Don't over look the 'tires'. My coupe had a vibration around 40-50mph. The cause was 3 out of 4 tires out-of-round! And they were Michelins.

Using a "Hunter" tire-balancing system, the 3 bad tires were found and after replacing them w/ new Michelins balanced using their road-force system, the "shakes" were gone!

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Regards . . . . JimF
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'94 S500 Cpe

Visit my Mercedes Web Page

Sorry I asked. Now you have me thinking S500!

Sounds like you found a peach.

Steve

IMG [http://v8tv.net/95w140SF.jpg]

IMG [http://v8tv.net/95w140SS.jpg]

Did this work?

That's better...

Sweet!

Steve

Thanks! We like it. I don't dig the plated wheels, so we'll swap on the natural finish set from the other car, and you can see that the bumper covers don't really match, so we're going to respray the bottom 1/2 of the car to match the upper. And clean the headlights!

Why do that? That's the 'complimentary' color and it 'breaks' up the color monotomy IMO.

__________________
Regards . . . . JimF
-------------------
'94 S500 Cpe

Visit my Mercedes Web Page

My 92 spent lots of time in the shop during warranty, and they replaced all kinds of things, upper control arms, drive shaft , steering damper, etc, etc. The best it ever was when a MB shop in Chicago balanced the wheels and then balanced them on the car with a strobe.
A while back I did engine, trans mounts, lower control arm bushings, steering damper, and sway bar links. I also went to Bridgestone Turanzas (road force balanced) and cranked up the pressures by three pounds. I do get an occasional vib at 40 or so but it diasappeares after a while. I did have the tires rebalanced, and the shop did not have the machine, and it seems to be back slightly. The car shipped with Pirelli, and they switched out the tires to Bridgestone, I have gone Bridgestone with both H&V ratings and was not happy. As they say you can balance a brick to spin but it will be square
As I stated in 95 the car was lowered with different springs and rates, I have never done shocks, but numerous alignments. I dont think your vib is the cronic issue with some early 140s, maybe warped rotors, bushings, maybe tires.

Hi Jim! Just wanted to tell you that my S 500 L came factory fitted with Continentals and replaced them with the same. They work great!

I have tried Michelins and Pirellis on my W124Ts and they all have failed miserably. Our roads here in Costa Rica are horrible (and I mean HORRIBLE!!!). The Italian fancy tires cannot stand them. On the other hand, the Continentals do not complain at all.

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A. Rosich
CL 500, 1998
S 500 L, 1998
E 320 T, 1995 [Sadly sold ]

Thanks Buckwheat.

The car drives really nicely, save for the shake. It amazes me that a car built to this level is known for such an affliction... and I still have not heard a difinitive cause. I understand the combination of tires, pressure, balance, wear, alignment, brakes, shocks, bushings, end links, tie rods, and more contributes to the problem, but does anyone really know what the deal is?

It's especially bizarre being non-specific to speed or other conditions.

At any rate, it won't hurt to have the car aligned after I install my other set of stock, non-plated wheels. Perhaps those are better balanced and won't shake at all. If not, we'll start the process.

- KO

Armando, tnx for the info. I plan to replace my stock wheels and tires (when they wear out) with a larger wheel, 18" and the appropriate tire (plus 1).

I'll keep your suggestion in mind re Continentals. I had experience with Pirellis and Dunlop with very poor results.

__________________
Regards . . . . JimF
-------------------
'94 S500 Cpe

Visit my Mercedes Web Page