RJC

As some of you may know I replaced the Conti 2's with PS2's due to the flat spotting and vibration issues.

The PS2's have been vibration free, even in the a.m. but I still get a mild steering wheel shimmy (hand's off the wheel) @about 55-60 mph after the car sits overnight or if the tires are hot and I park on a cold indoor concrete surface for even an hour. Once I drive for a few blocks it goes away completely. Keep in mind I am in S Florida where it was 92 today so the road temps must be well into the 100's so the tires are getting very hot quickly and parking on a cold indoor concrete floor sets in a temp flat spot in a very short period. I really need to now if anyone has noticed any kind of temp shimmy with the PS2's.

I spoke with a tech person @ Michelin just now and he said that they would replace all 4 Michelins with any brand I choose but he said any tire would do the same thing on this vehicle. He said all MB dealers are Michelin dealers and I should have them check it out; he also said an out of round or out of balance tire would cause the problem to continue and not go away after a mile or two. I really doubt there is anything wrong with the car as if there was, the shimmy would not go away especially only after a few blocks. I did not have this issue on my CLK500 but I'm sure the E55's suspension is much more sensitive and the 55's tires are of a lower profile.

Don't get me wrong the PS2's are much smoother than the Conti's, I just hate it when the steering wheel shimmies even if it's mild and for a short time.

Thanks

Jakpro1

Very strange.....PS2's literally solved my shimmy I had from Contis.

Just never have heard this.....ever.

Sorry you are having trouble.....

Keep us updated.

RJC

Thanks. Please don't get me wrong the PS2's are sooo much smoother with no vibrations, just a mild steering wheel shimmy that goes away very quickly. The other thing to consider is the road I often travel is very close to my home where I can get up to 55-60 almost right out of my community giving the tires just a very short period to heat/get round after sitting.

I'm looking forward to other's repsonses. Who know's maybe the tires need to go on a GSP 9700...I just can't bare any more scratches.

Torquey55

I haven't had any of the shimmy you describe at all in over 7000 miles with my PS2's. They are smooth like butter on the Florida roads here. The only regret I have is getting 295's, they are just too wide. I am having the frustrating "wiggle" problem discussed elsewhere here on the forums. I leave rubber everywhere to hasten their demise and will replace with 285 or 275. Overall I am extremely satisfied with the performance of the PS2 and I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Hope this helps...

OzE55

What pressures are you running?
Maybe if the pressures are too low they flat spot more?

I was recently advised to run 40-42psi, given the weight of the car, for best "performance" but warned the ride might suffer.
The tyre guy was right - a bit too harsh for the roads down-under.
So, I'm just under 40psi now.

vuquach

Hey RJC,

I just had a set of PS2’s put on my car about a week ago.. I was running the conti also which were louder and had a little bit of a shimmy. My dealer couldn’t get my car to align correctly because of the pulling to the right so I took the advice of all the wonderful members to get a set of the PS2’s to hopefully correct the issues!

Now after a about 4 days driving the car, alignment is better still not 100% straight (this is a total of 3 alignment attempts within a month) I can live with this attempt but not satisfied.. Unfortunately I have the “shimmy” issues also. Anywhere from 40-80mphs depending on the way the car feels. They have been rebalanced twice to perfect specs with 35psi levels on all 4 tires and I still have the issues with shimmy! TRUST ME I totally feel your frustration because I went from pulling to the right with a slight shimmy to now kind of straight with more of shimmy! I had a 2nd tire shop check if there were any flat spots and they said the tires were perfect… So I’m clueless at this point. I feel like I can be an outside rep for MB about the issues since my car been to shop soooo many times since I’ve bought it… Just to give you an idea of how annoying it is I catch myself all the time letting go of steering staring at to see how bad the shimmy is and not even paying attention to the road!!!!

I was going to take a chance and buy another front set but I’m going drive on them for a couple more days to see if I can bare it. I hope things work out for you and if you can get it figured out, please let me know….. Cause I’m in the same boat you are in!!!

RJC

Thanks for the input.

It's really good to hear others are not having this issue so I'm really beginning to think the tires may not have been balanced properly. The same tech that scratched all my rims did the balancing so it stands to reason he may not have done the best job and/or not used the road force component of the machine. I'm going to make an appt at my local dealer to balance the fronts on the GSP9700 and make sure they use the road force component which will also match mount the high and low spots. Rest assured, I will duct tape all the lug areas of the rims so they don't scratch them

With respect to the pressures, I have them set at factory specs 32 psi front and 35 psi rear (cold).

RJC

Yikes I just read your post! I guess you posted at the same time I was responding to the two previous ones. My shimmy goes away completely after about a mile but returns if the car sits fro an hour or more, then goes away again. The shimmy is only @55-60 and the car is very smooth to drive, it's just the damn steeering wheel the oscilates that makes me crazy. Did you have yours done on the 9700 and did they use the road force component?

OzE55

[

With respect to the pressures, I have them set at factory specs 32 psi front and 35 psi rear (cold).[/QUOTE]

Try 40F and 42R and see if that stops the flat spotting. I think you are way too low for such a heavy car. Remember the "specs" are more for ride comfort.

SamE55

I've had problem with my PS2s on 19' wheels for a while now. Vibration usually happens at 50-60mph.

RJC

Try 40F and 42R and see if that stops the flat spotting. I think you are way too low for such a heavy car. Remember the "specs" are more for ride comfort.[/QUOTE]

When my tires are hot the pressures go to 36 and 39.

I will play around wuth the pressures and see if that helps, I agree the front end of the 55's must be quite a bit heavier with the S/C, intercooler and related parts.

The question is why are some of having a problem and others not?

vader

OK you guys have to explain this "shimmy" to me please...my 04 is set to be delivered next week...my first Benz ever...I want to get a feel for what this shimmy actually is....what causes it ?

RJC

A shimmy is an oscilation, shaking or side to side motion, in my case it is in the steering wheel; most often this is felt and seen at certain speeds between 50-70 mph.Some cars and or tires are more prone to this than others. Quite a few things can cause a shimmy:

Out of round tires
Improperly balanced tires
Very sensitive suspensions
A harmonic disturbance
Flat spots in the tires either temporary or permanent, when combined with low profile tires the shimmy becomes much more prominent.
Suspension problems
Possibly poor alignment

Hope this helps

vader

Thanks...I was actually thinking the whole car was moving around or grabbing ruts or something...guess i gotta get my butt in the seat and see what I can feel !!

RJC

Some of the items I mentioned above can also cause the car to vibrate as well.

vuquach

RJC-

"Did you have yours done on the 9700 and did they use the road force component?"

To answer your question, not too sure if the dealership and my local tire shop used this method for the balancing. All they mentioned was specs were perfect both times balanced and I saw specs when then showed me...

It's make a world of a difference when the shimmy is gone cause your cars feels so tight on the ground and feels like how a AMG should handle.. Once the shimmy takes place all bets are off, steering starts to shake like it doesn't know what direction to go... Two of my biggest issues with this car is the shimmy and supercharger jerk!!! Anyone that works hard for your money and has bought this vehicle should have no leniency with problems that we have to deal with....... even if it pushes 469 ponies..

vixapphire

Try 40F and 42R and see if that stops the flat spotting. I think you are way too low for such a heavy car. Remember the "specs" are more for ride comfort.[/QUOTE]

I agree. the tires don't even look fully inflated to me at their stock (32/35) setting. plus, the thing just feels much more lively when i run the tires around 40/42. and i'm still running the conti's.

does anyone know whether anyone makes a run-flat tire in the proper sizes for the e55? i've got a wagon; it doesn't even have one of those lame-*** spares. if i ever got caught out by amboy ca around 11:45 pm (like i was once in '02 in my slk) in this thing, i'd be royally skrewed. no cell phone reception out there, no traffic... miles from anywhere.

a run-flat solution, noisy as i've heard they are, would be a godsend.

lauer87

RJC, i experience this problem all the time. It just happened to me yesterday, i was on a decently short business trip (about 2.5 hrs each way). I got to my destination around 1, did what i had to do for about 2 hours, got on the freeway and started freaking out. I had the shimmy, but after about a mile it was like it was on the way up. The PS2 rubber must be soft enough that if these cars are run for an extended period of time, or in extreme heat, they develop flat spots after the rubber cools back down. Just my .02
Neel L

RJC

It appears even the regular E class may have the same issue:

See here: https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...59#post1572459