Jime55

My '03 has been pulling to the right sinced delivery 3 weeks ago. Just spent two full days at the dealer and it still pulls right. (they realigned, changed toe in, rotated tires and "re-beaded" front tires). Is anyone else having this problem? If so, what is the cure?

03E55AMG

Mine did the exact same thing, however took it to the dealer and realigned it and no problems.

Chip

I've had the same problem since I bought the car. I have given up on the dealer. I'm having a frame shop readjust the castor tommorow and I hope this will be the end of the problem. This has something to do with the 18" low profile wheels and tires.

birrclan

had mine for a month. immediately took the car to the dealer and they realigned. the car is slightly better but not right. there has to be a fix for this but futzing around with my dealer is a waste of time. likewise, the first gear hesitation that occurs in first gear when in manual mode is really annoying. i guess when enough people complain, something will happen. or the '04's will have a fix.

fiftyfive4me

Had the same problem for about a month. Brought it to the dealer a few weeks ago, installed camber kit, and bwala - no more pulling to the right.

Hope this helps.

norb

Most cars will pull to the right because of the crown of the road.

birrclan

this is much more severe than that and, as evidenced by the number of people on this as well as the e500 board who have discussed the issue, is noticeably different in their "e" cars than other cars they have driven. it ain's right! no pun intended.

Pbglas

the first gear hesitation that occurs in first gear when in manual mode is really annoying

You might look at one of the recent AMG threads on Rennteam.com. He has info which might be useful to you.

Chip

The pulling to the right is caused, according to my frame guy, by not being able to set the castor right. In other words there is no adjustment to do this. It is proably more of following the crown of the road since most roads are crowned to the right. That would make sense since my car doesn't do it all the time.

There is no fix for this problem. The low profile tires and wheels don't help the situation much. The complaints all over the country are coming more from the E-55.

The only thing that can be done is trying different tire and wheel combinations which may or may not help. I wonder what mercedes will do for 04?

norb

The shimmy and pulling as well as the poor performance in tests in the magazines can be directly attributed to the cheapo tire MB spec'd for the E55!

A switch to Bridgestone S03's or even Michelin Pilots would greatly improve on all these problems. But of course these tires are about $100 more per tire than the crappy Conti's.

03_E55

Took my E55 for Alignment (pulling to the right problem) plus balancing of the tires (shaking on the steering wheel between 40 - 50 mph). The dealer did not have the parts (took 4 days to get my car back). As soon as I drove off the dealer, guess what?

The car pulled to the right and it was balanced improperly (or so I thought).

The service manager drove the car with me and told me that they have had issues with the high performance AMG cars (mostly because of the tires).

He has 2 new tires for the front of my car in ordr, and promissed to contact MB to see if there are any known issues).

I am wondering how long it will take to get this issue completely fixed. Knowing me, it does not take too many trips before I loose my patience. At 86K I would like a properly working vehicle (not to mention the 2K over MSRP I paid - OK, I should have noticed from the get go...)

Believe me, I spent 140K in 10 months at this dealer, if I am not satisfied "pronto", they will be hearing me loud and clear....

Chip

As I said in a previous post. I have given up on this car. I'm sick and tired of holding this car on the road on long drives. Taking the car to a private frame shop drew the responce that the castor cannot be set to where it ought to be. I'm going back to the M-class, I do belive I've had enough.

nguyent281

i have the same problem with my new E also. I took it back and they replace the bolt kit on it and i had to pay for it. When i got it back. It still pulled to the right. So now its back in the shop again. I wonder what they are going to do with it now.

Pbglas

How badly does it pull when driving on hte left lane of a divided highway? i.e., one that slopes towards the left.

norb

281, why did they charge you? That should be handled under warranty. The warranty for alignments is free the first year or 10,000 miles (I think). Don't pay for an alignment!

nguyent281

norb. i had to pay because my car had 13k miles on it. and the warranty on cover up to 12k or 1 years so i was stuck. i didnt mind paying it if the problem was fixed. It still pulled when i got it back so i took it back. I'm pretty sure the services guy is sick of me by now. i have taken the car back about 5 time in one month and called about a million times. the car has been in the shop longer then i have own it. sometime i forgot that i bought that car until my gf reminds me.

Chip

Try taking it to an independent shop that works on MB's. Also I've heard that the Conti tires arn't good. Switch to Michs. or Bridgestone's

03_E55

Interesting than only about 3 - 4 people are complaining about this. I will be happy if after changing my tires the problem goes away.

I'll keep you posted.

rleander

If they rotated the tires you've got issues. Radial tires can not have their direction reversed (so they can only be moved front to back or back to front on the same side) and the front tires and rear tires are different sizes so you can NOT rotate these. Check with the dealer and make sure they did not rotate them left to right.

Jime55

My '03 is back from the same dealer for the second time. This time they claimed the toe-in was way off. It still pulls to the right. The SM at the dealer who delivered the car indicated there are lots of E class cars with the same problem and that they can be made better by adding eccentric bolts to the camber adjustment. This apparently is not approved by MB however since their definition of correct alignment is "if the car can be held in a straight line by holding the wheel horizontal-its properly aligned". To keep mine straight I need to constantly pull some left rudder- none in the left lane of a frwy but lots in the right lanes. This SM also indicated a steering rack change may be coming from MB but it wasn't official yet. Maybe I'm too sensitive but my '00 M5 never did this and my 996TT doesn't. So I'm going back to the original dealer and after that the regional MB tech rep. this is the only problem I have so unlike Chip I'm not yet ready to give up. (Does MBUSA ever check this board??)

RJC

Who is going to be responsible when the tires start to wear unevenly?

I read that each mile driven when out of alignment is like dragging the tire sideways for "X" # of feet. Sorry I don't remember the exact #, but it wasn't good.

MY 03 CLK 500 pulled to the right and a simple alignment took care of it, the dealer scratched all the rims in the process though! Make sure your dealer either uses the five small holes in the rims to align or the straps on the tire method, mine used the prongs in between the rim tire method and wasn't very careful! My 04 pulls to the right too but I 'm not sure its as bad, I need to find a road where the left lane slopes left to see if it still drifts.

I had a very candid conversation with a senior shop foreman I know in California and asked him why MB keeps sending cars over here with well known problems that all have exsisiting TSB's out for some time ie; motor mounts, wipers, alignment, and many others, his response was "the German's don't understand and say" "why do these things bother the Americans so much" This paticular shop foreman has been with MB for many years in one the most prestigious dealerships for the US market, he has a hard time trying to explain to the good folks at MB the way things really ought to be.

Chip

I wonder if the Germans get better cars. I doubt these tutonic people would put up with this problem on the autobaun. I would think the pulling prolem would be downright dangerous at 120mph

03_E55

Got a call from the dealer. my 2 new front tires are in. they however, can not get me in with a loaner for 2 weeks. I hope this solves the problem. at-least the dealer is getting me 2 new replacement tires. the pulling t the right problem went away after 1 - 2 days of driving after the aignment. the vibration on the steering wheel between 40 - 60 mph is still there.

bmw2mb

what kind of tires do you have? i have mich pilot sports. have been trying to fix the same thing on my car.

dealer put a out of round wheel that actual warped the left front rotor. finally got the rotors replaced and problem almost solved. i have a wheel guy looking at it tomorrow to see what the last bit of oscillation is. i'm just thinking now it may be the tires.

03_E55

I have Cobtinental ContiSport2 tires. Strangely enough, after the alignment I have driven approx. 200 miles and the car no longer pulls to the right (or at-least, not as noticeable as before). It does however, vibrate between 40 - 50 mph, and under hard breaking. You would think there is a problem with the balancing of the tires, but the dealer mentioned that it was balanced perfectly. Tomorrow morning, they will replace the 2 fron tires for another set with the exact same dimension (ContiSport2). The dealer service manager mentioned that they have had problems with the 18" tires on the AMG cars.

I'll let you know the outcome of the service appointment tomorrow.