PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - A subframe question (just the beginning ...)

BodhiBenz1987 · #**194** 02-08-2011, 03:05 AM

... wish I could report otherwise, but I'm not pleased with the way the car tracks on the highway.

I don't even know how to describe it, but it's just not steady ... most of the time it runs straight, but it has a very subtle wander/wiggle, and when I get up to 70 it sort of squirts about in its lane. It isn't dramatic (my dad drove it and said he didn't notice), like the way the rear end drifted before, but it's not quite right. Even sometimes at lower speeds it just feels a little flaky. I feel like I have to correct the steering more than I should. I'm not sure if it's because of something I did wrong in the rear, or because of something in the front that was problematic all along. I did check tire pressure while warm and got 35 on both fronts and 39.5/35 on the rears. Maybe uneven pressure in the rear makes a difference? Other than that, the steering coupling has small cracks in it ... darn near everything else up front is new or newish and I'm drawing blanks. I have a bad feeling it's the rear, but I have no idea what to do ... everything looks good on inspection and I can't think of what I might have done wrong. Maybe the subframe I put in was defective, though I find it hard to imagine how that would come about.
Anyhow, to focus on the positives: The awful clunking on upshifts is gone. I always knew what spots in my driving pattern to expect it, and it always surprises me now when it doesn't happen.

The squeaking from the rear when I go over bumps (or when I take stuff in and out of the trunk) is gone. The car does not tip to the right anymore. And it doesn't suddenly "duck" off course on the highway like it did before. Also acceleration feels really solid and straight.
But overall it's not quite the result I hoped for.