Exactly. If the tie rod bushings are worn out enough, it will make it impossible to properly align the car. Your technician or alignment specialist should easily be able to notice this and tell you that he cannot properly align your car without replacing the tie rod ends.

FWIW, they are relatively easy and inexpensive to replace. Sometimes, one side will be worn out, and not the other. You do not have to repalce tie rod ends in pairs.

__________________
Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

Exactly. My dad was a mechanic for a large oil company his whole working career, and I learned about working on cars since I was a young kid (I was the six year old holding the wrench ). Warped rotors were a pet peave of his. Brand new rotors are frequently not perfectly round out of the box. For every pair of rotors he purchased, he would take them to a shop and have them turned. Every time the mechanic or shop would look at him like he was a fool and an idiot. The look on their faces would say "why are you turning perfectly good brand new rotors????".

I'm telling you that most of the time the rotors were out of round. The guy running the mill would always admit that he couldn't believe it, but that he would probably check for out-of-roundness on new rotors in the future.

I'm willing to bet that your rotors may have been out of round from the box.

__________________
Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

I have run into this problem on a few late model cars. It seems that the brake fluid degrades somehow. When you step on the brake, and as the fluid heats some of it may boil/bubble/or become less viscous than it initialy was when you first applied the brakes. If you run out of options, evacuate all of your old fluid. You will have to bleed the brakes once the new fluid is installed. Hope this helps.

Regards,
Dave
jmhenneman@frontier.net

Excuse me, David. But I just gotta make an observation and ask, if I want to be honest with my reactions.

I've been actively participating in this forum for about 1.5 yrs-first under my former screen name, and now (with an employment change) with my current.

I could be a bit wrong. But it seems to me that you have an issue with your car (C280, no?) on average every 2-3 days. Consistently. Are you just (excuse me) a perfectionist, do you drive your car hard, or is your car about the most trouble-prone Benz I have ever come across?

Illuminate me.

Thanks.

For the record, NO, I do not have an issue with my car every 2-3 days.
My car has 130k miles on it now, and I am meticulous about it's performance. I do like things perfect, or near to that. And yes, I drive my car hard. I put 25k miles a year on it.

Back to my dilemma at hand: Do you have any input to my problem at hand? ...the subject on this post is titled "Shaking Steering wheel when braking..."

Thanks. Have a great day.

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

David-was nothing personal. I know what high miles requires.....constant vigilance and good preventative maintenance. Good for you.

I agree. You have a rotor problem. Not calipers, because that would cause swerving upon braking to one side or the other. If the rotors were just done, they weren't done right. Go back and get what you deserve.