W140 Solid Lower Control Arm Bushings
 

Has anyone ever used a polyurethane lower control arm bushing on a w140 to replace the hydraulic ones that seem to wear out and cause shimmys and shakes?

Just curious..

- KO

They have tried everything
 

I dont think there are any available, or make any difference.The shimmy and everything is a flaw, tire pressure, "road force balancing", sway bar bushings, and links reduce it. MB changed the ride height in 95, the problem diasppeared.

Ok...
 

Thanks for the reply. Of course, it raises a couple more questions...

1. You mention tire pressure - has anyone agreed on the best pressure? The fuel door ratings are seemingly a little low for optimal handling and economy, but do they help the shake?

2. Do you know what MB did when they made the ride height change? Are there different lower arms or springs from a '96 up car that can be used on a '95 and lower to help?

I'm on my second '95 W140 - the first has 225k miles, the second has 83k. I rebuilt the whole front suspension on the first car - upper arms, lower bushings and ball joints, end links, tie rod ends, center link, steering stabilizer, idler, struts, cut the rotors, new tires, alignment. I did NOT do the sway bar bushings or have the road force balancing - just a typical balance. The car still has a slight shake.

The 83k mile car I just obtained, and it shakes on decel while braking from 55-40 mph. I don't feel it needs a rebuild like the 225k car, (which probably didn't need all that to begin with!) - but I'd like to really get a handle on this. I'll look into the sway bar bushings, links, and a road force balance for both cars.

Thanks!

I got a '97 S320 6 months ago. 109K, Dealer serviced.

Lower control arm bushings worn, had them replaced. Visual inspection should give a clue. Age is a factor. The rest of my suspension was pronounced fine by my MB indy.

Thing that jumps out in your problem description is "cut rotors" and vibration on deceleration. That's typically a dead give away to rotor warp. Consensus is to never turn, cut, MB rotors. New ones are less than $100 bucks each. Factory is best, Balo, Zimmerman next. The prior owner, local guy, knew he was going to trade up and had the rotors turned at a gas station. Even though they worked fine, I replaced them right away with new Textar Yellow box pads.

My vibration was slight, came and went, between 70 and 80 mph. New Bridgestone Turanza's balanced at the tire shop that sold that brand in my town. They used lead adhesive weights. I took the car to my normal tire shop, with the Road Force machine.
We agreed to use the plastic coated rim weights. As was the case on my 300E's, vibration problem solved.

I have also recently replaced the front shocks, with Bilstein HD's. Noticeable improvement in firmness and compliance. The OE shocks were Bilstein. They probably had another 100K in them, but I am anal.

Don't know that it relates, but which W140 is it? S320, S420, S500? Also LWbase or SWbase?

Steve

Thanks
 

Steve,

Thanks for the advice. Both cars are '95 S500 Long wheel base cars.

I tend to agree with you on the warped rotor idea, but rotor warp doesn't change with vehcle speed, and you feel the shake in the wheel and not the pedal.

At highway speed, the 225k car only has a slight shimmy, and the 83k car is nice and smooth.

However, I agree that new rotors are in order.

I'm running Kumhos on the 225k car and Michelins on the other, and there is a Road Force machine in town.

Thanks for your input!

- Kevin

I'm impressed with your other one hitting 225K. My only real concern is the evaporator issue.

Just curious, has your first one, or second one had this failure?

Steve

I have not had the evaporator issue with the 225k car, and I just picked up the 83k car this week, but I don't see the evap repair in the records I have for that car... yet. Still waiting on the dealer report.

The 225k car is a great car - just shows minimal wear on the console, slight age in the driver seat, and that's about it. Doesn't consume any oil, runs nice and smooth, trans shifts perfectly. I bought it in 2003 with 164k on it and have maintianed it myself save for lower control arm bushings and alignments, etc. I performed all the maintenance listed above plus fuel pumps, nitro cells, rear struts, and brakes. It does need an air pump, however. That car is white with a black interior and tinted glass... it's going up for sale after a detail job and fluids, etc. It's been a wonderful car and I'll hate to see it go, but I only need one of these right now. It was bought new in Newport Beach, CA at Fletcher Jones, lived in CA until '03, now in Saint Louis area.

The 83k car I just bought in Hermosa Beach, CA - bought new in Denver, lived there until '98, then southern Cal, now in St. Louis. Drove it across country this week to bring it home. It's silver with the 2-tone gray interior. The bumper covers need to be touched up, but the car is really, really nice. Like brand new, save for the shake! I have all the stamps in the maintenance book up to current milage, and intend on putting a couple hundred K on this one.... unless a low-milage '99 Grande shows up reasonably somewhere.

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!

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?

http://v8tv.net/95w140SF.jpg
http://v8tv.net/95w140SS.jpg
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.

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.