rotors and pads and thats all I think. I haven't aligned it in a while but I wasn't sure that would cause a vibration. I'm going to do it anyway.

Front suspension components look good.

Any other ideas of what the culprit might be??

maxwerks

wheel bearings

armaniE55

+1 check wheel bearings. Easy to check, jack up the car just enough where you can put one hand under the tire and above and push inward and outward to see if there is any play.... if so wheel bearings it is.

Also how old are your tires/brand? You sure you don't have a bent rim? Willing to bet that you hit a pothole and have a slight bent rim. Only a good wheel shop can find out for sure. Most will say ...ya it's fine

Check wheel Bearings, all 4 rims for bents and it wouldn't hurt to get them re-balanced by a good shop. Sometimes some shops don't have the proper high speed Balance machine. Or they just do a shi## job.

GL!

Keep us posted

Armani

DAGREEKNYC

once i lowered the car i noticed the same problem . it was slight but became more noticable over 60 and on turns , We checked bearings and re adjusted as needed and got a wheel alignment and she is perfect again .

armaniE55

Edit *** When it comes to Alignment ONLY MB can do it correctly. My go to indy shop along with a few other indy shops told me this as well.

As much as I hate going to the dealer for services, this one that has to be done by MB.

My .55 cents

Armani

nicobaires

I checked and tightened the wheel bearings a while ago, they seemed ok, I'll double check again.

As for bends in the wheels, I swapped out the wheels with another set i have and the vibration is consistant. Different brand wheels and different size tires

armaniE55

Interesting... double check the front end work you could have a defective part. What parts did you use? OEM?

She's vibrating for a reason

Armani

maxwerks

I am not sure what your mileage is , but I ended up replacing the wheel bearings all together , just for good measure.. with all the work youve done on the front end , it would be a good idea anyway.

NORCAL///AMG

FWIW, I have heard of some people bending or tweaking their drive shafts - which will cause a vibration such as yours. May want to have the shafts rebalanced at least. GL

nicobaires

Where do I take the shafts to be rebalanced?

i'm hoping tomorrow to take off the wheels again and check the bearings. i remember doing it a while back while checking for worn parts, they were a little loose, i tightened them but it didn't help.

Car has 108,000miles.

The vibration feels like it's coming from the middle of the car, thats why i changed the flex discs and bearing. The steering wheel doesnt' vibrate at all

NORCAL///AMG

since you're in NJ I would do a search under "new jersey drive shaft repair" and there should be some shops that do just that...keep us posted...GL

ehr1

Check the center support bearing and center mount for the drive shaft. The drive shaft is two pieces. The center support bearing is mounted in a rubber mount. Over time the mount will sag and some times brake/come apart, this causes the drive shaft to be out of alingment and balance.
Good luck.

nicobaires

I changed the center support and bearing already also.

I'll look into the driveshaft

armaniE55

Dang, process of elimination 101. When are you taking her in to check the driveshaft?

Armani

CALLISTO

I HAVE THE SAME ISSUE W/ MY 2002 E55.
ALSO HAD IT WITH MY 1999 ML430
WITH THE ML, THE OUTPUT SHAFT BEARING ON THE TRANS WAS WORN>YOU COULD GRADE THE FRONT PART OF THE SHAFT AND MOVE IT 1/4 INCH.
WITH THE E55, EVERYTHING ON THE DRIVE LINE SEEM PERFECT; ONLY 50K ON THE CAR, FLEX DISC GOOD, CENTER BEARING HAS NO PLAY.
I FOOLED WITH THE CENTER SUPPORT PRE-LOAD(BACKED IT OUT ABIT WHICH MADE IT WORSE)
THE DIFF WAS RESEALED AT THE DEALER PRIOR TO ME BUYING THE CAR SO NOT SURE IF THAT HAS A ROLE.
I'M SENDING THE DRIVE SHAFT OUT FOR REBLANCE AND NEW BEARING/SUPPORT
ANY OTHER THOUGHTS OUT THERE?

Fabio D

Hey Nico how are you friend!! pleasure to talk again..

Well o have one tip maybe works from you.. i have experience with one E50 amg & the problem is nearly imaginable.. check your driveshaft bolts! all.. the experience i have with the E50 is that some mechanic broke one of the bolts & put on one with -0.5" smaller than others.. looks pretty exactly.. but i remove all the bolts & find this one is a little small than others! the vibration is pretty crazy ****ed my head by 2 weeks with this problem, change flex discs, support, balance, re-balance all you can imagine & the problem are the driveshaft bolts.. check & let me know

Fabio Daniel

Schweinhund

My money is on the driveshaft.

Peter_02AMG

Bent rim

Schweinhund

He swapped out the wheels, all four.

Eurosport

are you sure it's a vibration and not the famous humming noise?

nicobaires

its not the humming noise. The weird thing its doing now is that it gets worse at certain times then it goes back to the normal vibration which leads me to believe it is the driveshaft or some part of it. I just haven't had the time to take it in. hopefully soon, will keep you posted

voituer

Had similar problem and ended up being two things needing attention - had to change one of the wishbones as bush worn and then another minor vibration turned out to be the front pulley, both expensive but i am vibration free now ............for a while!!

nicobaires

Last night it happened again. I was driving along doing around 65 with the same ol vibration, nothing too bad and all of the sudden it started getting worse, to the point that I had to pull over. Before pulling over I put the car in neutral to see if that changed things, it didn't. The steering wheel wasn't shaking either. I gave it gas and hit the brakes, nothing. It was something like a strong shudder going through the car.

And now that that happened I'm remembering that something happened like that last winter. It felt like maybe the ABS was acting up or like my rear tire was locking up. Back then I thought it had something to do with the slush and ice on the road. I would drive, the car would shudder really bad in what seems like it was happening in the rear, and then it would go away.Never happened again until last night.

No check engine light, no ABS, BAS etc lights, nothing.

Weird

Schweinhund

Get that driveshaft checked. Some have internal damping and those parts can fail and shift around inside causing random changes in the vibration characteristics.

If the vibration does not go away by shifting to neutral and idling the engine at the vibration speed, it is positively in the road-end of the drivetrain. (trans output to the wheels)

I know this sounds dumb, but with these sorts of things everything has to be checked.

Check for loose bolts: wheel bolts, driveshaft, etc.
Check ALL bushings and mounts: put the car on a lift and closely inspect each link and mount at each end. Check those bolts as well.

nicobaires

I def. will. thanks