I have both my right and left lower ball joints replaced under warranty. I asked the SA if I was going to need an alignment afterwards and he said no. I got the car on the highway today for the first time and now my steering is off-center. If I hold the wheel perfectly straight, I veer to the left.

Shouldn't the car be re-aligned after replacing the lower ball joints? -Thanks

 

Got mine replaced about two month ago. It was replaced by a Benz Tech. Same thing happened to me. In my case the lower control arm bolt was released. when it was put back, it has to be adjusted. When i drove the car it was way off alignment. I called him he came back to my house and made adjustments and it was back to normal. I took the car in for an alignment about two weeks ago.

 

Thanks for the reply. I really thought that the lower ball joint replacement might throw off the alignment.... I even asked the dealer if he'd mind lowering my E55 with Star before hand so that when they realign the car after the ball joint replacement I wouldn't have to pay for the alignment.... Well they refused again to lower the car -and never aligned it anyways. I guess it's time that I send my car back for service for the 3rd time in 30 days.

 

Scott (MBTek) did both my left and right side recently and he told me I didn't need an alignment. My car still drives straight at all speeds so I'd imagine you shouldn't have needed an alignment. It never hurts to get one done after the fact if needed.

 

Depends on how close the tech measures things prior. I replaced both of mine myself and took every measurement to ensure it went back to together and have not had an issue since. It only makes sense to also replace the control arms considering how troublesome they are on these cars, so I did those as well.

 

My SA called me back this morning after I left a message with him this weekend and they are going to make the adjustments. Thanks for all of the advice.

 

what a headache you are going through with the dealership...Dont they realize you work and dont have to keep dropping off the car, picking it up and dropping it off!!

 

I am striking out here with my E55. I dropped it off at the dealer this morning to get the alignment adjusted since they must have messed something up when they replaced the ball joints.... well, I picked it up and the Service Manager told me that there is something wrong with the steering. ("something may be bent???") They didn't have time to diagnose since I only gave them 5 hours with the car. He said that it was safe to drive and completely aligned (tow) but that the camber was off on the right side. He said that I would need to come in Monday to drop it off again because they probably needed to order a part. I got in the car and sped off and immediately noticed that they really messed up the steering as I literally had to have the wheel cocked to 2 oclock position (opposite side to where it was when I dropped it off) to go straight.

WTF? Why is this so difficult?

Oh, on a side note.... you'll like this..... I printed out the STAR instructions on how to lower the car.... when I picked it up the tech said that he had to RAISE the rear because it was too low!!!!!!! I am absolutely livid.

If there is anyone on the forums here who can advise me on the lowering part, i'd appreciate it. The Tech told me that he had to stay within the acceptable voltage range or else I would get errors. He said "do you want to look cool, or be within spec." I said that i'd like to go lower but certainly don't want to bottom out/get error messages. He listed off metrics on inclinations, degrees, voltages, etc.... I have no idea what he was talking about... I think that he said that my rears were already at -1.5??? I really could use some help. The Car had been at Plaza Motors in St. Louis now 9 days out of the last 30 that i've owned it.

The selling dealer claims that Plaza is simply fixing things because I've got a CPO and they can write themselves a check fixing things that don't need to be fixed.... Plaza Motors claims that these things should have been fixed when MB Nashville certified it.

I posted this in another thread, so please forgive me. But these are the issues that my CPO E55 has had in the month and a half that I've owned it.

When I got the car it had 38,200 miles.... it now has 38,700.

Leaking oil from both Valve Covers
Leaking oil from the oil pan
Leaking Transmission Fluid
Bad lower Ball Joints (both sides)
Bad Battery
Right front thrust link bad and bushing
Malfunctioning Headlight Cornering
Malfunctioning Electronic Trunk
Something Wrong with the steering (Dealer is still figuring it out). -Was fine till they replaced the lower ball joints.

I really feel disappointed. I have a case manager with MBUSA...I will post back the results of my conversations with the case manager.