Mercedes Benz of Alexandria Incompetence

[jleverett]

I recently spent over $2000 over 8 months chasing a bad rear wheel vibration problem at various speeds that Mercedes Benz of Alexandria repeatly declared was normal. David Evans at JCP Motorsports fixed the problem by slipping the tire on the rim to affect a better tire rim balance.

[truckinik]

Originally Posted by jleverett

I recently spent over $2000 over 8 months chasing a bad rear wheel vibration problem at various speeds that Mercedes Benz of Alexandria repeatly declared was normal. David Evans at JCP Motorsports fixed the problem by slipping the tire on the rim to affect a better tire rim balance.

Funny, after checking the front end, that would have been the first thing most of us, and most shops would have checked. Third, I would have checked the driveshaft balance. Check to see if the weights are still welded onto it.
Get an out of balance driveshaft, and it will cause a serious vibration through the entire steering system. It feels exactly like a front end, or tire problem..I can't believe, the dealer made such a mistake. Is their service manager, out of technical school yet? Do they hire mechanics, or just parts changers?

[suginami]

Next time find a shop that uses the Hunter GSP 9700 wheel balancing machine:

http://www.gsp9700.com

It identifies problems like the one you have, but it will tell the operator where to position the tire relative to the rim if there is a serious balancing problem.

You can click on the like to find a retailer near you.

What's surprising is that your Mercedes dealer doesn't have one. My dealer does.

[truckinik]

Originally Posted by suginami

Next time find a shop that uses the Hunter GSP 9700 wheel balancing machine:

http://www.gsp9700.com

It identifies problems like the one you have, but it will tell the operator where to position the tire relative to the rim if there is a serious balancing problem.

You can click on the like to find a retailer near you.

What's surprising is that your Mercedes dealer doesn't have one. My dealer does.

Maybe they do have one, but either didn't think of using it, or don't know how to... Either way, not good.

[suginami]

Originally Posted by truckinik

Maybe they do have one, but either didn't think of using it, or don't know how to... Either way, not good.

Yeah not good at all, and what's more, shops that use this balancing machine charge the same rate to balance tires as shops that use tradition wheel balancing machines.