The subframe mounts are collapse internally are are hard to spot. With the rear on jackstands at the jack points: The rear mount closest to the bumper, if the metal washer is recessing in towards the mount its seen better days. For the mounts towards the front of the car will stretch and show a lot of cracking. In extreme cases, the mount will be completely separated or torn. You will know that for sure driving the car. However, even if you replace them there is NO guarantee that it is the cause of your problem. If you have your indy to the alignment again, you will probably still have wind sensitivity. Same as if you replace your springs & shocks. If the toe-in ain't right, she's gonna blow all over the road. I have rebuilt every part of my suspension from the frame floor to the wheels. My best advise is to pay the dealer for an alignment. It will either fix your problem or elminate one possibility. Let us know how it turns out.

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Brian Toscano

China Clipper,

Seems like a lot of good advice. It is going to be interesting to see what cured your car's problem. I think some of these items you can check out yourself which is good ($).

Additionally, while you are having the dealer do your alignment, you could pay say an extra 1/2 hour FIRST and have them check all the items we have all mentioned and suggested.

You may have a pleasant surprise ... or ..... at least you'll know and it will be BEFORE the alignment. After all, some items require an alignment and you wouldn't want to have to pay for it twice.

Keep us updated,

Haasman

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'03 E320 Wagon-Sold
'95 E320 Wagon-Went to Ex
'93 190E 2.6-Wrecked
'91 300E-Went to Ex
'65 911 Coupe (#302580)

I had an alignment done a couple weeks (by my independent, not the dealer...), but my car is still moving too much laterally with any bit of wind. I think the wind makes the movement more obvious, but I can notice it a little at anytime.

My new alignment did make the car more stable...it was done to different specs this time. I guess Mercedes put out a service bulletin for alignment to compensate for cross wind, and that's what it's aligned to now. I am a little concerned about my 4 month old tires wearing out unevenly (feathering, perhaps), but since it was a Mercedes bulletin, I guess they won't.

I also had the 30k service done at the same time, and my mechanic looked over the car well for bushing wear and other worn suspension components, but they said it looks fine in those areas. The only thing I know that I need to replace are my motor mounts. Would collapsed motor mounts cause my front end to act "loose" and cause the car to move side-to-side? Would winds tend to blow the motor around just enough to cause the car to act this way? I can't tell if it acts worse on grooved pavement as opposed to a smooth road, but sometimes it seems to. I wonder if it could be some other suspension component?

Thanks,

Matt
94 E320
149.5k

Why don't you take it to the DEALER to see if your alignment is correct?

In my experience I can pay an indy today, tomorrow, and the next day and the alignment will never be correct!! You can change every part of the suspension or just the struts, but if its not aligned correctly, it will still more sensitive to winds that it should be.

Please see my other posts in this thread about toe-in & wind. IF it were my money I'd go to the dealer. If they don't find the alignment a problem, they may tell you something about worn parts your indy missed. I know people that use the Sac dealer for alignments with excellent results.

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Brian Toscano

Cause I'm an idiot.

I had to have some other work done, and thought they could look at the problem, that maybe there was some suspension part broken and they could fix it cheaper. The car does ride much better, but not good. I guess I'll have go to the dealership, like I should have.

Matt

Correct alignment on the W124 REQUIRES that the front wheels be spread by a spring tool at the front while the alignment is being done. If not, the toe-in cannot be set correctly, and few shops do this other than the dealer or a VERY good tire store (they get to replace tires ruined by incorrect toe-in).

Have the alignment done again, after making sure the shop has the correct tools.

Incorrect toe-in will make the car blow all over the road, and "dart" from side to side in slippery conditions like the 280 SE is doing since I replace the upper control arm bushing.

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

I recently replaced the front sway bar bushings on our 190E with 105k mi. I did it only because of age and mileage, ease of the job, cheap parts, and I was under there replacing tranny mount and exhaust hangers anyway. Sort of 'padding' the parts bill to amortize shippng costs.

Wind sensitivity had been noticebly higher than I liked, and it immediately and unexpectedly improved after this repair. Note that the old bushings did not appear loose, but on removal, the holes were definitely larger than on the new ones.

I haven't tried driving yet with INTENSE crosswinds, but still any improvement is nice.

Steve