96 e300 Hit pothole, now "klunk, klunk, klunk"

[satyr]

Hey everybody,
Hit what must have been a really nasty pothole under the snow while getting on the freeway, and now I'm getting a speed-dependent "klunk, klunk, klunk" sound from the front, driver's side and a related vibration in the steering wheel. It damaged my rear tire, which went flat while I tried to see what might be wrong on the side of the freeway in the pouring snow. I changed the rear tire on the shoulder of the road, and limped it over to a nearby gas station because the on ramp is so dangerous. (While I was changing the tire an audi hit the same pothole- and went hissing past me to get on the freeway. I'm sure he was no better off changing his tire on the freeway than I was on the on-ramp.) I didn't see any obvious damage to the front tire, but I'm thinking suspension or steering issue. Any suggestions to check when I can get back to the car tomorrow?

[Aquaticedge]

you could have bent a rim, I'd go over the tire too.

[satyr]

Yikes- I hope not, but will check it. I guess I should point out I was doing no more than thirty when I hit the pothole, and was never able to bring myself to accelerate over 15 mph with the noise and klunking vibration going on.

A sherriff's deputy stopped while I was changing the tire and asked if we were "OK." I reported the pothole, but doubt if anything will be done anytime soon. With the terrible economic situation in Indiana, ("Hey lets cut spending! Lay off teachers, don't repair roads, close schools, etc.) I doubt that pothole will be addresed within the next 10 years.

Oh, and what is going ON with towing companies? when I initally called the tow service they quoted (not kidding) $1000 to tow me to a shop due to the weather, because all their trucks were "out on calls," and said they were "booked up" but could "probably get to" me tomorrow to tow me to the shop I use, at their regular rates.... Hmm... I think I'll call around....


Hard to believe how much damage a crappy on-ramp road in disrepair in Inidiana with a major pothole could do in such a short time. After our friends came and picked us up, I saw two other cars on the side of the road with flats: a late model GTI, and some other euro sedan. I'm thinking that pothole is going to be taking out alot of cars tonite! I pity all of them now, and hope nobody gets hurt. My w210 is sitting in a parking lot under snow, 45 miles away, dealing with the damage will be a pain but now the weather has gotten much worse....

[Ferdman]

Sounds like a bent wheel to me also, especially if you hit the brakes after the front tire went through the pothole. The rule-of-thumb is to roll through a pothole even though your natural instinct is to brake. Hitting the brakes causes the wheel encountering the pothole to stop momentarily (when it has no contact with the road) which concentrates the force on one spot on the wheel bending it. Whereas, if you simply drive through the pothole the wheel continues turning and the force is spread over a larger portion of the wheel.

Wheels with low profile tires bend more easily than wheels with high profile tires because the low profile tires provide less cushioning effect when hitting a pothole, etc. Low profile tires also produce a rougher, busier ride if the car's suspension was designed for a higher profile tire.

[satyr]

Hi Fred, thank you for the reply! It is entirely possible that I hit the brake before/during the contact with the pothole. The road was smooth, until it suddenly became "bumpy" and since I was driving on snow and ice I would have tried to slow down, then there was the "boom, boom" of hitting the invisible pothole. I'll probably be shopping for a factory 16" wheel soon...

[Aquaticedge]

Northern Roads can be pretty bad. Chicago and Parts of I-94 are the pits. and it's not un common to see cars with flats along the bad sections. all the Adverse conditions up there and the relentless plowing, De icing chemical, salt etc.

[satyr]

So I figured I had better finish this thread for anyone with a similar problem. Since the gas station/truck stop said we had to move the car in 24hrs, I called around (it's now the next day, Sunday- and ALL the tire shops are closed, but Costco and Walmart were open and both said they had tires that would fit and could install them in an hour.) I figured I would take the rear pass wheel and get the tire replaced, then use the spare on the front, and put the rear tire back on the rear. I drove back to our 300 at the truckstop in the 190d- and the front driver's side tire on the e300 was now flat... I yanked the rear wheel out of the trunk to inspect it, and now in the daylight, you could clearly see that the inner lip was bent. With a flat front driver's side now, I was essentially screwed- the spare was on, but now I had 2 flats...

I called another tow truck company and he said it would be "bout 5 or 6 hours at the full rate..." I didn't bother to ask what that rate was, and politely hung up.

So... I sat and stared and thought and cussed.

Then I measured. And I got a really good idea. The bolt pattern on our '87 190D IS THE SAME as the '96 E300! I laid the wheels face down next to each other, and the 190's spare was obviously smaller in diameter, a different depth, and the lug bolts are shorties, but I decided to try and work around that. I had not other choice really. I jacked up the rear of the 300, pulled the spare off and temporarily mounted the 190'd spare- no clearance issues (in the rear) no rubbing, no issue other than the lug bolts. So I put the 300 on a jack stand- put the wheels in the trunk, and drove to Meynard's- and found out the lugs are 12mm with a 1.5 pitch. I then called Auto-bone from my cell. They said they stocked them ($5.99 each!) but only had one. So I called Underpants Auto Parts and they had 3 at one store and 2 at another for $1.99. So I went and got em.

I returned to the 300 and mounted the 190's spare on the rear driver's side using the new lugs. Then I jacked up and pulled the driver's side front wheel- and saw it was bent even worse than the rear. And just like the helpful posts from Aquaticedge and Ferdman pointed out- the rim had been been bent enough to make contact with the control arm. It wasn't that bad- but bad enough to rub. I mounted the 300s spare on the driver's side front and took it for a test drive. No rubbing, no pulling, no issues. So I drove home, got the wife and then she followed me as I drove the 300 back to the house.

The next day I found some used wheels from a 2002 w210 on craigslist and went and bought them. So- now I have those on the car- and 2 "good" 96 w210 wheels and tires from the passenger side, and the 2 bent wheels and tires from the driver's side in the garage.

So, I need to thank Aquaticedge and Ferdman for the help with diagnosis, Costco and Walmart for being open to sell tires on Sunday (though I didn't get to buy them- it's good to know SOMEPLACE will sell and install tires on a friggin Sunday) and the forum for the ability to share this info.

Lesson learned: U can't have just ONE Mercedes... -J

[Aquaticedge]

I am Glad you got it fixed, Walmart and sams are pretty good about tires on sundays, there's a local place here that will do em too on a sunday, Thanks for updating!