I just got my 190E 16V home. I drove back from Florida yesterday and had a rear tire lose the tread with catastrophic results. The tire disintegrated and damaged the beautiful body kit in the rear of the passenger side :-(
I hope the insurance will cover the repairs.
Anyway, the car is absolutely beautiful and I'm happy with it, however it does have a couple of issues (besides the damage by the exploding tire). These are a shudder/noise when the brakes are applied, particularly noticeable in hard stops from higher speeds (60-80mph). I also hear a noticeable whine or "singing" that appears to come from the differential and changes as the car accelerates and disappears when I lift the foot from the accelerator. The noise seems much more pronounced now than when I first drove the car Saturday night. I've made an appointment with the local MB service but the soonest they can see me is April 6, nearly a month waiting list!

Anyway, I would appreciate all helpful info or suggestions. I do own a couple of other cars (the old 190D is on standby ;-)) so I have alternate transportation. I also fully expected to spend some $$ on this car as I bought it sight unseen, but I definitely want to limit my pecuniary hemorrhage if you al know what I mean ;-)

Thanks a lot in advance for your help.

BTW, I've gotten many compliments on the car. It really looks and runs quite good.

anybody has any suggestions?

Well, I too own a 16v now. I purchased a flawless 86 5 speed. I love it.

Anyway, my diff whines a little too. I think I will drive mine untill I have a problem with it. There is a diff for sale in the classifieds on the front page of the shop forum.

I have talked to Doc about this, he has rebuilt quite a few in the early days of the 16v. I think it is the nature of the beast.

Thanks Benzmac,
I was thinking about just driving it too until more symptoms showed up. I'm just a bit leery about ignoring anything that sounds unusual in a car. I've made that mistake before and it cost me extra money and bother, so I thougt I'd best ask.
Yeah, this '87 is an automatic, I wish it would have been a 5 speed but I'm very pleased with the car. Outside of the brake shudder and the hum, the car is super nice, flawless comes to mind to describe the body and interior except the carpets and floor mats that show a little wear.
I'm taking it to the insurance adjustor tomorrow to see about replacing those two or 3 plastic pieces of the AMG body kit that the exploding tire caused cause to fly off or break :P. I'll probably keep my appointment with the technicians at RBM in Atlanta too. It's very hard to get an appointment with those guys. I hope this does not mean that MBs are so unreliable that the mechanics are always overloaded.

Thanks again,

brake shudder could be rotors that need turning or replacing. The rear end whine may be the the differential ring and pinion gears. My 300 D diff has been singing for years. I'm not concerned that something will break, but the noise is well, I turn the radio up another notch.

Yeah Robby, after I replied to Benzmac I got in my car to go home and discovered that the humming is not quite as noticeable at highway speeds and you hardly notice it with the radio on. I still will have it checked out. It might be worth it to fix it.
Another good thing is that the tires I "had to buy" in Jupiter, FL. are actually rated as good tires. I've spoken with my Miata guru and he said I'll be happy with the Fulda "Extremo" tires that I bought, Apparently they are good German made tires comparable with the Toyo T1, Yokohama AVS sports, etc. I probably could have saved $50-$100 if I had shopped around or got mail order tires, etc. But at $450 out the door in Jupiter Fl, Sunday in an emergencey, I think I did well ;-)

Your diff is going to whine and whine for a long long time. It will probably last for at least another hundred thousand miles or more, and it wont get any worse. As long as it doesn't take away the driving fun for you you can leave it. Have fun with it I sort of wish I had a 16V but I'm happy with my 2.6.

Last of the Summer Whine
 

My '87 190E 2-litre 5 spd's (125.5K miles) diff seems to whine a bit also, but I noticed when I had one of the rear wheels off recently that the rear brake disk seemed to rub very slightly on all that shrouding backing plate surrounding the back side of the rear disks (it is a very close fit), resulting in a slight grating noise when the hub is turned by hand. I wouldn't be surprised if the other side did this also, but haven't checked yet.

Could be that what 190 owners think is diff noise (and there do seem to be alot of us!) is actually down to this close contact.

I tried forcing the shrouding away from the disk by hand but it sprang back and I didn't want to force it, but maybe further investigation/force is required...

I'm so used to diff whine though because my other car now at 126K has also whined since at least 100K, I rarely even notice it!

James, UK

190 D,

What are you having done at RBM? I work somewhat close to there if needed.

I'm going to RBM to have the brakes and diff checked out, repaired as needed. I've heard very good things about them, but I'm rather disappointed about the long waiting list.

You should e-mail me. I may have better pricing and I know the work will be done correctly. Best of all, there is little to no wait and you probably will get your car back the same day or by the next day at worst. IF needed, we will use only OE parts. You can choose.

Hi Benzmac,

I tried emailing you from your website mbautowerks.com , I'm not sure you got my email. I'm interested in talking with you about service to my 190's Lets get in touch.