vibration over 60 Mph
 

Hello out there,

I have owned my car for a little over a year and just started a vibration at over 60 mph. It is cyclical in nature and I can feel it through the steering wheel. the faster I go the worse it gets. Any thoughts?

(1990 420 SEL, 160K miles)
Thanks

Probably tire tread starting to separate. Not usually visible from the outside, but sometimes you can feel bumps when you run your hands around the tire.

Bad tires? If you have the luxury to swap with "good" tires, thats one way of eliminating if its the tires or something else.

Alignment? Have checked.

Unbalanced tires? Have checked.

Stuck caliper(s)? Chk slides/calipers. Do wheels overheat? Smell burning rubber?

(all of above related to vibration transmitted to steering wheel)

I had the same problem with my 560SEC. I had the wheels balanced and it got worse. My mechanic told me that this car is very sensitive to how the wheels are mounted and balanced, and that there was nothing wrong my my suspension. He said there was only one shop in town that could do the job properly (evidently he has worked with the shop closely over the years and they know MB's). Long story short, when I got the car back from this shop I was shocked at how smooth driving became. No more vibration in front end - nothing.
Hope this helps you.

If it's a bad tire (usually just one), the tread wear tells the story.

The bad one has premature wear, and if it's tread separation, its wear pattern is in even patches (called scalloping in the tire world).

Moving the offending tire if on the front to the rear reduces the vibration somewhat, but its far worse if moving the bad tire from the rear to the front.

Because of my experience, visual signs on the tire does not always happen. I had a set of Discount Tire brand tires on my Caravan that cause my steering wheel to wobble at lower speeds. No physical signs of bad wear or anything. For almost 2 years, Discount Tire kept telling me the tires were fine. Taking their word for it, I ended up replacing the front axles to no avail. I also change the sway bar bushings. After my persistence, they swapped the tires with BFGoodrich and just like that the problem went away.

They also refunded me the costs of the parts I needlessly bought.

I have the same problem on my 2002 E320. Its Rotors are going. They need to be replaced when it goes in for service in a 1,000 miles.