Weird issue with my cars rear end
Thread Starter
Super Member
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 506
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From: Texas
06cls
Weird issue with my cars rear end
Hey guys, so been experiencing a weird issue with my car as of late.
best way to explain whats going on , and the way im replicating the issue is if i jerk the steering wheel when im driving on the highway the cars rear sways side to side.
If im under hard acceleration and i dont get off throttle the cars body will continue to sway/wiggle side to side. ****s driving me insane, before i had new tires and alignment done the car would haul *** straight as an arrow. checked the shocks they seem to hold and have good pressure when pulling or pressing, all my carrier bushings and bolts look good.
going to try to raise my car via star some more, feels like i have no shocks to rebound the issue. even though i have almost an inch of wheel gap.
any other ideas , ?
best way to explain whats going on , and the way im replicating the issue is if i jerk the steering wheel when im driving on the highway the cars rear sways side to side.
If im under hard acceleration and i dont get off throttle the cars body will continue to sway/wiggle side to side. ****s driving me insane, before i had new tires and alignment done the car would haul *** straight as an arrow. checked the shocks they seem to hold and have good pressure when pulling or pressing, all my carrier bushings and bolts look good.
going to try to raise my car via star some more, feels like i have no shocks to rebound the issue. even though i have almost an inch of wheel gap.
any other ideas , ?
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Thread Starter
Super Member
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 506
Likes: 14
From: Texas
06cls
checked the shocks already , when i pull down they rebound up immediately , when i push up they rebound down immediately,.... all subframe bolts are tight, bushings look good, minimal play when prying on them, no cracks. I have a spare set of shocks, going to throw them in, check my angles with star, and then another alignment i guess.
My car isnt moving side ways, but if i hit uneven pavement, or a pot hole, it feels like the rear sways a little then stops, WOT at hwy speeds, the rear will start to wiggle till i get off throttle, the tires feel planted , feels like the body is rolling.
My car isnt moving side ways, but if i hit uneven pavement, or a pot hole, it feels like the rear sways a little then stops, WOT at hwy speeds, the rear will start to wiggle till i get off throttle, the tires feel planted , feels like the body is rolling.
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Theres no thumping noise from the rear when you hit a pothole? sure sounds like shocks,but if they feels ok i dont know.If you need new shocks i have a brand new pair of bilstein,as i discovered the wagon shocks are shorter then sedan ones!
Thread Starter
Super Member
Joined: Oct 2013
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From: Texas
06cls
nope, when i hit a pot hole, its not super obvious something is not right, im just super **** , and can tell that its not normal. no noises either. its just a annoying sway/ slow wiggle it does.
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From: Alexandria, VA
07 E63 AMG, 10 C63 AMG, 07 E63 Designo, 07 E350, 09 C300, 07 C230
I had this issue with my first E63, it is your sub-frame bushing. If these bushings are bad, or if the sub-frame bolts are broken, it will cause your rear sub-frame to shift around going over bumps, or changing lanes. As laterally forces will also cause the rear sub-frame to shift. This will also lead to excessive rear tire wear. This isn't a cheap fix, as the exhaust, drive shaft and complete rear suspension and sub-frame will have to be removed, and the old bushings will need to pressed out and the new ones pressed end. Thank God, my car was covered under warranty.
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Thread Starter
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Joined: Oct 2013
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From: Texas
06cls
its possible almost got 80k hard miles, but what doesnt make sense is why this problem popped up right after i installed new tires and the place tried to do an alignment, told me they couldnt figure out how to do the rear, and only did the front. before then car drove perfect, minus the front alignment being out of whack.
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Thread Starter
Super Member
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 506
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From: Texas
06cls
my biggest issue is when you put the hammer down, the tires are planted to the ground , its the cars body that starts to sway from the rear, and if i dont feather out or get off throttle, it will continue to do so, Last time i had a similar issue was when i had my car lowered to much VIA star, raised it back up and all was. But as i mentioned before, all was well till i installed new tires and did alignment. shocks are tight, going to raise the car some more see if it helps.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Aug 2012
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From: DownEast Maine
CLS 55 AMG E500 ML320
If the rear wheels don't have enough toe in it will do that. They toe out under load and steer it side to side. Did those clowns loosen the adjuster bolt before they gave up?
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From: Sandy Eggo
2006 CLS55
I had this issue with my first E63, it is your sub-frame bushing. If these bushings are bad, or if the sub-frame bolts are broken, it will cause your rear sub-frame to shift around going over bumps, or changing lanes. As laterally forces will also cause the rear sub-frame to shift. This will also lead to excessive rear tire wear. This isn't a cheap fix, as the exhaust, drive shaft and complete rear suspension and sub-frame will have to be removed, and the old bushings will need to pressed out and the new ones pressed end. Thank God, my car was covered under warranty.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Apr 2009
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From: Alexandria, VA
07 E63 AMG, 10 C63 AMG, 07 E63 Designo, 07 E350, 09 C300, 07 C230
As for me, I would feel that something just wasn't right in the rear. When driving on the highway, and going over small bumps, the rear would shift around. So I contacted a good friend of mine, that is a AMG Tech and shop foreman at a local MB dealership. I explained what was going on, and what I thought it was. And he said to bring it in, I will look at it personally. And a day or two later, he diagnosed it and said you were exactly right, it's the rear sub-frame bushings. If there is any play in these bushings, the rear sub-frame will shift on itself. Giving you the disconnected feeling in the rear. I went to the shop, and they had the whole entire rear end apart, and he showed me the bad bushings. This wasn't a cheap fix, $$$$ luckily it was covered. It's not the parts, but the labor.
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Joined: Oct 2013
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From: Texas
06cls
welp, took it to a indy shop that has a new hunters machine, the last garage botched my alignment, everything was in red, they must have undone the rear drivers bolt, and messed around , cause toe was WAY out. now everything is green. camber -2.1 in the rear. hopefully this fixes my twitchy rear end
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Joined: Aug 2012
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From: DownEast Maine
CLS 55 AMG E500 ML320
welp, took it to a indy shop that has a new hunters machine, the last garage botched my alignment, everything was in red, they must have undone the rear drivers bolt, and messed around , cause toe was WAY out. now everything is green. camber -2.1 in the rear. hopefully this fixes my twitchy rear end
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I've been working and learning on a 175k mile car from 2003. This is also my first rear wheel drive car. I can't say I've read this thread exhaustively but I see a couple different symptoms and root causes that might be getting mixed up.
When I first got this car, it drove pretty straight when accelerating/decelerating. I replaced both rear wheel bearings and it began to sway bay and forth when accelerating and decelerating to the point of it being non-drivable. I believe this was largely caused by the toe being off - I still haven't gotten the car aligned yet.
I had a clunk in the rear and the shocks had crud all over them. Once I replaced both rear shocks the car stopped swaying and the clunk went away. So I would say bad shocks + bad alignment aggravate the swaying issues. I would also describe this as the rear end wiggling/walking back and forth.
Now I notice that when I hit certain bumps on the road at various speeds the rear end "jumps" which someone might also report as a sway. But this is 100% driven by some dynamic suspension compression. I am starting to wonder if this isn't the rear subframe bushings as someone else mentioned above.
In any case, my point is a sway isn't always a sway and isn't always caused by the same things. It's generally best to start with the least costly repairs, so I'd go with alignment first, if you're not happy with that start to look at shocks and finally bushing replacements (and realignment). Happy troubleshooting
When I first got this car, it drove pretty straight when accelerating/decelerating. I replaced both rear wheel bearings and it began to sway bay and forth when accelerating and decelerating to the point of it being non-drivable. I believe this was largely caused by the toe being off - I still haven't gotten the car aligned yet.
I had a clunk in the rear and the shocks had crud all over them. Once I replaced both rear shocks the car stopped swaying and the clunk went away. So I would say bad shocks + bad alignment aggravate the swaying issues. I would also describe this as the rear end wiggling/walking back and forth.
Now I notice that when I hit certain bumps on the road at various speeds the rear end "jumps" which someone might also report as a sway. But this is 100% driven by some dynamic suspension compression. I am starting to wonder if this isn't the rear subframe bushings as someone else mentioned above.
In any case, my point is a sway isn't always a sway and isn't always caused by the same things. It's generally best to start with the least costly repairs, so I'd go with alignment first, if you're not happy with that start to look at shocks and finally bushing replacements (and realignment). Happy troubleshooting
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 6,020
Likes: 532
From: Alexandria, VA
07 E63 AMG, 10 C63 AMG, 07 E63 Designo, 07 E350, 09 C300, 07 C230
I've been working and learning on a 175k mile car from 2003. This is also my first rear wheel drive car. I can't say I've read this thread exhaustively but I see a couple different symptoms and root causes that might be getting mixed up.
When I first got this car, it drove pretty straight when accelerating/decelerating. I replaced both rear wheel bearings and it began to sway bay and forth when accelerating and decelerating to the point of it being non-drivable. I believe this was largely caused by the toe being off - I still haven't gotten the car aligned yet.
I had a clunk in the rear and the shocks had crud all over them. Once I replaced both rear shocks the car stopped swaying and the clunk went away. So I would say bad shocks + bad alignment aggravate the swaying issues. I would also describe this as the rear end wiggling/walking back and forth.
Now I notice that when I hit certain bumps on the road at various speeds the rear end "jumps" which someone might also report as a sway. But this is 100% driven by some dynamic suspension compression. I am starting to wonder if this isn't the rear subframe bushings as someone else mentioned above.
In any case, my point is a sway isn't always a sway and isn't always caused by the same things. It's generally best to start with the least costly repairs, so I'd go with alignment first, if you're not happy with that start to look at shocks and finally bushing replacements (and realignment). Happy troubleshooting
When I first got this car, it drove pretty straight when accelerating/decelerating. I replaced both rear wheel bearings and it began to sway bay and forth when accelerating and decelerating to the point of it being non-drivable. I believe this was largely caused by the toe being off - I still haven't gotten the car aligned yet.
I had a clunk in the rear and the shocks had crud all over them. Once I replaced both rear shocks the car stopped swaying and the clunk went away. So I would say bad shocks + bad alignment aggravate the swaying issues. I would also describe this as the rear end wiggling/walking back and forth.
Now I notice that when I hit certain bumps on the road at various speeds the rear end "jumps" which someone might also report as a sway. But this is 100% driven by some dynamic suspension compression. I am starting to wonder if this isn't the rear subframe bushings as someone else mentioned above.
In any case, my point is a sway isn't always a sway and isn't always caused by the same things. It's generally best to start with the least costly repairs, so I'd go with alignment first, if you're not happy with that start to look at shocks and finally bushing replacements (and realignment). Happy troubleshooting
