I am having a hell of a time getting my 83 300SD to track strait, ride smooth, and stay in alignment. I'll begin about a year ago when my parents bought me 4 new toyo proxes for christmas last year. The car vibrated at anything above 60 before the tires, and anythign above 70 once i had the new tires on. At that point i brought the car back and had them re-ballence the tires, with no change in the vibration. Over the summer, I then replaced the tie rods, drag link, ball joints, and steering dampner, and had the car alligned. At the place where the car was being alligned, they informed me that 2 of my tires had flat spots, and due to the extreme tire wear even their "perfect alignment" could not stop the car from pulling. I said to rotate the two "flat spotted" tires to the back, and once this was done the car tracked strait, did not pull, and did not vibrate untill it reached about 85. All was great untill about a month ago, where out of the blue the car started to pull again, and it's alignment is way off once again. Furthermore, the front tires looked new when i had them rotated(old rear tires, now on the front), and now the inside of the driver's front tire is completely bald. My car has officially worn out a set of $350 tires in one year. My front end is relatively tight, although I do think i need to replace my track rod mounts here very shortly (right side is starting to clunk), and my drivers side wheel bearing needs to be replaced(bought the bearings today). I've spent over $600 in tires, front end parts, and alignments, all to have a car that wears out tires in a year, pulls, vibrates, and is mis-aligned. Where have i gone wrong? what do i need to do to have a nice riding and driving mercedes???? I'm at my witts end and am about to turn the car into a junker that i just beat into the ground and throw used 30 dollar tires on. Any help is greatly appreciated!!
thanks in advance,
Ryan

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83 300SD.......sold
96 integra SE....sold
99 a4 quattro....sold
2001 IS300.......sold
2002 330i.........current.
2004 highlander limited....current.

I have answered many questions about alignment issues, but you have covered everything I would've thought of.

I think this is a good question for Larry Bible to help with.

He might be our only hope.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

I can't tell you about your specific problem, but I am a firm believer in only going to a dedicated alignment shop. I have had absolutely no luck at the Benz dealer. Bought new C280-realigned at the dealer because it pulled - wore out the tires in 3000 miles-they said it was my fault, let them do it again, started wearing out a new tire in 200 miles - brought it to a real alignment shop - put 50,000 miles on the Potenzas before i needed new ones.
After that episode, I have all my cars aligned at alignment shops. And balanced. And I rotate regularly.
I'd say try a dedicated alignment shop.
Fred

I had a non-MB once that did all sorts of strange things to the tires, cupping, uneven wear, flatspots, etc. with lots of vibration because the shocks were bad. The car handled well and drove normally except for the vibration. Since the trackrod bushings are gone that could be your problem. Also many have mentioned the subframe bushings. Something is likely loose/worn out in the frontend and you just have to find it. Good luck, RT

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When all else fails, vote from the rooftops!
84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K
03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K
93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K

There is only ONE alignment shop in this area that I use and he will not even attempt to do an alignment if there are worn out parts under there. He does an excellent job on my MB's. I use the dealer on the Honda.

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Jim

Sometimes you have to go deeper... check to see if the wheel bearings are round... and the axle nut to specs... I have found bent front bearing races on my cars ... at least once...and this introduces play in a direction which is not usually found by other than inspection....
I am also a firm believer,,, if one is having problems , in marking the place which tires are placed on the hub... and trying different spots... also.... when having problems... try a place which balances the tires with them ON the hub, on the car... the way they used to do it...when I worked at a front end place that often took care of the hard to diagnose problems....
A little play in the wheel bearings, a little off balance on the hub and a little off balance on the tire/rim and if they get positioned where they aggravate each other it can sure be unpleasant...
I have said many times that attempting to align without new everything is pretty iffy,,, set the toe in and go on down the road...
You can not even set the alignment to specs with everything new if the springs are sprung... the car is supposed to be a certain height above the road at certain points to be correct....

Worn out rubber in the suspension in extreme cases can cause vibrations and tires to actually go out of balance and go out of alignment. (BT, DT & only the dealer shop foreman correctly diagnosed it) REAR TOE is critical in the steering of the car. Are your rear tires wearing at all, say on the inside?? Do you feel vibration in the seats? On the older cars, wheel bearing preload is very important as well. In rare cases, the hub/knuckle can also contribute to vibrations. In my area, the DEALER is the only one I've found that can do the alignment correct.

Happy New Year!

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Brian Toscano

leathermang,

In going thru some old posts this one came up. I am curious how you found a bent bearing race & what did it feel like?

Thanks,

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Brian Toscano

Perhaps you got the impression from my post that I have a particularly well " educated" bottom which can feel such things as a bent wheel bearing, much like the story of the " Princess and the Pea"...
And I wish I did.
But the story is much simpler than that. I knew that I had hit a bad pot hole and when I got home I took the wheel and hub off. It was NOT ROUND....

Ryan,
I'd take a close look at your trackrod bushings. The track rod runs from the lower control arm diagonally back to the subframe. The bushing at the subframe can look ok from the outside but be completely shot. With your car on the ground try kicking the tire forward and back in the wheel well. Have someone else drive slowly forward and back applying the brakes hard and look for movement or listen for the characteristic pop. When these are worn any unevenness in the tire or rotor can be magnified in to one hell of a shake.

Bob D.
Parrish, Fl
3 SDs
1 SDL
4 Mogshttp://photos.yahoo.com/h2odiesel

On the track rod busings, he mentioned that he knew his needed replacing...

"although I do think i need to replace my track rod mounts here very shortly "

And of course we are treating this as if it is a new post... when it was revived by md21722 from 6 months ago...

Now, perhaps if RG5384 had come back and updated this thread we would know how it turned out... he may have started a new thread to let us know... thus leaving this one orphaned.... and us wondering... when reminded of this question....

Some people say I have a tuning fork stuck up my "bottom end"

Thanks,

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Brian Toscano

Since you live in Nashville... I am assuming that is a Good Thing...(?)

yup track rods are completely shot. Can see the move wheel when i kick it, and hear/feel a clunk whenever i hit the brakes. Now the decision comes to whether or not i actually want to fix them, i get a 528i in about a year, and the SD will either be sold or traded in.
Ryan

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83 300SD.......sold
96 integra SE....sold
99 a4 quattro....sold
2001 IS300.......sold
2002 330i.........current.
2004 highlander limited....current.

Bad track rod bushings will eat tires almost instantly. Not safe, either, as they will make the car wander excessively under braking. Will also make car pull, vibrate, and etc.

The entire suspension has to be right for an alignment to work-- the shop should have told you they couldn't get it right because a loose track rod bushing will make it impossible to consistantly set toe -- the tire moves back and forth and changes angle.

Your decision -- the car will be worth a whole lot more with normal wear on the tires and no vibration.....

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!