too much road feel

[ksing44]

There is one thing that bothers me about my car (1995 E320 SE). If everything isn’t absolutely perfect, you can feel it in the steering wheel or even in your seat if it is very off. I always need the GSP9700 to get my tires balanced correctly and even with the proper equipment the tech has to get everything just right. It was true for my stock rims and it is true for my AMG 16" wheels. It seems to help if I use the Michelin MXV4 Plus tires, but they still have to be carefully set up. I tried some lesser tires and it was never straightened out so I removed the tires and went back to the Michelins. Even my brand new MXV4s on 16" AMGs from Tirerack (I think they use the GSP9700) had to be re-balanced at the Porsche Performance shop to get the little wobble out of one of the wheels. I have a new steering damper, but it still is very sensitive to any kind of imperfection. I guess that is the price for good road feel in these cars. I also have new Eibach springs and Bilstein shocks and everything in the front suspension has been checked and seems OK. I wish there was a little less road feel, because I am afraid to try any of the performance tires for fear that they will give a less than satisfactory ride. Does everyone have this issue with the W124s?

[Speedtek]

Sounds like you got a bad combination. I never liked the ride of Michelins, they always seemed to hard to me. What Eibach springs and which bilstien shocks are you using?

[ksing44]

I had this problem before I went to the Eibach ProKit springs and the Bilstein HD shocks. I also had it but with a kind of thumpy uneven feel and noisier ride when I had the Continentals that came with the car. The Michelin’s H-rated Grand Touring MXV4 Plus tires have been the best so far. The tires feel very supple and quiet. I would like to try the sportier tires, but I am sure that the higher speed ratings with stiffer sidewalls would certainly give a noisier ride. I would like the superior cornering, because I love to run through the curves with my tight suspension, but I hate road noise.

Have you owned other lowered vehicles?

I find on bad pavement that my car can really crash and pound around whilst riding very nicely on semi broken pavement.

How old are the shocks? Maybe you could try a slightly softer shock - I think there are sports and HD available for your car.

IMHO, shocks and tire pressure make the biggest impact on ride quality, get these two sussed which is relatively easy to do and then evaluate the situation from there.

Matt.

[Michael]

Sounds like your tire pressure's too high....

[ksing44]

I guess I wasn’t very clear in my original post. The problem is that my car is incredibly sensitive to tire balancing and tire selection. If anything is off, even just a very small amount, you can feel it in the steering. It is just very sensitive. Everything translates to vibration in the steering wheel. I have never had a car this sensitive to such minor imperfections and I think this may be my 22nd vehicle.

Nothing is wrong with the car as far as I know. The suspension has been checked, the steering damper has been replaced, the springs and shocks were replaced, and I have new tires. The same thing happened the last time I had new tires installed and the car was like this before the suspension modifications. I constantly monitor tire pressure and I have tried a variety of pressures. I currently use Mercedes recommended pressures, which are quite soft compared to what I have read others prefer. I think I remember that Luke at Tirerack recommends following the car’s original inflation guidelines regardless of modifying the size of the wheels and tires. I like the softer recommended pressure because it seems to give a smoother ride.

All I am saying is that the wheels and tires have to be absolutely perfect, or you feel stuff in the steering wheel. No other car I have ever owned was this sensitive. I wondered if this was common for all W124s and I have had some response to indicate that this is a common “flaw”. I wondered if it was the type of steering. My car is what I think they call a re-circulating ball instead of rack-and-pinion. I think they also call it just a “box-type”. I don’t really know, but I wondered if the rack and pinion type steering was less sensitive than mine and if everyone had this issue.

[ke6dcj]

Have you had your wheels checked for "trueness" ? That is no dents, bends, or unevenness in *all* geometric planes?

:-) neil

[ksing44]

I have brand new AMG Monoblocks, so there should be no problem with these rather expensive wheels and it also happened with my original wheels, so I am quite sure it is not a wheel problem.

[Michael]

Your steering is indeed recirculating ball, and this type is considered to be less sensitive but with less kickback (drivers call it feedback). Can be a bit numb, but in a luxury-oriented car that's what the engineers, methinks, were striving for

Good luck with this!