mAMG

Hi all,

I know this is a W211 forum, but the R230 one is not so active, so here is my problem.

My SL55 suddenly doesn't feel very stable over rough surface on speeds above 45mph and above. Steering wanders as well.

Checked the front and rear suspension at different places, but they all said nothing is wrong except one mentiond the front left ball joint.

Aligned the car recently, and Increased the front toe in and the rear as well. The car drives little better now.

Here is the alignment sheet.

What is the max limit i can increase the front and rear toe to without damaging the tire ? Whats the OEM toe in specs ?

Any help is appreciated.

Pinned

Did you replace the ball joint? How many miles are on the front and rear suspension components/bushings/etc?

If you've got worn suspension and steering parts an alignment will not correct the issue.

mAMG

According to the mechanics, everything is fine (front/rear bushes, subframe bolts, etc..) !!

Does the camber/caster has an effect in this problem ?

is that alignment sheet looks normal ? Can i increase the toe in in the rear even more ?

PJmak

From what I know this is an effect of too much negative camber.

My car was running similar camber in the front.The surface of the tire is not in full contact with the road so any imperfection in the road will take the car off the straight line.

Id love to know if you resolve this differently or if it ends up being caused by something else.

stevebez

TBH I am having the same issue on my E55 under power ... sure the front goes light but the car gets very vague up front and quite unsettling.

I do have the Quaife rear end with 2.82 gears but figured this would be better and not make the car worse ... ?

Any thoughts in terms of alignment? Doubt bushing suspension is messed up as car only done 22k miles.

Cheers

Pinned

If you're talking about tramlining, I don't think -2.5* of camber is enough to cause that much of an issue. A tire with a stiff sidewall would likely have a bigger affect than such a small amount of negative camber. I'm not sure what that car should run stock, but I've never owned a performance car that didn't run at least -2*.

If the car all of a sudden had a change in handling then something in the suspension is loose or has gone bad / cracked / worn out / etc.

PJmak

Well this is my situation now.

I was this low(see pic below) and the car did not wonder around at all but I decided to pull the control arms out and replace bushings, shocks, and run higher spring pads due to a bad vibration I developed. Once I did all of that, the car sat about half inch higher if not more and now when I drive it, it wonders around like crazy now but there is no vibration.(i havent done alignment yet but nothing should be loose).

PJmak

Question for the thread starter.

Did the car behave like this before the most recent alignment? If not, where did you get it aligned at?

Alsois it normal that your front alignment on one side is one degree less?

Pinned

Good catch, I didn't notice that the front axle was almost a whole degree off left to right. I wouldn't be satisfied with that and would ask them to re-align, if they're unable to get any closer then something has got to be off I'd imagine.

I've owned a few cars that were hard to get enough camber on, but I've never had a car that couldn't be aligned very closely left/right unless there was an issue.

OP, you mentioned an issue with a front left ball joint - is there a reason it wasn't replaced? How many miles are on the rest of the suspension components and bushings?

mAMG

This issue started exactly after I've removed a 19" wheels (used them for a 2 months), which they where very heavy. And it was pulling to the right so bad because of the tires fitted.

After fitting the 18" wheels back again, the car started to wander only, and after a while it started to feel unstable on the highway.

The ball joints will be replaced. I wanted to know if there is any issue else before changing them.
Bushes and rest of components chnaged less than 20k KM - one year.

the last alignment i just increased toe only. Which made a good difference (more stable).

can I increase the rear total toe to 0.40 ? It will be red in the hunter machine, is it ok ? I believe Mercedes cars comes eith a lot of toe from the factory ?

PJmak

The only thing i can think of is the tire wear pattern ^^^

19s were bigger and were hitting the road at a different angle compared to your 18s.

Its gonna be tough to align it right I think unless you get brand new tires on your 18s(Im assuming those had used tires on them)

When you put the 19s on your car first....did you realign the car??

mAMG

I guess its a suspension part that is broken and we can't find it .. Other wise i guess i have to let the dealer align it

PJmak

So wait tire or broken part? I dont understand

Dublinoh

If you have any worn or broken parts fix them. Then get an alignment.

PJmak

Please post and update us if you manage to get it fixed

mAMG

at this point since I can't find any broken part, ill either check it at the dealer or start to change parts randomly.

If its fixed ill updated you.

PJmak

Any updates?

mAMG

No, Had some ABC problems that needed to be sort out. Ill update you as soon as I fix it.

FunkTron

So the alignment shop said it's a tire problem and you are looking for suspension parts that are broken?

You can already see the problem follows the wheels/tires.

PJmak

Thanks, looking forward to it

dchl21

maybe ur wheels are bent or tires are messed up . did you make sure those were good ?

FunkTron

What they said

PJmak

Update?

KOL4I

I HAVE SAME PROBLEM BEFORE WITH ME CAR CL 500
AFTER BACK SUB-FRAME BUSHES CHANGE ME CAR COME BAKE TO NORMAL
BUT NO ONE ON NORTWEST HAVE A TOOL FOR THAT I FOUND ONLY ONE SERVICE CENTER WITCH CAN DO I IT ON FLINTSHIRE COST ME 650 FOR THE JOB BUT ME CAR IS REALY BRILIANT NOW

PJmak

Any update from the original issue???